LETTER: Thames airport is more attractive
Amongst all the current complaints about aviation noise people seem to forget the aircraft emissions pollution that Gatwick inflicts on us. Aircraft engines are cleanest per mile flown the higher they are but Gatwick aircraft all have to keep down low and below incoming and departing aircraft from Heathrow.
In many instances they are instructed not to climb above 6,000 feet until they reach the south coast and these fumes blow across the countryside with Horsham getting its fair share. The fact that Gatwick, if it had a second runway, plans to be more than twice the size of Heathrow suggests pollution levels from aircraft emissions may become totally unacceptable.
It just demonstrates how absurd it is to try to develop another airport right under the aircraft departing and arriving from the country’s largest airport. The Thames Estuary airport project is becoming more and more attractive with the great majority of all fumes being blown across the North Sea.
MICHAEL BROOKES
Warnham Court Mews, Warnham