Helicopters make for trouble in paradise
Monday, 13 August 2007
Adam Jones
MOST people troubled by aircraft noise are tormented by 747s and other passenger jets. Marinating in wealth, the people of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez have a more upmarket enemy: helicopters.
Now, however, the authorities have decided to act against the constant thrum of rotor blades that are testing the patience of residents and the local representatives of the French government along the high-living stretch of coastline.
Fed up with flagrant breaches of noise regulations, the authorities are set to abandon their polite approach to the problem and shut down one of the busiest helicopter landing pads this week, in the hope that other rogue operators will heed the warning.
Françoise Souliman, a regional official, said the chopper swarms became intolerable last summer as the wealthy sought to avoid traffic jams.
In spite of the introduction of a code of good conduct, she said there were 5,000 take-offs and landings between June and August last year -- about four times as many as the limit set for the whole year.
The eight informal landing sites that serve the area have been heavily used this summer too. "There are helicopter sites that receive more than 100 landings a day," says Michel Perrault, a leading campaigner against the associated noise pollution. The limit is supposed to be 10.
Local officials say that helicopter pilots routinely take off and land outside the narrow time slots within which they are supposed to operate. Many of the people being flown in to the area are coming from Nice and Monaco.
However, Mr Perrault claims that the rich are increasingly using helicopters for the shortest of hops -- to the beach, for instance -- as if they were mere taxis. "The helicopter: it's practically a scooter," he says.
Yet Ms Souliman says the super-rich are not to blame. She says they tend to have their own helicopters and landing pads, and use them discreetly. The problem is linked to the fact that more people can now afford helicopter travel, she argues.
After the rogue landing pad is shut down Thursday, Mr Perrault and like-minded residents will be watching closely to make sure the crackdown is obeyed.
In the event of backsliding, he claimed that "hundreds" of locals would be willing to take the law into their own hands by physically stopping passengers from entering their choppers.
..........................................
— FT Syndication Service
MOST people troubled by aircraft noise are tormented by 747s and other passenger jets. Marinating in wealth, the people of the Gulf of Saint-Tropez have a more upmarket enemy: helicopters.
Now, however, the authorities have decided to act against the constant thrum of rotor blades that are testing the patience of residents and the local representatives of the French government along the high-living stretch of coastline.
Fed up with flagrant breaches of noise regulations, the authorities are set to abandon their polite approach to the problem and shut down one of the busiest helicopter landing pads this week, in the hope that other rogue operators will heed the warning.
Françoise Souliman, a regional official, said the chopper swarms became intolerable last summer as the wealthy sought to avoid traffic jams.
In spite of the introduction of a code of good conduct, she said there were 5,000 take-offs and landings between June and August last year -- about four times as many as the limit set for the whole year.
The eight informal landing sites that serve the area have been heavily used this summer too. "There are helicopter sites that receive more than 100 landings a day," says Michel Perrault, a leading campaigner against the associated noise pollution. The limit is supposed to be 10.
Local officials say that helicopter pilots routinely take off and land outside the narrow time slots within which they are supposed to operate. Many of the people being flown in to the area are coming from Nice and Monaco.
However, Mr Perrault claims that the rich are increasingly using helicopters for the shortest of hops -- to the beach, for instance -- as if they were mere taxis. "The helicopter: it's practically a scooter," he says.
Yet Ms Souliman says the super-rich are not to blame. She says they tend to have their own helicopters and landing pads, and use them discreetly. The problem is linked to the fact that more people can now afford helicopter travel, she argues.
After the rogue landing pad is shut down Thursday, Mr Perrault and like-minded residents will be watching closely to make sure the crackdown is obeyed.
In the event of backsliding, he claimed that "hundreds" of locals would be willing to take the law into their own hands by physically stopping passengers from entering their choppers.
..........................................
— FT Syndication Service