Plane crash warning against expansion

11:27am Friday 18th January 2008

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LOCAL environmental campaigners have issued a stark warning in the wake of yesterday's plane crash at Heathrow Airport.

Nic Ferriday spokesman for the west London branch of Friends of the Earth, claims the group highlighted the risk of such crashes for people living under the flight path, during an enquiry into the building of Terminal 5 in 1998.

Mr Ferriday, who lives in Ealing, said a proposed third runway at the airport would increase the risk of fatalities.

He said: "We have been saying for 10 years that the Government must take account of the 'societal' risk of a crash at Heathrow.

"This is the risk of fatalities on the ground if an aircraft crashes. The risk is proportional to the number and size of aircraft and the population overflown.

"This means that Heathrow is by far the most dangerous airport in the country.

"Each expansion, such as Terminal 5 or the proposed third runway, increases the risk further."

If a third runway is constructed at the airport large parts of Ealing, Acton, Hanwell, Greenford and Southall will be directly under the new flight paths.

Mr Ferriday added: "By huge good fortune, nobody was killed on this occasion. But there could hardly be a more dramatic reminder of what might happen next time.

"If the aviation industry, British Airways, BAA and the government continue to lobby for Heathrow expansion and a third runway, it will show in the starkest terms how they put profits of the aviation industry above the safety of West London residents."