Pilot Had Landed As Weather Deteriorated Three Weeks Ago

Pilot Martyn Ferid did what any safe pilot would do in such a situation. He was flying from Cornwall to Kent in the U.K. in his vintage Jodel airplane when the weather soured. He looked for a place to land safely, and his best choice was a closed airport at Plymouth on the south coast of Devon, England. He landed safely.

But that’s when the trouble began. Ferid's Jodel was impounded by the leaseholder of the former airport, Sutton Harbour Holdings (SHH). They said the landing was an act of “trespass,” and would not let Ferid fly his airplane away when the weather cleared.

That was on August 9th.

SHH went so far as to place a large block of concrete in front of the airplane so it could not be moved. They said it would have to be trucked off the field, because it was not safe to take off from the former airport.

The BBC reports that the story does have a reasonable ending. On August 28th, Ferid was finally allowed to fly the Jodel back home. after he was able to validate the plane’s airworthiness and prove he had liability insurance. But getting the plane back off the ground took the intervention of AOPA U.K., and Charles Strasser, the founder of the U.K.’s “Strasser Scheme” which is endorsed by all but five airfields in the U.K. The Strasser Scheme basically calls for the waiver of any landing fees associated with a genuine emergency landing, diversion, or cautionary procedure. Field’s landing at Plymouth fell into that latter category.

In a statement, SHH said that its position had been “quite clear” through the entire proceeding. “We had to be satisfied that any decision we made ensured that this aircraft was able to leave safely,” the statement said.

Ferid, an experienced pilot and instructor, said he was “glad to have the airplane back and that this saga is over.”

(Image from unrelated YouTube video. Not incident airplane)

FMI: www.aopa.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=157&Itemid=816