Peter Smulik, Rugby
Regarding (“Noise over Bothasig”, Tabletalk July 5) one does not need to look far, it comes from right next door, the Ysterplaat military airfield.
Depending which way the wind blows, Bothasig residents will hear more or less of the irritating noise of flying helicopters, small private jets and the old prop Douglas.
I should know, living right next to the northern end of the runway.
When it’s Parliament time they become a real nuisance, and one needs to ask seriously: what is a military airfield doing right in the middle of a city and residential suburbs?
It’s an “accident” waiting to happen, when one of those flying machines will fall out of the sky onto houses one day and kill a dozen or so inhabitants.
Apart from the fact that the air force has a perfectly good airfield not far away at Langebaanweg, Ysterplaat is supposed to be the training ground for helicopter pilots, not a take-off and landing ground for VIPs etc.
It is indeed high time that the military is removed from Ysterplaat – imagine how many low cost houses one could build there, a stone’s throw away from the city.
But I guess that would be too “progressive”.
