The shamelessly audacious plan to turn Waiheke‘s airstrip into a landing-pad for rich yuppies can be summed up in one word: insanity. It shows an astonishing lack of consideration for the island, its environment and its character. It would go down well in Dubai, where they behave as if the planet exists to be bullied into submission and defaced with as many high-rise horrors as can be crammed into an area created with squadrons of bulldozers.
How unbalanced the whole idea is is illustrated by the fact that John Travolta‘s DC10 was cited as an example of what the rich owners of planes want and will go for. What has a DC10 to do with Waiheke? Nothing. Because nowhere, and certainly not on that airstrip site even after a lot of bulldozing, could a plane that big land. Unless it was coming in vertically in a manoeuvre called crashing.
Perhaps the cunning plan is to turn our airstrip into a junkyard for aviation scrap...
Talking of airports, but of a different kind, we should never sell Auckland International Airport, to Dubai or anyone. When will we learn that companies from other countries are not charities. They want to take profit out of New Zealand, not shower millions on us. Those who believe they will are like the people of Papua-New Guinea who think that if they build an airstrip American planes will drop from the sky full of goodies. The cargo-cult. Look what happened to the railways. Look what happened to Telecom.
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Waiheke from the west (the end nearest Auckland)
About Me
- Nobilangelo
- My Christian name is pronounced 'noble-arn-jillo' (i.e., both o's are long, so the first two syllables rhyme with 'noble' not 'hobble'--yes, I know that's obvious, because there's only one 'b' between the 'o' and the 'i', but some people seem to see two b's, hence the English lesson). My surname is pronounced kerra-marliss. I was born, bred and educated in New Zealand, except for an international systems-engineer's course in San Antonio, Texas. I am born-again Christian, a thinker with a very practical turn of mind, a scientist with a particular interest in planet-friendly energy and neuroscience, an engineer (mechanical, industrial and IT systems), an inventor, a Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a writer and poet, a naturist, a designer in different fields, an arranger and composer of symphonic music, a multi-award-winning IT journalist, a photographer, and a practitioner at various times in other hands-on fields including building, metalwork, woodwork, stained-glass and landscaping.