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I n 1910, when the first commercial flight departed Shoreham for
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Brighton (all of 10 nerve-racking miles away) to deliver a light bulb (don't ask...), the aircraft was made largely of wood and canvas.
And now, 96 years later, a number of the planes housed at Britain's oldest, and arguably quaintest, airport are made of...er... wood and canvas.That's because today Shoreham Airport is home to a collection of lovingly restored historic flying machines.
But there is another side to Shoreham — the airfield is very much a going commercial concern with big ambitions.There are no longer any regular cargo flights. but 14 flying schools are based there and there's a full timetable of scheduled and charter services to the Channel Islands and France.And, in common with just about every other airport it seems. Shoreham is looking to expand to handle more and larger aircraft.
Now officially known as Shoreham (Brighton City) Airport, the airport is currently classified by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as a Special Category 2 airport, which means it can handle aircraft up to 12m in length.
However, Shoreham has made a number of infrastructure investments to allow it to take up to 700 Category 3 ( I 5m) aircraft during its busiest three months of the year.
A key element in support of this move has been Shoreham's acquisition of a new £240,000 light foam tender for its in-house Rescue and Fire Fighting Service. Based on a Scania P-Series crew-cab chassis with Arndac Carmichael Viper bodywork, the tender has considerably enhanced the airport's rescue and firefighting capabilities.
Senior Airport Fire Officer Paul Smith reports that its acquisition is part of a grander plan:-In line with the government's announcement to review and consult on potential airport expansion. Shoreham has produced a set of proposals that could see it uplifted to Category 4 status.
"It's an ambitious plan that would involve the realignment of our runway, but one which would potentially allow us to take up to 500,000 passengers a year, significantly relieving pressure on Gatwick and Heathrow. But lobe able to even apply for Category 4, you have to have certain things in place — which is where the new appliance comes in."
Essential for Category 4 From a firefighting perspective, Category 4 requires, among other things, the ability to carry a minimum of 3.6(X)lit of water and 2161it of Performance Level A foam concentrate, and to deliver them at a rate of 2,6001itimin. For the Viper, with its capacity of 4.6701it of water and 7301it of foam, this is no problem.
"We can produce foam at the required rate for the best part of two minutes," says Smith. "What's more, the monitor has a range of 65 metres and we have a'pump-and-roll' facility, which means we can lay down a blanket of foam while on the move.
"That's important because our role is very much time-related —at best we reckon we have a two-minute window in which to effect a rescue.The foam monitor is remotely controlled from inside the vehicle and our objective is to put out the lire before anyone has to get out of the cab.
"Thereafter," he says,"it's a matter of using the on-board hoses to maintain control.
"All in all, the Viper offers more than enough to deal with any aircraft fire we're likely to see here — and in the case of one of our vintage aircraft, we'd have to keep our wits about us so as not to reduce it to match wood unnecessarily!
"In fact, this vehicle has more firefighting power than our other three vehicles—two Carmichael-converted 6x6 Range Rovers and a GMC rapid intervention vehicle —put together. It's now very much our primary firefighting unit."
Smith revels in the fact that his shiny new foam tender boasts the highest specification of any fire appliance in operation at any comparable UK airport. "In laying down our requirements, we were looking both at our development plans and a minimum of 14 years in-service life," he explains.
"Because of the spec, only Amdac Carmichael and Rosenbauer responded to the tender, offering a choice of either Scania or MAN chassis."
Ultimate Ey, Shoreham opted for the Scania option. To be honest, I was easily sold," says Smith. "When you see every other truck on the road is a Scania, it kind of slaps you in the face as a good idea. Also, I've got a friend with a skip and grab business who runs them and he recommended them for their reliability. We also asked several other local operators, all of whom agreed.
"Another plus point is service support. Although Carmichael carries out all our routine maintenance on-site, there's a local Scania dealerjust down the road at Lewes to provide technical assistance if need be.And they're open 24 hours, which Carmichael couldn't offer.
"Happily the truck hasn't yet seen active service, although it's already been on a number of alerts," says Smith. "The latest of these was at our recent annual air show where a Harrier pilot came down a little too quickly and blew out two tyres on landing, followed the day after by a helicopter pilot who approached the airfield flying erratically and without radio communications—it turned out he thought he was at Goodwood!" While the image of airport fire tenders may be one of trucks on parked up on near permanent standby, the reality is quite different. Apart from ongoing training and practice routines, nowadays the number of alerts at even a small regional airport like Shoreham is considerable.
We get around 150 calls a year,says Smith."The vast majority end without incident, but we do average between 20 to 30 full emergencies a year, in which we also involve [he local authorities.So I'm afraid the slats tell us it's only a question of time until the new Viper will he put to the test.
"But when the day comes, I'm sure it will be up to the challenge and give us the best possible chance of meeting our primary objective — namely, to save lives."•