14. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Aviation if he will have the words "Northolt" and "Heathrow" painted on the tops of the gasholders near Northolt and London Airports so as to avoid confusion and possible accidents arising from the use of runway 26 at Northolt instead of runway 23 at Heathrow.
§ Mr. MartenI am grateful for my hon. Friend's suggestion and I am glad to say that the North Thames Gas Board is now painting distinguishing markings on the gasholders near Northolt and Heathrow Airports so that pilots of aircraft approaching Runway 26 at Northolt and Runway 23 at Heathrow shall not confuse them. A flight check has shown that marking on the sides of the gasholders are likely to be more effective than on the tops and that abbreviations of the names of the respective airports are more suitable than the names in full.
Mr. Gresham CookeWill my hon. Friend express appreciation to the North Thames Gas Board for this, because it seems that this will get over the difficulty of pilots, such as the American Boeing pilot and the Lufthansa pilot, mistaking Northolt for Heathrow?
§ Mr. MartenI am grateful for those observations.