§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish particulars of the volume of complaints received annually relating to low-flying military aircraft.
§ Mr. JohnComplaints received in the Ministry of Defence about low-flying training by Service aircraft have averaged nearly 1,200 a year over the last three calendar years.
§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many accidents and near accidents have occurred in each of the last 10 years as a result of low-flying aircraft.
§ Mr. JohnDuring the last 10 years the following British fixed-wing military aircraft have crashed in this country while engaged in low level training:
1964 … … … … 3 1965 … … … … 2 1966 … … … … 5 1967 … … … … 0 1968 … … … … 3 1969 … … … … 2 1970 … … … … 1 1971 … … … … 2 1972 … … … … 2 1973 … … … … 3 During the same period the following aircraft have sustained damage mainly as the result of bird strikes but remained airborne:
1964 … … … … 8 1965 … … … … 8 1966 … … … … 14 1967 … … … … 14 1968 … … … … 9 1969 … … … … 13 1970 … … … … 11 1971 … … … … 12 1972 … … … … 7 1973 … … … … 8
§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the total number of low-level flights likely to take place over the Fenland area in the next 12 months.
§ Mr. JohnDuring the last 12 months some 4,000 training flights by Service aircraft took place at low-level over the whole Fenland area. I have no reason to expect that the figure for the next 12 months will be greatly different.
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