New Birmingham Airport Viewing Facility

[Aviador]

As I think you have already mentioned on this thread, if you were to consult with the Manchester viewing park they may be willing to assist you in offer of an affiliation scheme perhaps?

 

[Hassaan]

Adam Golder from Free Radio got back to me, saying that he looks after BHX from an advertisement point of view. I sent him some more info but am waiting a further reply.

 

[Aviador]

If anybody is willing to set a viewing park Forums4airports will offer some free advertising on the BHX forum page.

 

[Hassaan]

That'd be nice - it'd help towards it.

For the record, I have received a reply from Adam. He says that as an aviation geek himself, he recently visited the Manchester Visitor Park and was impressed by their facilities. He would like some potential costs, more info about the whole venture and a sort of business plan.

This is where you guys come in as you know I'm no good at this business lark. :friends: :blush:

 

[Hassaan]

Any ideas?

 

[Ray Finkle]

I wonder if it's worth contacting Birmingham City Council about possibly doing something on the corner of the golf course?

 

[Hassaan]

Should I send out that same email you re-composed for me to send out to investors? It does seem as though Adam wants a decent business plan & figures - I don't want to keep him waiting! I'll try contacting the council - should I note just the gold course and TriStar hotel as potential sites, instead?

 

[ash101]

Hi All

I have been a member for sometime but have not contributed as much as I should have. Looking at the ongoing debate and at the risk of covering old ground ad infinitum, my views are as follows, with due applause to Hassan, ElmsdonLad and others for all their efforts in trying to get the idea off the ground.

As to location, I think the ground behind the tristar hotel, elmdon terminal, old hangers are definately off the cards as this is going to be used for airport expansion. The civil service ground is probably too far from the main terminal/apron action. Fire station side risks impeding operation of the airport plus will restrict views of T2. For my money, the best place would be the patch of land next to the Monarch Hanger. It far enough away from the main operational airport to avoid upsetting BHX but also gives views of the apron, runway and hanger. On the attached photo, see the 'triangular' bit of tarmac just north of the hanger (if I have used 'paint' correctly, there should be a red line around the area). Somewhere around here would be ideal as I suspect it is not big enough for anything useful that the airport could really need for operational reasons.

As to the costs, what we need is s sympathetic accountant who happens to be an aviation enthusiast who would be prepared to put a business plan together for free. This ain't gonna happen, however...

Does anybody know any business/accounting/finance/economics degree students who are looking for ideas for a final year thesis? Granted, this may seem a bit amatuerish but when you consider that these final year projects tend to be quite substantial documents, and the student is guided by their lecturers etc, and will also have the advantage of not neccessarily being emotionally involved with the project, perhaps a fresh set of eyes looking at it is what is needed. The student will also have the advantage of being to approach the relevant parties with a genuine reason for wanting information, i.e. to complete their degree course. I sadly do not know any students who are studying these things but other forum members might?

I suspect the problem at the moment is that the new viewing area idea is seen by BHX management as nothing more than a few locals which not much better to do.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi and welcome back.

That sure would be a great spot for a viewing area and would certainly offer spectacular views. It's inside the airport boundary so the airport company would need to be persuaded to move the perimeter fence for it, also there are rumours that MAEL may want another bay in the future so it depends if this area has been earmarked for that. The fire training area is immediately behind it too so I'm not sure if that could be a potential health & safety issue?

I think that the area around the golf course is definitely looking like the best option though.

 

[Aviador]

I'd not thought of this before but I guess the best place to look is the airports own masterplan to make sure that a new viewing location isn't going to get in the way of any future airport developments.

 

[ash101]

The problem with the masterplan is that is vague. No real detail is given. I haven't trawled through all 128 pages of it (just looked at the plans at the back). It still shows a tunnel under the runway extension and the area around Elmdon is shown "ancilliary airport development".

The interesting part of the document is that it shows the tristar hotel remaining intact. The problem is that suppose (for the sake of argument) the hotel was sold and an enthusiast with deep pockets decided to buy it for the sole purpose of turning it into a spectator gallery/attraction, the airport could conceivably block a planning application out of spite or put up a big barrier to prevent viewing of the airfield. Painful though it has been, I think the only way forward would something within the airport boundary, which will keep the airport and spotters happy and not infringe upon non-airport land.

 

[Hassaan]

It does seem as though the area in front of the TriStar hotel may be out of the question - that area around the golf course doesn't look so bad. It's ways of looking at how it could work is the way forward here. I think we need to show how it could work, like the Manchester one has worked well over the years and become a popular tourist attraction. If we were to take this forward, we need a good business plan. If it's within the airport boundary, and we can get the airport themselves on board (although unlikely) then I don't see why not.

Any ideas on what we could include?

 

[Hassaan]

It's a bit of a shame that nothing has come of this because I think it would have been pretty popular (a specialised viewing facility) near the end of February in particular with people visiting to see the DC-10. I think as a result spotting overall around the BHX boundary would have been boosted overall. And with China Southern Airlines operating a set of charter flights there might be more interest too.

But oh well.

 

[Hassaan]

So can we take this any further or not?

 

[Ray Finkle]

One of the construction workers has told a local photographer that an area in long stay 1 close to the fuel farm will be a viewing area with benches, apparently a footpath to/from it has already gone down so fingers crossed it'll be a decent facility. The worker also mentioned that the view will be even better when the fuel farm is relocated, I was under the impression it was way too expensive to move it and even the 2030 masterplan shows the fuel farm in it's present location?

 

[Hassaan]

One of the construction workers has told a local photographer that an area in long stay 1 close to the fuel farm will be a viewing area with benches, apparently a footpath to/from it has already gone down so fingers crossed it'll be a decent facility. The worker also mentioned that the view will be even better when the fuel farm is relocated, I was under the impression it was way too expensive to move it and even the 2030 masterplan shows the fuel farm in it's present location?

A footpath created specifically for that? Apart from benches viewing mounds would be nice too. I'm sure there is a section of that car park that could indeed be used as an official area. With a dedicated shop etc.

Maybe it's time to change the proposed location?

Is there any point in doing a proposal if something like it is already being proposed? Unless we can get sponsors on expanding that (for additional features). Unless they were to market it as 'Long Stay Car Park 1 and Viewing Park'. It would need a bit of grass area though.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I took a couple of pictures of the potential site, apologies for the quality they were on my phone and it was drizzling.

The new perimeter footpath.



This area in particular is wider than the rest, it would be a bit tight for vehicles end on but the could be parked parallel with the kerb.



A little further round showing the view of the runway extension, in the second picture you can see the footpath has a section beyond it next to the fence, possibly to house a row of benches?





The footpath continues along the perimeter fence all the way round until almost level with the end of the runway, it stops at a site still under construction but as the ground slopes steeply away from the airfield I wouldn't have thought it much good for viewing. We'll find out over the coming weeks.

 

[Hassaan]

I had gone there on Sunday and I noticed they were doing something there. I don't know - Long Stay Car Park 1 & Viewing Area sounds good to me but I'm not sure that's what they are going for. I think there is enough available space (although it'd need a bit of grass space and maybe a bit of investment into further ventures, shops etc).

 

[Ray Finkle]

I don't think it'll be anything more than a few benches, whether they'll be the picnic type benches we had before or just a row of park benches along the fence we'll have to wait and see. I'm not sure they would pay for anything more than that as there is the whole perimeter fence to view from for free anyway.

 

[Ray Finkle]

New benches and tables are due to go in within 2-3 weeks once the last of the tarmacking has been done. No idea how many.