The owner of an equestrian establishment is suing the Ministry of Defence for £100,000 after claiming that low-flying military aircraft near her horse-breeding business have made life "intolerable".

Alyson King, 47, of Carsphairn, in South West Scotland told the Court of Session in Edinburgh that animals at her stables were regularly startled and bolted and several of the prize stock have been injured.

The area has already been at the centre of controversy over low flying with allegations that jet fighter and military helicopters may have been a contributory factor in the death of motorcycle ace, Steve Hislop, although an inquest subsequently discounted such a link

The farm is in an area designated as a Low Flying Area (LFA). LFA 16 is located in South Scotland and includes the Borders Region, Dumfries and Galloway and other counties up to and including those within the central belt. The Royal Navy helicopter base at Prestwick, the QinetiQ range facilities at West Freugh, and the Army training area at Kirkcudbright are also located in the area. It has approximately 16,142 sq km ( 6,232 sq mls) of airspace available for low flying training, some 9% of the total usable overland area of the UKLFS. In addition LFA 16 includes the Tactical Training Area 20T. In addition LFA16 is close to the Army Field training centre at Otterburn, and it borders on the Electronic Warfare Tactics range at RAF Spadeadam where there is extensive military air activity by both fixed winged aircraft and helicopters.

The owner alleges that the RAF planes are flying just above the tree-top height, breaching the MoD's own guidelines for low-flying training and committing up to 30 low fly incidents a month

The MoD assert they have rigid controls on low flying and in the past have told the Celtic League the RAF provost unit deploy Skyguard mobile radar to monitor for infringements. However 10 years ago we tackled the MoD over low-flying complaints which at that time were registering a staggering 5-6000 per year. We established that in the twenty year period up to 1997 there were over 100,000 complaints from members of the public. Despite Section 51 and 52 of the Air Force Act 1955 allowing for trial by Court Martial of aircrew for illegal low-flying which causes nuisance the RAF/MoD have never used the provisions against aircrew. The level of complaints has not markedly reduced over recent years.

Several horse riders have been killed following incidents with low flying jet aircraft or helicopters and the MOD did eventually commission an inquiry (The link for the inquiry report has now been deleted from the MoD web pages) but little practical steps have been taken to address the issue.

Paradoxically areas of Scotland and Wales are used for low flying by both RAF and overseas air forces because operational flying at such levels is banned in several NATO countries. Some countries such as the United States have virtually abandoned the practice preferring instead to use strategically guided munitions or so called 'smart bombs' which are dropped at high altitude. The RAF on the other hand still operate mainly fighter-bomber types such as the Tornado, Harrier and Hawk (trainer) which are well past their 'sell-by' date.

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Detail of LFA16 on MoD low flying web pages here:

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

08/06/08

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