Radar Field

[Lee G]

SOMETIMES not even billionaires get their way.

Take Lang Walker, the property mogul whose plans for a 23-metre-high hangar to house two large corporate jets at Sydney Airport have been knocked back.

The Federal Government's air traffic controller, Airservices Australia, has ruled that the proposed hangar - about the size of the buildings used by Qantas for maintenance on its passenger jets near the domestic terminal - could interfere with navigation equipment.

Mr Walker, the 12th richest Australian and who has been chartering corporate jets since selling his Falcon 900 in 2007, had wanted to operate the hangar as a ''commercial operation'', leasing space to businessmen, including the shopping-centre billionaire Frank Lowy.

The property developer believes Sydney Airport is dogged by a lack of private hangars for corporate jets. This has become more apparent since the Lowys - who own two Global Express jets, a Challenger 604 and an ultra-long-range Bombardier Global Express - had to tear down their hangar more than a year ago to make room for the double-decker A380 superjumbos.

The hangar had been proposed for the southern side of the east-west runway, adjacent to General Holmes Drive between the airport's fire station and the control tower.

The site is one of the most critical parts of the airport because it is close to navigation equipment.

It is also near where the controversial $200 million shopping and cinema complex scuttled by the Federal Government in 2006 was to be built.

The Herald understands the proposal had been going backwards and forwards between Sydney Airport and AirServices Australia for months.

But AirServices Australia rejected the proposal because the hangar could interfere with navigation equipment such as the airport's radar and equipment which allows incoming aircraft to measure how far they are from the runways.

''The proposal in the current form has been assessed by Airservices as having an adverse impact on navigation aids, including our precision runway monitor,'' a spokesman said.

A spokesman for Mr Walker said the airport needed more private hangar space and the businessman was ''very keen'' to discuss alternative sites.

''At this point the application is dead because Airservices knocked it back. [But] there does seem to be a need for more hangar facilities out at the airport,'' he said.

http://business.smh.com.au/business/...0816-embk.html

Maybe we can give Mr Walker some support - if he puts up a spotters lounge on the rooftop.