Drone Airport for Cork

29th Apr 2014

Calls have been made this week for an independent drone airport in Cork to be run by the people after Cork man Ray Fogarty gallantly and expertly piloted a small and harmless drone with an on-board camera over the city two weeks ago and posted the stunning footage of the Rebel city online.

In keeping with the long running policy of oppression of Cork and our airspace, various fear-mongers have been wheeled out by the east coast gestapo to wag the finger at this brave and highly skilled Corkman’s actions.
 

Sadly described as “irresponsible” and “careless” by a few lackies in cahoots with the Dublin government, Mr. Fogarty (who from now on will be referred to as First Pilot Fogarty) should be applauded for his pioneering work. The Fair Hill native would be far more deserving of a Freedom of the City ceremony than some of the infidels who have been handed one of the world’s most sought after awards more recently.

AIRY FAIRY
Despite the best efforts of those working on our city’s behalf we’re still getting it in the neck up at the airport with a list of destinations that leaves us more in competition with Farranfore and Knock than Shannon or Dublin and its billion euro Terminal 2 such is the grip that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has on the Rebel county.
 

Nice try but Dublin still rules with an iron fist at Cork Airport

Even walk into the duty free shop in Cork and have a look at where much of the “Cork” branded merchandise comes from. Yeah, you guessed it - Dirty Aul Town rules the roost.

Ask any Corkonian abroad what singles us out from the rest of the country - Murphy’s and Beamish will be close to the top of the list. You’d think something as glaringly obvious as the twin pillars of Cork’s thriving nightlife would be fairly represented fairly at our airport. Not so. Stroll through “Cork” Duty Free and Dublin’s Guinness brand ironically commands the space.

Our unique culture and identity is being suffocated under a blanket of tyranny and big smoke blackguarding - the likes of which the world has never seen. It is a war so silent and discreet that many Corkonians don’t even notice its desperate toll until they go to the destination drop-down menus of airlines operating out of Cork and realise how desperately meagre they are: Stansted or Gatwick, madam? It’s more predictable than a beef or salmon wedding.

Corkonians are effectively experiencing a travel ban so oppressive it would make North Koreans feel the world was their oyster.  

LINKED OUT
In the news this week was internet giant LinkedIn who are on the look out for new office space in Dublin. They’ll be hiring heads of all nationalities for their new European headquarters joining the likes of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and AirBnB in Dublin.
 

Apple set up in Knocka and became a technology giant. Just imagine what Google could do in Gurranabraher or Facebook in Farranree.

Surrounded by the beauty and vibrancy captured by First Pilot Fogarty and his drone, as a Corkonian you could be forgiven for scratching your head wondering why ‘that place up there’ is getting all the big names. It’s not as if we don’t have a track record: if Apple can set up in Knocka and become the mega-corporation it now is, imagine what Facebook could do in Farranree or Google in Gurranabraher.

Surprise, surprise the Minister for Transport is a Dub. It’s in his interest to ensure flights to America and to the continent fill the arrival screens at Dublin Airport. A recent survey of business people in Cork said they’d happily pay €100 extra to fly out of Cork rather than journey to Shannon or Dublin but the DAA isn’t interested in changing the situation at what they clearly see as ‘Dublin South’.  
 

Dublin's Transport Minister Leo Varadkar

These dark ops make Vladamir Putin’s shenanigans in eastern Ukraine look like a bit of mid-summer ‘Galvin Klein versus Nollaig O’Leary handbagging’ below in the Pairc. Those lads on the barricades in Donetsk don’t know how easy they have it. You’d get more freedom being double marked by Tommy ‘Timber’ Walsh and JJ ‘Chop’ Delaney in Croke Park.  
  
DRONE PWN
There’s a very strict rule when it comes to aviation in Ireland: keep Cork’s runway as quiet as possible but behind the glint of money in the eyes of the DAA you can see real fear - if yanks flying to Ireland were given a choice between Cork or Dublin then the east coast would be in big trouble.
 

Drones in the Cork colours are available to buy for under a grand here Perfect for spying on Waterford hurler's trainig ahead of the Munster Championship!

 
As drones become more powerful, sophisticated and affordable perhaps a separate drone airport is what we should be striving for to break the vice-like grip of the DAA. Some have suggested that we don’t even need a defined airport as propeller drones can land without a runway – whatever green space is free or fine on a particular day would do. 

First Pilot Fogarty has highlighted an ideal landing location at the top of Patrick’s Hill – passengers arriving on drones from New York would step out of the aircraft and just roll down the slope straight into the jazz at the Metropole. Beat that for convenience.

The Irish Aviation Authority might get their knickers in a twist but what are they going to do? Send out a few of the ageing toy planes that the Irish Air Core fly around in to deafen us into submission? Pfff.

They want us to keep our drones in our boxes but we say no – instead it’s time to put the oppressors back in theirs.