There are many quality of life issues for residents living next to airports – pollution, noise and even increased blood pressure to name a few. But some residents in Go Vap District are encountering another problem, missing roofs.
On December 9, Tran Van Thuan, of Street No. 20 in Go Vap District, was watering the plants on his 3rd floor balcony when he heard a plane passing overhead on its approach to Tan Son Nhat Airport. Since this happens once every 15 minutes or so, Tran thought nothing of it. But upon turning around, he found that part of his tiled roof had been stripped off, "It was lucky that I ran away quickly so the tiles did not fall on my head. I felt strong winds when a plane just flew through to make landing," he said.
While Tran and his neighbors have blamed air traffic for the destruction, airport authorities rejected the plane theory. They claim that of the 23 flights over the area that morning, all were at least 150m above Tran’s 11m high house and thus too high to have caused the damage.
Relevant authorities have yet to visit Tran’s home.
A broken roof sucks, no doubt, but it’s better than an airplane tire falling through it…
