British plane spotters granted bail

Two British plane spotters are facing up to three years in prison after pleading guilty to monitoring aircraft in India.
The two men, named by the Foreign Office as Steven Ayers, 55, and Stephen Hampton, 46, admitted breaching the Telegraph Act at Patiala house court in Delhi today.
The pair had been held at the New Delhi immigration centre, but have been granted bail and will appear in court again on 3 March.
Ayers and Hampton, both railway workers, were detained on 15 February after travelling to Delhi to monitor aircraft at the city's international airport.
New Delhi Television reported that they had been charged under Sections 4 and 20 of the Telegraph Act, which states that "only licensed persons may operate a telegraph on ships and aircraft".
Hampton's local MP, Dan Norris, said today the men could face anything from a fine to three years imprisonment. He said the judge's concern was that the pair could have used their receiver to interfere with communications between pilots and the control tower.
Hampton, from Keynsham, near Bristol, is understood to have been using a SBS-1eR receiver, described as "a secondary surveillance radar receiver, with a built-in airband radio", manufactured by a British aviation company, Kinetic Avionics.
The company's chief executive, David Goodman, said it would be capable of intercepting communication, but could not communicate with either pilots or air traffic control.
"It receives aircraft transponder signals which either a) identify the fact there is an aircraft within reception range; or b) with more modern aircraft, display the flight and progress of the aircraft," he said.
"The built-in radio allows the enthusiasts to listen to the conversation between aircraft to air and aircraft to ground, as do about 300 other makes of aircraft scanner currently made in the UK."
Bail, which was set at 10,000 rupees (£140) each, has been paid by Kinetic Avionics, in a move Goodman described as "simply a matter of goodwill".
He said the company would assist with the pair's legal costs.
23/02/10 Adam Gabbatt/Guardian.co.uk

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Categories: Airports Feb 2010, Foreign Feb 2010