You recently reported ( Airport planning inquiry opens , Reporter, May 31) on the start of the Public Inquiry about whether the number of flights using Stansted Airport should be increased – and by coincidence a few days before that, BAA had launched a ne

You recently reported ('Airport planning inquiry opens', Reporter, May 31) on the start of the Public Inquiry about whether the number of flights using Stansted Airport should be increased - and by coincidence a few days before that, BAA had launched a new service called WebTrak where, through its website, you can check on the flight paths and plane types in your area on previous days.

I must congratulate BAA on this service, before when I was annoyed by aircraft noise, particularly when trying to go to sleep.

I had no means of knowing exactly where the planes were flying, but now BAA is doing this for me.

So I decided to take the opening day of the Public Inquiry (May 30) and see how many planes flew over my house during just the 60 minutes between 11pm and midnight.

The answer was 10 planes, with an average distance from my house of just 1.5 miles. So much for trying to get to sleep! Pity the people who actually live under a flight path.

BAA is currently trying to overturn the decision by Uttlesford District Council to restrict the number of passengers using Stansted to 25 million per annum.

It would like permission for maximum numbers to use the existing runway and has also announced that it will soon be applying to build a second runway with a total throughput of over 80 million passengers a year.

This would mean around three times the number of planes flying in and out of Stansted which in turn would mean not 10 planes over my house between 11pm and midnight but 30 planes - one every two minutes!

So I'm on the side of Uttlesford District Council and Stop Stansted Expansion - enough is enough!

Peter Riding

Castle Street

Saffron Walden