Luton airport scare over boys TV aerial

A faulty TV aerial stopped pilots talking to air traffic control at Luton airport.

A signal booster on the television set of a Bedfordshire boy has been found to be interfering with aircraft.

The aerial on 12-year-old Nicky Chamberlain's bedroom TV was disrupting communications between pilots and air traffic control at Luton airport.

Communications regulator Ofcom traced the problem to the home in Knaves Hill, Linslade, 18 miles from the airport.

Nicky's dad, Dave Chamberlain said: "I got rid of the booster and put it in a landfill site."

Mr Chamberlain said: "I came home to find an Ofcom engineer parked outside the house. It was bizarre. I had never heard of anything like this before."

"Nicky had the booster for a couple of years and there had been no problem. Recently they changed the flight-path and that must have caused the problem with pilots talking to the airport."

He added: "We are decorating Nicky's bedroom now and when that's finished we will get him a new aerial that does not interfere with passing planes."

A spokesperson for communications regulator Ofcom said: "It is not common for something like this to happen.

"We have field engineers who go around the country investigating for radio interference. In this case the faulty aerial booster was found to be interfering with the pilot's radio."