Pilots trying to beat paying landing fees at the Oamaru Airport are in for a shock.
An "electronic eye" is picking up their subterfuge and they will be billed extra by the Waitaki District Council.
The council since late January has had security cameras installed at the airport to monitor landings, and picked up 16 pilots last month who did not pay the $10 fee.
That included some breaches by an aero club, but not the North Otago club.
The council's property manager Dougall McIntyre yesterday said those who did not pay were identified and invoiced by the council, billed the $10 landing fee and another $20 administration fee on each breach.
That means the 16 pilots in February contributed $480 to the airport's coffers, instead of $160.
The fee is supposed to be paid by an honesty system into a collection box at the terminal.
The monitoring is being done by the cameras and fed to a computer.
Planes landing at the airport can be identified, then compared with what has been paid into the honesty box.
