I ASSURE Councillor Griffiths (Letters, September 14) that the Tucano aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force at Linton-on-Ouse are safe.

Linton has operated about 80 Tucanos over a ten-year period; only one has been lost in an accident so far as I am aware.

This is a superb record and a tribute to the efficiency and professionalism of the aircrew and maintenance staff.

Mike Usherwood,

Mendip Close,

Huntington,

York.

...REGARDING H O Griffiths' Tucano letter, has it ever occurred to him that the young men and women trainee pilots who fly the aircraft he complains so bitterly about may at any time in their careers be called upon, should the need arise, to risk their lives to defend him and his rural environment against far more hostile anti-social air activity?

Such action would presumably be acceptable providing of course it was carried out with the minimum of noise.

To infer that the RAF fly aircraft that are not airworthy is a deplorable insult to the integrity and professionalism of the world's finest air force.

Sometime in the future fast jets may return to Linton and provide a sample of real noise pollution, but until then I look forward to the return of the Tucanos in the sky over York.

K F Hartridge,

Alcuin Avenue, York.