Northolt issues for business aviation
Romaro:
Suggest you look at the length of Oxford, if they had to reduce runway length then they would not have a runway in any meaningful sense.
Suggest you look at the length of Oxford, if they had to reduce runway length then they would not have a runway in any meaningful sense.
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Think they should stop mucking around and either:
A) turn it into a proper commercial use airport which the airlines can then use - i.e. realign the runway with Heathrow's and in the process lengthen it for regional jet compatibility, consequentially forget the third runway at Heathrow, get in the regional operators to improve national connectivity with London, link new passenger terminal with Hillingdon tube station - job done.
or
B) close it entirely and develop the site for desperately needed housing (and build the third runway at Heathrow)
Living with the status quo is simply daft with a mere handful of military movements a week, if that, whilst all the other valuable slots are only available to private aviation - no benefit at all to the general public, nor of any benefit to London and 'UK PLC' in general.
Why didn't the Davies Commission dwell a little more on option (A) above? Politics and self interest on the part of the MOD? Far less costly than a third LHR runway, even if you added a 6 mile underground tube link to Heathrow for connectivity.
As it remains, it has dubious compliance with civil aerodrome standards whilst being used by 95% private aviation. Only time before something clips one of the hundreds of unlit obstacles in the way, or comes off the end of the runway because they think they can go in much heavier than they should actually be.
A) turn it into a proper commercial use airport which the airlines can then use - i.e. realign the runway with Heathrow's and in the process lengthen it for regional jet compatibility, consequentially forget the third runway at Heathrow, get in the regional operators to improve national connectivity with London, link new passenger terminal with Hillingdon tube station - job done.
or
B) close it entirely and develop the site for desperately needed housing (and build the third runway at Heathrow)
Living with the status quo is simply daft with a mere handful of military movements a week, if that, whilst all the other valuable slots are only available to private aviation - no benefit at all to the general public, nor of any benefit to London and 'UK PLC' in general.
Why didn't the Davies Commission dwell a little more on option (A) above? Politics and self interest on the part of the MOD? Far less costly than a third LHR runway, even if you added a 6 mile underground tube link to Heathrow for connectivity.
As it remains, it has dubious compliance with civil aerodrome standards whilst being used by 95% private aviation. Only time before something clips one of the hundreds of unlit obstacles in the way, or comes off the end of the runway because they think they can go in much heavier than they should actually be.
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@fairflyer
Like the idea of realigning NHT runway and lengthening instead of third Heathrow runway. Probably would cost a quarter or even much less of the £18.6 billion currently estimated for the third LHR runway. A 6 mile tube link between Heathrow and Northolt would be about £1.5 billion perhaps and that would take mere minutes to transit between the two. Add road infrastructure off A40, links to Hillingdon Tube Station, terminal, runway, everything else and that's going to be a couple more billion, tops.
Absolutely crazy not to give that serious thought? Why hasn't it been at the forefront of any of the viable, practical alternatives?
Like the idea of realigning NHT runway and lengthening instead of third Heathrow runway. Probably would cost a quarter or even much less of the £18.6 billion currently estimated for the third LHR runway. A 6 mile tube link between Heathrow and Northolt would be about £1.5 billion perhaps and that would take mere minutes to transit between the two. Add road infrastructure off A40, links to Hillingdon Tube Station, terminal, runway, everything else and that's going to be a couple more billion, tops.
Absolutely crazy not to give that serious thought? Why hasn't it been at the forefront of any of the viable, practical alternatives?
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Interesting articles in the papers today where Flybe have now reiterated their desire to run about five domestic routes into Northolt grabbing some 20 slots a day. That would still leave some capacity for private aviation I guess, maybe up to half of what's there today. We have about a week or so for the government's direction on extra capacity for London and the southeast. Perhaps a surprise might be pulled out of a hat and as an interim solution, this actually gains some traction. Who knows. Someone's got to sort an awful lot of infrastructure on the ground first. Some runs to Newcastle into NHT would be great!
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Looks like the CAA response is out (nicely avoiding them having to do anything major): http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/SafetyNotice2015007.pdf
Last edited by Red Four; 3rd Dec 2015 at 19:26.
So it goes back to the operator and their risk assessment of using Northolt. A very handy airport for aeromedical aircraft being close to central London. The problems of Biggin Hill and Oxford are that they are too far away in the terms of road transfer time for critically ill patients, so when Northolt is open it is brilliant.
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This is at LAST a sensible and thorough answer, gone the activists, morons of all species, looking at their belly button while theorizing at an improbable outcome. Well done CAA.
I wish all CAA do exactly the same : highlight the rules and regulations in force, and stick to it.
A bit like FAA two days ago, that had to reinforce ( again) the fact that a pilot in standby is not a pilot in Rest....
Amen.
I wish all CAA do exactly the same : highlight the rules and regulations in force, and stick to it.
A bit like FAA two days ago, that had to reinforce ( again) the fact that a pilot in standby is not a pilot in Rest....
Amen.
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Have a funny feeling that the delay on any decision regarding the third runway at Heathrow doesn't just revolve around forthcoming mayoral elections but the more than obvious interests Messrs Johnston and Goldsmith have in the future usage of Northolt - it's very much 'on their patch'. Watch this one evolve.
