Anansis

Hi. Forgive me if this question has an obvious answer but I've trawled the internet and can't seem to find a satisfactory answer.

Much has been written about the woes of Heathrow. First there was the aborted attempts to build a third runway to the north of the current site, then there was Boris Island. Following that there was 'Heathwick'. Now the buzz seems to be about some sort of connection to RAF Northolt. None of these seem to be viable acceptable solutions to the long term capacity issues that Heathrow faces.

A casual glance at a satellite image of Heathrow shows a relatively large expanse of open space to the south-west of the airport. Superimposing the footprint of one of Heathrows existing runways, it seems to me that a third runway would fit relatively comfortably into the space between the M25 and King George VI reservoir. A bit more civil engineering work (i.e. putting sections of the M25 into tunnel and reclaiming land from some of the reservoirs) would, as far as I can tell, provide enough space for at least two further runways of comparable length to the existing ones. These runways, if built, would have a north/south alignment, reducing the impact of extra air traffic on Greater London. Although such an undertaking would be a major construction project, it would still be much smaller undertaking than, for example, creating an artificial island in the Thames.

I'm sure the powers that be have considered and rejected this solution but to me it seems to be the obvious solution. Maybe I'm missing something?

Tableview

That debate has taken place over the years, and if I recall correctly the problem is St Mary's Church in Stanwell Moor and the village, which would be impacted, if not destroyed.

A better solution would be to build it due south of the King George VI reservoir. To save anyone looking it up, that would mean building it where Staines is now, as apart from the Arapaho Spur, Staines has nothing to commend it!

Anansis

Thanks Tableview- I'll look that up (although they seemed more than happy to bulldoze Hammondsworth, Sipson and Harlington for the original runway three proposals).

The land adjacent to Junctions 14/15 of the M25 could also hold a runway and failing that, the reservoirs themselves could be scrapped to make way for expansion. I'm sure these options have been considered but why were they rejected? If not expanding Heathrow is going to cost the UK economy as much as some posts elsewhere on PPrune suggest, will they perhaps be reconsidered?

Tableview

It's unfortunately more about pressure from powerful and influential lobby groups than about common sense and economics.

Ancient Observer

er, you can't have a North South runway anywhere within many, many miles of an East West runway. It would rather mess up the safety case.

Rwy in Sight

Ancient Observer,

I thought a North-South runway would be used to maintain capacity during days that prevaiiing winds restrict the traffic flow on existing runways.

DaveReidUK

In an ideal world, Heathrow would have six runways, cunningly arranged in pairs, at 60° to each other, so that aircraft could land and take off in any wind conditions.

I can't understand why nobody has ever though of that.

Andy_S

Depends which way the aircraft are taking off and landing.....

Hotel Tango

Heathrow did originally have 3 sets of parallels if I remember correctly. Lack of space and the need for terminal expansions over the years saw the closures of those runways deemed surpuflous.

DaveReidUK

Now you come to mention it, I vaguely recollect that too.

PAXboy

It was a 6-pointed star arrangement and visible in these various places:
Cassini Maps - Online Historical Map Shop - High Quality Old Maps

The caption on this ismage is:
Heathrow Airport History

If the airport had been allowed to expand naturally, we might still have two sets of parrallels! This aerial shows the pattern is still visible, although they are now (mostly) taxiways.
London Heathrow Airport (LHR) - Review - A lot of history

Dave Barnshaw

Hi Dave, Remember LHR's "Star of David" ?,if only we could turn the clock back and experience the real aircraft again.

Crazy Voyager

In theory, wouldn't it be possible (in theory) to have to north/south runways to complement the current ones? That way you could have departures to the south and arrivals to east or west or arrivals from the south and departuers to the east/west.

All in a hypothetical scenario. I'm, just intrested if it would work at all, I'm not saying it's the best option (because I don't know)?

Skipness One Echo

Seriously? We're having enough bother selling the idea of a new one that would be used intensely and benefit the economy?

There's already a few pain points of interaction over my house with 27 departures off London City climbing towards descending traffic on right base for Westerlies at Heathrow, the added complexities of a North South runway alignment would complicate Heathrow airspace to the nth degree, added to the fact it would cut straight across the Northolt extended centreline. There are only a handful of days when the prevailing wind isn't east / west.

FlyingEagle21

Forget airspace issues, this would't even be considered. How many people live North/south of LHR and are largley unaffected from noise and would be.

Crazy Voyager

Seriously? No. I don't think there's any way it's ever going to happen with the political cilmate being the way it is (not to mention it seems to be a rubbish idea anyway). I was just intrested in hearing if it's even possible to do.

Ancient Observer

"er, you can't have a North South runway anywhere within many, many miles of an East West runway. It would rather mess up the safety case."

I would bet my modest savings that N/S and E/W will never happen at lhr.

Hotel Tango

Try Frankfurt for starters! N-S runway used in southerly directionfor departures only. Doesn't interfere with ops on the remaining 3 runways.

DaveReidUK

Strangely enough, the proposals for Heathrow haven't included building a third runway that could only be used for departures, not landings, and only in one direction.

Dont Hang Up

Why dont they just do a Schipol and build a taxiway to Northolt. Problem solved.