Originally Posted by
kcockayne
I remember seeing a KLM DC8-60 srs. going downwind LH for 05R in 1971/72 , viewed whilst on duty at LATCC, West Drayton. It was during a period of strong NE gales. Wasn’t the only a/c using 05 that day !
Many of you will remember that G-ARWE, which had experienced an engine fire after take-off on Rwy 28L in April 1968, expedited a landing on the then Rwy 05R. From afar, the subsequent pall of smoke was a chilling sight.
Conditions favouring the use of the comparatively-short Rwy 23 for landing by large a/c in the 1990s would obviously involve a limiting crosswind component on the westerly runways. That could be a southerly W/V gusting over about 30 kt, but more commonly a SSW, with gusts from the SW. In the case of a south-westerly, the gusts tend to come from the WSW, which reduces the advantage of Rwy 23. Similarly, in the days when Rwy 05 was still available, the most benefit over the easterly runways would have been when the W/V was between north and NNE.
Today, the absence in South-East England of any large runway catering for a southerly or northerly gale is less than ideal, although Stansted sometimes does the job. In that respect, Heathrow has lost the plot. Whereas the Dutch have Schiphol...