Originally Posted by
SpringHeeledJack
I have idly noticed every now and then that certain aircraft (usually powerful single and twin props) heading generally West from Biggin Hill do a long-ish departure to the East and South steadily climbing up above traffic in and around London. I can understand why this might be necessary for the more feeble prop planes ;-) but for the more powerful and capable props it seems a waste of fuel and time. Obviously it is deemed necessary by ATC, so would someone be kind enough to explain why please ?
A Biggin departure routing west via OCK would need to be climbed through the OCK hold, which is delegated to Heathrow Approach, thus it would need extra co-ordination to climb into CAS hence the extended routing for IFR departures.