Originally Posted by
Boxkite Montgolfier
I have raised the issue of Heathrow arrival noise endlessly- all without any sensible conclusion!
Why do westerly arrivals deploy gear so early? Currently thanks to Covid there is a significant reduction in arrival traffic
but all, apart from more attuned BA pilots, all deploy their gear far too early for the noise sensitive residential mass.
Whilst watching matches in the Hammersmith end at at Craven Cottage, it's apparent that Boeing types drop the gear before passing overhead whereas Airbus types are 'clean' at that point.
But as others have said, it's at whatever point the company Ops Manual says; the days of 'reduce to circuit speed and carry out cockpit checks to land' instructions followed by 'check your gear is down and locked' are well in the past for civil ATC although the military may still say this.