Originally Posted by
PAXboy
DRUK. As you are a venerable poster, I shall refrain from saying Smart@rse! We were approaching from IOM and, somewhere near the usual Wenbley point of turning on to the Eastbound circuit, the flight deck announced we would see an unusual view of LHR but not to be worried as it also meant we would arrive early! As far as I recall, it was then in from the North East on to 23 [?]
Sorry! Though I've been called worse.
The last movement on 23 (23L) was a landing by a South African Airways 747 on 27th October 2002. Even in those days, using 23 (in strong south-westerly winds) was a PITA because it meant that the stands at the end of the T2 piers weren't able to be used at the same time.
There was an airside roadway crossing the runway which I used to take advantage of whenever I had a need to get from the CTA to the BA East Base (just discernable in the photo below). The spoilsports used to close it on the rare occasions when 05R/23L was in use, but even with no landings it was still fun crossing the inner and outer ring taxiways, giving way to aircraft taxying past if necessary.
