Thompsonfly,
I think the point I was trying to make has been completely lost. Why tell the pilot to do 160 til 4 in the first place! It's not a question of being able to do it or not - that's a piece of piss especially in a 757! It is the increase in workload given to the pilot by asking him to maintain that 160kts with + and - wshr in turbulence that makes the speedtape etc nearly impossible to read.
As has been mentioned above we use 160 to 4 to maximise the landing rate because our customers, the airlines, want as many a/c going down the approach as possible all the time.
It makes no odds to me what speed you fly, you can do whatever you want and I'll adjust the spacing accordingly, but your companies would very soon suffer the penalties with the reduced landing rates.
Hopefully what we do is a compromise between maximising the landing rates and sensible operation of the a/c. But if at any time you're not happy with what we're requesting say something....we're not psychic.
For my sins I get to do Heathrow approach as well as Gatwick. If conditions allow in strong winds we'll be trying to do 2.5nm spacing on final approach. We can only do that by applying consistent speed control, but again, if anyone is not happy they only need to say something on the r/t (the earlier the better).
Ultimately the problem I suppose is that we're consistently trying to get quarts into pint pots.
You have an open invitation to come in and sit beside me on Gatwick or Heathrow approach to see the operation from our side and why we generally have to do things the way we do.
Oh, yes...what's a bonus?
WF.