Originally Posted by HEATHROW DIRECTOR
Gatwick is also referred to as "London Gatwick", but it's nowhere near London!!
In this case, HD, I couldn't agree more, except that it's quicker to get from LGW to Central London than it is from LHR - I don't count Paddington as 'Central London'.
Having spent my formative years working there, as far as I'm concerned there's only ONE London Air Port and it's on the Bath Road. Mind you, those of us ex-pats kindly refer to it as Hounslow Municipal in our mellower moments.
I think where 725308 is coming from is that the associated Radar units were invariably based at their parent aerodromes. The controllers at LGW used to do a couple of hours on, say, Ground, then move to the Radar room and do a couple of hours on approach, then an hour or so back in the VCR on Tower. 'Twas reckoned that you got much more co-ordination and tighter gap control when everyone knew each other. In around 1990 or so, all the bright young things moved up to West Drayton and the Radar room became a hollow shell. It's a well-lit meeting room now, but whenever I walk up the ramp and open the doors, I half-expect to enter the dimly-lit world of the Approach Controllers, their faces reflecting the eerie glow from the screens in front of them. Oh, if only those walls could talk!
Er, sorry, outburst of sentimentality, there.
Anyhow, when I first visited the then new Terminal Control (TC) at West Drayton, I was immediately struck by the fact that the lighting levels were just like the average office. The new Sony Trinitron screens were bright enough to display the information without the need to dim the lights.
We were all concerned that the super co-ordination between Approach and Tower would be lost but thanks to the hard work, dedication and positive attitude of folk at both ends, the declared hourly capacity (for aircraft movements) of the busiest single-runway airport in the world has increased by over 20% since then.
Best in the World? Without a doubt!
Cheers,
TheOddOne