LHR Director - Descent to 7000 ft?
Hi - over the last week (with both high and low QNHs) we've received occasional descent clearances to 7000ft from Director. Is this a new procedure or something, as I'm pretty sure I've not heard of it before during the past five years?
I may have this completely the wrong way round, but e.g. today with a QNH of 995mb, and a published trans alt of 6000ft, the lowest available FL should be FL80. Following a descent to 7000ft you've only got ca. 500 ft clearance from FL80 (although I suppose you're 1000ft above the outbounds, which might help in some scenarios)....
Just to satisfy my curiosity, under what circumstances do you folks descend people to 7000ft once they've left the holds?