Out of interest, how has MLS been sold to LHR ATCOs as "an advantage" over ILS? If any...
I think we are still waiting to be 'sold it'.....
It's all very political it seems.
MLS was thought to require less protection, therefore less spacing and higher landing rate in LVPs. Turns out a few years ago that the premise was incorrect, and it requires (well, slightly less, but to all intents and purposes) the same protection as ILS.
To convince BA to install it, it was agreed at a high level that in LVPs MLS aircraft would be able to TEAM (i.e. land 6 an hour on departure runway - the fact that you no longer have to be past the LLZ antenna was touted as a benefit - however, if, as an ATCO, you are cutting things so close in LVPs that an extra 1500m or less is critical, then you've cut it too close anyway!). Therefore, BA can land 6 a/c an hour more than otherwise. BA shorthaul get a great benefit, BA overall and other airlines get a smaller benefit as they are able to use those 6 slots the MLS a/c would have used on the landing runway.
Of course, on both westerlies and easterlies, BA aircraft are possibly the worse you can have landing on the departure runway. Also, the 6 a/c are spread throughout the hour. with his/her eye always on the next lander, the deps controller is now going to be ultra-conservative to avoid things getting too close, and so departure rate drops through the floor. After a few hours of TEAM in LVPs, the airfield has significantly more aircraft arrivbing than departing, departure delay goes up dramatically, and those inbounds end up waiting ages to park on stand. Basically after a few hours the airfield breaks.
If we have to TEAM in LVPs, we should either limit it to 3 spread over the hour, or if the airfield is going to cope, either use ILS TEAM and allow us to pick each aircraft so it is best suited to land on the other runway, or in every hour, use 00-45 for departures, then 46-59 for arrivals. Far easier to manage.
But apparently BA have been promised this, so it's politically unacceptable to change the arrangement.
