HTH,
Thanks for the reply...I am hearing this same 'story' on Gatwick from several regulatory sources, and it seems a bit unusual, but as I have heard this from several sources, I really want to sort it out. Much of what I am being told appears far out of normal practice and ATC procedure.
The 2 hold patterns for light/medium and heavies, would appear on the broad brush to be plausible, but logistically, drawing a single queue from 2 multi-variant sources would be difficult.
The issue with the 4nm separation, as this is far below ICAO standards on some combinations, was very concerning, and wake turbulence is a reality...
I have noted that when the aircraft come in faster, with flaps 20, wake turbulence is far less that flaps 30 or 40, so that could account for a tighter spacing with fewer issues, again, I am trying to rationalize the situation.
Gatwick does bring alot of aircraft in...so many agencies are looking at their model.
Thank you for the reply...hopefully