blind pew,
Your:
"......and a Trident would have probably never been parked in a field at Staines!...." no doubt refers to the unfortunate Captain Key's unscheduled arrival there (helicopter fashion) shortly after take-off from LHR in '72.
Our QFIs at Leeming were not sympathetic when the sad news first hit the headlines.
"He's not paid £10,000 a year (about 3 times their pay) to stall the aeroplane" was the common reaction at the time. Later, of course, we learned of the extenuating circumstances. IIRC, his crew were not very helpful, and the Third Officer was a drag on the rope. Still: "de mortuis nil nisi bonum" must apply.
I've no knowlege of the workings of commercial aviation, but I'm horrified that the rules under which you had to operate seemed to value the comfort of the townsfolk below ahead of the safety of the crews and passengers in the air. It's easy to be critical when you've never been affected, but it seems to me that LHR had been there for a quarter century; almost all the householders had moved in since then with full knowledge that LHR was there and would be noisy ('ware incoming !)
I thought that one of the selling points of the fanjet was supposed to be that it was much quieter (from the ground). Certainly that applied to the Tristar as against the 707 (say), IMHO.
Danny.