AIRCREW MINIMISING DELAYS
From ATC: Not sure if aircrew are aware of the impact of not taxying into the line up position expeditiously and then rolling when take-off clearance is issued. If you lose 30 seconds in just one departure, in two departure slots ATC could have been able to release 3 aircraft instead of two. Seems insignificant, but if there are 10 or more in the outbound queue each aircraft is penalised by that amount. If you're arriving at the back of the queue it is feasible you've got 3-5 minutes of delay caused by poor anticipation and reaction time of those preceeding you. The delay is not restricted to only the following aircraft.
A suggestion is for the next departure to have the nose wheel coming onto the centreline as the preceding is rotating. It is only in this manner that we can significantly reduce departure delays just by changing entrenched bad habits.
Many crews complain about the uphill slope from intersection J2. However, just as many crews anticipate and are able to cope well by utilising better anticipation and a more suitable application of thrust for the gradient.
The other issue causing delays is that aircraft taxy and hold well short of the holding point. It is simply not possible to be in a position to use the runway should you get the call and you're stationary 200M from the holding point.
The next area to assist is to accelerate consistently after airborne. Even in the same airline, occasionally crews will delay to a much higher altitude than we expect. If TWR has to wait to see a consistent speed on climb out before releasing the next departure, instead of achieving roughly 4NM separation (it is possible to use the minimum of 3NM medium to medium or heavy following a medium), the result is 6-7NM. If you are following a business jet, please anticipate an early release.
The overall impact is astonishing if these two areas were handled consistently well. Anticipate a line up clearance if you have no aircraft between you and the holding point you'll greatly assist in reducing holding queues and fuel burn for all users. If we are forced to move more traffic we have to strive for efficiency.