Early morning activity over south London

[emdeeray]

Hi

At 6 every morning I stand looking out of the kitchen window while I wait for the coffee to brew wondering where the planes I can see are going. I live in near Morden and the window faces SSE. Just after 6 there's always a few low 747s heading what looks to be about north, followed by a turn west, and in the distance are various other aircraft in what might be a hold. There never seems to be this much activity at other times of the day. What am I looking at? Gatwick traffic? Heathrow arrivals? Some of the 747s are BA.

[A2QFI]

I suggest the planes aren't 'going' - they are coming, to land at LHR which experiences an early morning rush of arrivals of over night flights.

[Getoutofmygalley]

Some of the 747s are BA.

Definetely not LGW traffic then as BA do not operate 747s into or out of LGW :)

[ALLDAYDELI]

What I like is the clear mornings with HIGH level activity heavies heading into Central Europe from the Irish direction. Then later in the morning you get the transatlantic westbounds.

[WHBM]

emdee:

What you are seeing is the normal approach to Heathrow when things get busy. There are four main holding (circling) points for Heathrow, Ockham (near M25/A3 junction), Biggin Hill, Lambourne (on Stapleford airfield, near Loughton) and Bovingdon (near Watford). When landing westerly at Heathrow (the most common direction) it is usual to draw traffic from these towards inner South London, getting them all sequenced in a line there for the final approach into Heathrow (sorry ATC folks if I have just made your job sound simplistic !)

At Morden I would guess you are seeing Ockham traffic, and maybe the Biggin Hill holding pattern as well, heading to join the final approach track. From Ockham the routing is often east across outer South London, then an easy 180 degree left turn to run back over inner South London. As you will have noticed, each one tends to follow a different track, there's no need to bring them away from Heathrow any more than necessary.

Heathrow only allows a few arrivals before 06.00, so there is a sudden rush at that time and some of this traffic may have been holding for a while waiting for things to "open". Ockham at this time is probably most used by arrivals from the USA, say New York or Washington, and also from Africa and such like. At other times of the day you may find Spanish or Irish flights in the stack there, but at 06.00 the European arrivals have not started so it's nearly 100% heavies (which of course are a lot more noticeable than an A319).

The stacks can fill at other times of the day as well, particularly if some minor delay occurs at Heathrow. The 06.00 full opening at Heathrow is "wheels-down" time there, so I would estimate the rush south of Morden starts about 05.50.

[emdeeray]

Ah, great. I roughly knew where the 4 holds were but looking at a map couldn't really identify which traffic I was looking at. I expect part of the problem is not being able to easily judge how high or far away aircraft are. Thanks for the clarification.
As for "going": okay, they're "going" to land at Heathrow :~)

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<sorry ATC folks if I have just made your job sound simplistic>>

Well, the only thing which really loused it up was the aeroplanes!

emdeeray.. I spent my childhood in Morden, near Stonecot Hill to be precise. Used to spend hours in the garden aircraft spotting - it was real planes in those days; no jets!! Wish I could turn the clock back.....