146 into Heathrow?

[pax britanica]

Walking on Chobham Common this afternoon what looked very much like a mostly white/silver BAe 146 caught my eye , seemingly headed for the Heathrow approach sequence it made quite sharp right turn onto a track which looked like I would head directly for the airport or a very short final.
Get home and no trace on FR24 and no 146 logged on the sight that shows the last 100 ADS-B arrivals at LHR.
Any ideas or was I seeing things
PB

[RVF750]

Might it have landed about 2nm North East of Heathrow.......there's a little place called RAF Northholt there.

[srobarts]

ZE700 which I believe is based at Northolt was noted on another forum to be doing an ILS approach to Newquay shortly before 11am. So it may well have been this one on its way home that you saw.

[DaveReidUK]

ZE700 which I believe is based at Northolt was noted on another forum to be doing an ILS approach to Newquay shortly before 11am. So it may well have been this one on its way home that you saw.It landed back just after 3pm.

Get home and no trace on FR24 and no 146 logged on the sight that shows the last 100 ADS-B arrivals at LHR.Few, if any, 146/RJs have ADS-B and so can't be tracked that way.

[pax britanica]

Many thanks for those comments and I am sure you have answered the question. I did wonder about Northolt but thought that all arrivals were vectored north of LHR because of conflict issues and that when on easterlies Northolt arrivals fly a bit of a dog leg approach for that reason and it was also about the same height as the Heathrow in bounds are over Chobham. However if there was bit of a gap in the LHR arrival stream-and there tends to be around 3pm- then no doubt it could have been possible to arrange something of a short cut .
Thnaks again

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Psst.. Northolt is over 5 miles north of Heathrow.

PB... Northolt arrivals which have flown on airways are treated much like Heathrow arrivals and route to the 4 main holds. Precisely how they get onto final approach at Northolt is in the hands of the Heathrow Directors and depends on other traffic.

[chevvron]

There must be some logical reason for it but the STAR for Northolt for arrivals from the south/southwest always used to be via OCK.

[Hotel Tango]

Few, if any, 146/RJs have ADS-B and so can't be tracked that way.

Quite so re the 146s. However, the RJ-85s and 100s of SWR/BEL/BCY/SCW, to name some of the more common European operators, do show up on FR24.

[pax britanica]

Many thanks to all for informative posts. Yes this had certainly come via Ockham and was following the track of the other inbounds on the downwind for the 09R approach. My initial reaction when I saw it turn was that it was being vectored for a short final but I was also aware of a couple of a/c that had passed ahead of it on the long trek out to the west , when it turned a bit more to the right it made wonder where it was going and I confess I had completely forgotten Northolt.
As you pointed out, no doubt from experience HD, that the airfields are so close together that up to a point the approaches must be pretty much the same and it is another task for the Heathrow approach team to thread the odd Northolt arrival through the stream of LHR inbounds.
Its lovely clear days like today that one realises just how much traffic there is in and around the London area, and to me at least just how fascinating the job of keeping them all safely apart while maintaining the constant stream down the LHR ILS.
Much appreciate everyones comments and explanations

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

There are several ways of dealing with Northolt traffic on easterlies. Firstly, over the top of Heathrow ILS to join for a left hand circuit to Northolt. The Northolt "centreline" is kinked to keep their traffic away from Heathrow ILS traffic. Alternatively, from the south if Heathrow traffic light, the Northolt arrival can be vectored straight in for Northolt, passing through the Heathrow extended centre line but I don't think that happens much nowadays!

[DaveReidUK]

Quite so re the 146s. However, the RJ-85s and 100s of SWR/BEL/BCY/SCW, to name some of the more common European operators, do show up on FR24.You're right, I should have confined my comment to just 146s.

[pax britanica]

HD , Thnaks

I suppose your second method would work if there were no LHR inbounds from North from Bov and Lam but that's pretty unlikely isn't it.

The over the top one works perfectly as that is exactly the direction it seemed to be headed and hence my being puzzled. It seemed much the same height as the other inbounds were over Chobham common which I am guessing is 3-5000 ft and presumably it is just kept at that level until well past Heathrow and then circles back onto the Northolt easterly approach.

I must admit though that having lived between Stanwell and Camberley in various places for 40 odd years I had never actually seen this before hence it intriguing me.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

PB. There is one controller dealing with Bovingdon and Lambourn traffic and one dealing with Ockham and Biggin. They liaise constantly and decide on a course of action for the Northolt inbounds. One from the south would be descended to get it under the Heathrow traffic from the north. A straight-in to Northolt (second method) is only used if there is a natural space in Heathrow landers, or the radar controllers agree to leave a space for it.

[RVF750]

If you have a think, why on earth would you equip the Royal Flight with ADS-B? the LAST thing you want is everyone seeing where they are......

[DaveReidUK]

If you have a think, why on earth would you equip the Royal Flight with ADS-B? the LAST thing you want is everyone seeing where they are...... You might be surprised at some of the aircraft that are fitted with ADS-B when common sense would suggest the opposite.

The US Navy's E-6B Mercury airborne command post aircraft spring to mind.

[SpringHeeledJack]

The US Navy's E-6B Mercury airborne command post aircraft spring to mind.

Perhaps that's to let them be seen by various 'whomevers' in a sort of OpenSkies way ? What does GOTO FMS mean anyway ? :suspect:



SHJ