Conga1romeo routing ex MAN

[younglad20]

Hello mr pilots(oops sorry mrs as well).I am but a humble wagon dragon but have lived on the staffordshire moorlands just south of the peaks all my life and i live directly under the Conga 1 romeo corridor out of MAN which goes straight over my village,2 miles outside stoke on trent.I know this as i used to have a scanner.It used to be dead busy,especially in summer when you got some big birds eg.BA747-200 and a CKT Tristar bound for Goa EVERY saturday teatime in winter,mostly in thick fog,usually to be indentified by the anti collision lights and unmistakable noise of those RB211's coming over VERY low on departure, this made our village very noisy, yet interesting.Over the last year, traffic seems to have eased off and all we get is the odd RJ or 737 during the day, then a barrage of A300/320/321 and 757/767 at night, LOW!Why is this?I used to be able to hear them call 124.2 and say they were climbing through 1,000 for 4,000 then id see them coming towards me 5 mins later, theyd then call again over my house saying they were passing 7,000 for 11,000 and would be direct "Honnely"?????they would then be handed over at that point to 131.12 and pass over the fields towards Stafford, but now, no low birds and no 747/Tristars.Any clues?

[411A]

Know the routing well, and flew same in a TriStar for a few years.
All the Lockheed three-holers went to storage a couple of years ago...and suspect the 747's have been replaced by Airboos aircraft.

Nice countryside out your way, for sure.

[chiglet]

Younglad,
The SIDs [Standard Instument Departure] have been changed due to the second runway. Off 24, we now have a "LIsto" with an early[ish] left turn, or a "Honily" with a RIGHT:rolleyes: turn to avoid Knutford before turning left. B747/200s still fly from Manch southboud, and [very] occasionally RAF Tristars
Hope this helps
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[df1]

Younglad,

"Honnely" is actually Honiley! Its a VOR-DME situated near to Birmingham Airoport. VOR's are "radio beacons" which are sited all around the country (and most parts of the world). We plan our routes to connect between these beacons off towards our destinations. Some VOR's just give bearing information from a station, but when combined with a DME (distance measuring equipment) they can provide distance info. This can enable you to "fix" your position. For example, your position could be described as "Honiley VOR radial 330 at 40nm DME". Some times pilots fly to these "fixes" or "waypoints" as part of their routing. It is my understanding that Conga was one such waypoint!

VOR's are are part of a family of "navaids" and there are other types also. NDB's are non-direction beacons and these provide a "homing" signal to the NDB. To use these, the aircrew refer to onbaord equiptment called ADF or Automatic Direction Finding. Basically ADF is the kit needed to use NDB's! It works a little like a compass whereby a needle will always tend to point to the tuned station (there are errors when the pointer can be deflected away from the true sense!). VOR's are more popualr as they are easier to use (in my experience) and are accurate and reliable.

More often these days, we are using the famous GPS. This uses satelites to determine your position - extremely accurately!

All of the above, and others, enable pilots to follow SID's which are departure routings designed to get the aircraft onto its required airway/en-route sector. SID's are designed to accommodate for many factors including noise abatement and the occasional need to avoid interference with close-by airports. The Conga 1 Romeo that you mention was one such departure and terminated at the Honiley VOR. If I am not mistaken it has now been replaced by Honiley 1R and Honiley 1Y SIDs?? These have a waypoint at SANBA which is defined as Honiley Radial 337, DME distance 53nm.

Check out:

http://www.ais.org.uk

You will need to register but its free and you can browse the AIP section for details on airports and routings for departures and arrivals.

As for the 747's and Tristars I don't know. The Tristars are pretty much a thing of the past (unfortunatley) but Cathay, Singapore and Malaysia operate 744's (i think) out of Manchester. They would probably follow the DESIG SID I guess since that one seems to put them off int the right direction - I don't know for sur though!

[Pilot Pete]

Conga was Congleton just up the road from Stoke on Trent in Cheshire. I live there now and I still see a/c flying over my house, admittedly haven't seen any 74's and I am lead to believe that before my time in the town the vocal lobby learnt of the 'Conga' departures and complained, hence they were re-named! I guess it must be the LISTO sids?

PP

[df1]

PP,

Whats your local then (pub)?

I am in that way often doing P.R with relatives etc. Ullswater Road area!!

Let me know and we can debate the psychometrics further!!

df1

:ok: