Well done ATC

[DaveReidUK]

Kudos to the chaps at Swanwick and Heathrow for demonstrating how to handle an emergency yesterday afternoon.

Korean Air 747F enroute Chicago-Brussels declares an emergency after a main cargo deck fire indication and opts to divert in to LHR.

Heathrow, which is on westerlies with a 5kt SW surface wind, suspends 27R departures/27L arrivals to accommodate an expedited straight-in approach and landing by the Korean on 09L (300kt IAS at FL70 over Swindon).

[BOAC]

Indeed - that is brilliant tactical handling by ATC.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Aaaahhh sweet nostalgia of times long ago when we used to do opposite direction ILS calibrations. Didn't need ExLax in those days..

[LEGAL TENDER]

Heathrow, which is on westerlies with a 5kt SW surface wind, suspends 27R departures/27L arrivals to accommodate an expedited straight-in approach and landing by the Korean on 09L (300kt IAS at FL70 over Swindon).

well what were they supposed to do? take them the long way round so they could launch a few more departures? Maybe put them in the hold for a couple of spins?
It's what we (they) get paid to do. Thank God for unusual circumstances, or they would have already replaced us with computers!

[BOAC]

Presumably they were planned, unlike this.

- no - in HD's days the calibrator just used to declare an emergency and get on with it