Thanks surfer, you've made an old man very happy to hear that again. I was working with him today. Never a dull moment......

Thanks for the great link SA :ok:. Good times.

Thanks a million surfingatco. I was there at the time - amazing! And I was heavily involved in "looking after" MR many, many times. Broke my heart when it got junked.. And everything on that tape is kosher!

What a lovely thread! Could someone please divulge the procedure for a 'Westcott snatch'? Sounds fascinating. As a frequent user of the MAN shuttles, it'd be nice to know what's coming!

And out of interest, would that Heathrow Director be Bren, G4DYO? If so, greetings from GW4FRX. . .

A "Westcott Snatch" is mainly utilised when EGLL are landing Easterlies. Normally the release point for arrivals from the Enroute to Approach guys is Bovingdon, hence the standard "leave BNN heading 250 etc......". This is due to the interaction with stuff departing Luton and alike that may be in conflict. Should there be nothing to affect this, the Enroute may release the arrival at Westcott, thus allowing the Approach controller to turn and descend it earlier (with respect to the controlled airspace steps out that way...........see the Mike Romeo story for that one :ok:).

Obviously, it's quicker than going all the way to BNN, and can be very helpful in getting stuff in and out of the way, especially if there is traffic coming from Lambourne.

From a drivers point of view, the heads up will be "Leave WCO heading" or issued a heading before BNN. It's not uncommon to be told to fly a higher speed than the normal 250/220 knots (or GLF = "go like f**k"). The heading from Westcott is pretty much going to be your base leg, normally point at a 12ish mile final (traffic permitting of course). And of course you'll be issues with a range as we wouldn't want to rush things stupidly now ;)

Hey, Jer, that almost reads like you know what you're talking about! :}

Believe me, when you're doing Fin and you have Hammy on your left and a certain curly haired Bournemouth supported on your right, you learn real quick where the jets are coming at you from ;)

ACW599 - that's me!

There's a good story (probably related many times on here somewhere) about a lady 757 driver who asked if she would get a snatch at Westco.. After a few seconds silence a Brit Midland bloke said: "Come on London, are you going to give her one or not"..... (well.. that's roughly what happened anyway)

Just heard Billy Connolly talking about the female weight lifter with the 150 pound snatch - ooh err missus!!!!