Heathrow Arrivals
 

Like many sad.bug...s on here I watch FR24 a lot..happy memories of Heathrow as a spotter....can some of our more “ experienced “ ATCOS on here help....at the moment I see maximum 5 ?. Lights on final approach..I’m sure 30 plus years ago I saw up to 8 aircraft on finals...is that my memory playing tricks or not??? Have things changed. Or is it sadly ...me!!!

The Final Approach Tracks are (were?) calibrated to 15nm from touchdown. Traffic is (was) rarely turned on to intercept the localiser beyond 15nm (if only because it's slightly odd vectoring to a line which isn't there). With an average 3nm separation that makes 5 on final at best. If there are any more than five then the final is probably 'out too far'.

Try https://www.adsbexchange.com/ , select Global radar View, select all trails and enable an EGLL-only filter. It will then depict all the well-worn grooves in the sky of the Heathrow Radar Manouvering Area. Then count the number on final!

7/8 would be the absolute maximum, all medium vortex wake and with a strong headwind to get them 2.5 miles in trail. (Extended centrelines go out to 20 Miles, as does the ‘limit’ of Heathrow airspace)

Lots more heavies and 380s inbound now so it’s rare to see 7 on final approach these days.

Yes, but that assumes time-based separation, which doesn't account for what the OP was seeing 30 years ago.

TBS is only applied between vortex pairs so it isn’t applied between mediums Dave. (Not yet anyway!)

30 years ago the minimum spacing between mediums was 2.5nm now it’s (not less than) 2.5nm, effectively the same but there needs to be a strong headwind to employ 2.5 nm spacing.

That sounds like de facto TBS in all but name to me. :O

I remember when I joined IAL in 1977 and was doing a spot of training at Viscount House (I think that was the name; a BEA establishment). I left work late one evening and it was one of those very clear, crisp November evenings and I happened to look toward the East and there was an amazing sight; lots of aircraft all following each other on approach for what seemed miles. My first thought was "this must be what Led Zepplin had in mind when they wrote Stairway to Heaven". I don't know how many aircraft there were but it was a lot!

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Sure it wasn't 'Viking' House? I did an ATCO Cadet 'How to fly a Trident in 2 weeks' course there in '74 and it's quite close to where the IAL HQ was in those days.

Viscount House was the BEA Engineering HQ, close to the 27L threshold.

https://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/...28cca6c7_m.jpg

Wasn’t the sim in Cranebank?
AyrTC

The BOAC ones were.

The Trident and other BEA ones were at the Heston training centre.

Yes the Viking House I went to was in Southall right on the NW corner of Heston Airfield RIP