bragging again ACARS, is it in inches or CM?

AMS - Diversions
 

We're getting a number of what appear to be diversions into AMS right now.
An SAA A340, BA B747 & just seen a US Airways bus.
Any clues as to where they're all coming from?
Cheers

I see he didn't put mb on the end of that one either, not sure what he's implying :hmm:

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From Gatwick and Heathrow as they hv holding delays due to the wind

Methinks it's the new-fangled metricated SI unit thingie....

Looking at the metar's for LHR and GAT there must be some very good xwinds there. Some attempts at landing will be very interesting to watch.

Better in the air than at sea?!
 

Be glad you're not at sea; latest shipping forecast courtesy of BBC site:
The latest buoy readings in that area indicate 17 metre waves at a frequency of 14 seconds - quite a ride:eek::eek::yuk:

Ooops, just dropped the parents off at the bus station for thier trip to Southampton, they are due to sail at 5pm tonight. I think this is the first time Ive said rather them than me!!!!!!

Ta very much!!! Had a feeling it was the UK and the impending storm. In fact we just got notified of possible hefty delays in the next few days caused by low pressure.

weather at LGW was horrid earlier this morning really gusty on the approach--think 2 USAir aircraft went to AMS--have been watching the landings from quite early, quite a few go arounds-a few are coming back in now as the wind had dropped that had diverted a few hours ago

Really strong gusts of wind at LGW this morning and heavy rain-has just started to brighten up --- now we have have lightening flashes out to the west all good fun!
Quite a few diversions earlier,and a few go arounds-well done to the LGW tower today they have been extremely helpful!:)

Wessex RPS 948Hpa. Gusting 64kts at EGDR

Please could someone post links for the youtube coverage of this mornings action, so I can post critiques from my sofa.

Heathrow without Rwy 23...
 

Here is the sequence of METARS showing the crosswinds at London-Heathrow this morning, followed by the latest 9-hour TAF.
Remember that, due to protocols, no gust below 10 knots is reported on METARS.

Visibility on Rwy 27R is currently (1150z) affected by blowing spray in light rain-shower.

EGLL 100320Z 17020G31KT 9999 -RA SCT018 BKN025 07/04 Q0982
EGLL 100350Z 17020KT 9999 -RA SCT020 BKN025 06/04 Q0980 TEMPO 17025G35KT RA
EGLL 100420Z 17020KT 9999 -RA SCT018 BKN021 07/04 Q0978 TEMPO 17025G35KT RA
EGLL 100450Z 17023KT 9999 -RA BKN014 07/05 Q0976 TEMPO 17025G35KT 4500 RA
EGLL 100520Z 17020G31KT 9000 RA SCT016 BKN020 07/05 Q0974 TEMPO 17025G42KT 4500 RA BKN014
EGLL 100550Z 17023G34KT 8000 RA BKN016 07/05 Q0973 TEMPO 18026G44KT 4500 RA BKN014
EGLL 100620Z 17025G35KT 6000 RA BKN015 BKN023 07/05 Q0971 TEMPO 17030G45KT 4500 BKN012
EGLL 100650Z 17023G33KT 6000 RA FEW016 BKN022 07/05 Q0971 TEMPO 17026G43KT 4500 RA BKN014
EGLL 100720Z 17023KT 5000 RA BKN015 BKN022 07/05 Q0970 TEMPO 17027G43KT 4500 RA BKN012
EGLL 100750Z 17024G34KT 6000 RA BKN016 BKN022 07/05 Q0968 TEMPO 4000 BKN014
EGLL 100820Z 18025G39KT 6000 RA SCT016 BKN022 08/06 Q0967 TEMPO 4000 BKN014
EGLL 100850Z 22018KT 9999 -RA FEW016 SCT022 BKN046 08/05 Q0968 RERA TEMPO SHRA
EGLL 100920Z 24021G31KT 9999 -RA FEW015 SCT023 06/04 Q0969 TEMPO SHRA SCT020CB
EGLL 101020Z 19017KT 9999 FEW023 08/04 Q0968 TEMPO SHRA sct020cb
EGLL 101050Z 20018KT 9999 FEW028 09/04 Q0968 TEMPO SHRA SCT020CB

EGLL 101150Z 19021KT 7000 R27R/1400 -SHRA FEW018 SCT025 08/05 Q0967 RESHRA TEMPO SHRA SCT020CB

The wind has now veered and/or abated for the time being. In the absence of much information, I wonder how many diversions there have been so far...

The decision to close Heathrow Rwy 23, to enable expansion of parking stands at T4, was no doubt caused by the planning delays to T5. :{
But it looks questionable on days like this morning. There have been no north-south runways in the South of England since Thorney Island closed many years ago. But at least we had the south-westerly ones at Heathrow and Stansted. Now we only have the Stansted one.
[EGHI (Eastleigh) operators must forgive me, but I can't see a jumbo diverting your way.]

Gatwick Rwy 26 can be a nightmare in strong south-to-SW wind, because of the turbulence/windsheer in the lee of the south-side hangars. I should know - having once performed a go-around from 50ft in a DC10-30 after a flight across the pond. We went to Stansted that day, which caused chaos. [The W/V there was 230/50, but nice and steady.]

So, would Rwy 23 at LHR actually have helped this morning, with a reported W/V of 180/25-39 (at 0815z)?
On the face of it, 50 degrees off makes the 39-knot gust into a crosswind-component of about 30 knots. This is sporting, but easier than 39 knots on Rwy 27L/R.
The 170/25-35 reported at 0615z equates to a gust-component of 30 knots on Rwy 23; 35 knots on Rwy27L/R.

Not much difference, perhaps? Ah, you have forgotten that the wind usually veers at least 10 - 20 degrees in a big gust (Northern Hemisphere). As PKPF68-77 has pointed out on another thread (?), Met observers seem to be omitting these direction-changes from the METARS, except when the change is about 30 degrees (?). But even 10 degrees makes a big difference in a 40-knot gust.

The forecast suggests that the problems in the South-East may not yet be over...
You Schiphol-based pilots always had a better chance of getting home - on days like this - than the rest of us.

TAF EGLL100902Z
10 1019 20015G25KT 9999 BKN020
TEMPO 1119 20025G35KT 6000 SHRA BKN020CB
PROB30% TEMPO 1219 18028G45KT 3000 +SHRA TSRA BKN014CB
BECMG 1618 26025G35KT

Safe homecomings to everyone, and... ENJOY ! ;)

For all your SLF & sofa flyers:

www.wunderground.com just input yr airport code for latest metars & historicals. Also www.metoffice.com. Here you'll have to register for free
TAFS,METARs & charts.

Can't give you a definitive answer, I'm afraid. My understanding has been that all the London-area TAFs are done by a Heathrow-based Forecaster, who also issues Trend (2-hour) forecasts as suffixes to the LHR METARs only.

My own comment was aimed at the ACTUAL W/Vs; not the TREND W/Vs.

We were put on a Local stanbye (weather) this morning at 04:20 (Heathrow AFS). Just a quick note to say well done to all the jockies out there that came into LHR, in my last hour of shift we had 12 go arounds and one Australian carrier decided he would prefer to drop his pax at Stansted. :}

METAR W/V reporting-protocols, (continued)
 

Following my earlier remarks, and PKPF68-77's input, here is the latest Heathrow METAR:

EGLL 101220Z 18022KT 160V230 7000 -SHRA SCT015 BKN023 07/05 Q0965 TEMPO SHRA SCT020CB

Is the fact that they have reported the direction variability, at last, just a coincidence?

Or has our distinguished ex-aerodrome-forecaster forumite got even more influence, with the "powers that be", than we suspected? ;)


[Nice one, Time Traveller !] We're all in that category, sadly, without "a life".

[QUOTE]Remember that, due to protocols, no gust below 10 knots is reported on METARS.[/QUOTE

Not surprising really since the definition of a gust is 10 kt or more from the mean windspeed.

Thanks for posting the METARS though - very interesting!

I work in Lingfield, Surrey - directly under the approach for runway 26 at LGW. Was horrid this morning on the way into work (5 fallen trees between Tunbridge Wells and here) then cleared and is now back to windy wet weather. Went out and got my lunch earlier and watched a couple of planes on approach, thinking they're earning their crust today! One a/c was already gear down as it was over here; normally they aren't from what I've observed before.