LHR and LCY opposite approaches
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LHR and LCY opposite approaches
I apologise in advance if this has already been done - I thought I could remember this being covered before but could not find it.
I happened to be working in the City of London this morning and I noticed that aircraft going into Heathrow were approaching the airport from the east, yet aircraft going into London City were approaching the airport from the west.
I wondered whether it causes ATC any additional complications when these two airports are approaching from different directions?
I happened to be working in the City of London this morning and I noticed that aircraft going into Heathrow were approaching the airport from the east, yet aircraft going into London City were approaching the airport from the west.
I wondered whether it causes ATC any additional complications when these two airports are approaching from different directions?
Last edited by togsdragracing; 21st Jan 2014 at 16:19. Reason: Clarification
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LHR and LCY opposite approaches
If you take a look on flight trackers you will note that at the approximate "conflict" point around tower bridge LCY traffic is around 2500ft whilst LHR traffic is around 5000 ft. I live under the flight paths so watch them both!
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Thanks folks. I would imagine that quite a lot of damage could be done at the "conflict point" by an idiot with a zoom lens and/or a gullible tabloid newspaper.
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It's next to my house and I have seen more than a few amazing photo opportunities, always with the camera at home or in the bag. There was almost a serious incident a while back when a Citation out of LCY kept climbing beyond it's cleared altitude heading North towards a descending THY B777 heading South and descending. Both were in cloud and TCAS procedures were not properly followed. For a time afterwards, all LCY traffic was forced to read back the 3000 ft limit when they got their clearance. That has now stopped.....
It might be safe but it's not what you'd call ideal IMHO. The fun bit of going into LHR over Canary Wharf is watching the BA ERJs powering out of LCY and heading (apparently) right at you.
It might be safe but it's not what you'd call ideal IMHO. The fun bit of going into LHR over Canary Wharf is watching the BA ERJs powering out of LCY and heading (apparently) right at you.
I happened to be working in the City of London this morning and I noticed that aircraft going into Heathrow were approaching the airport from the east, yet aircraft going into London City were approaching the airport from the west.
Heathrow operates what's known as a "westerly preference". That means that even in a light easterly wind (or any wind with a light easterly component), 27s are still the preferred runway. In those conditions LCY will probably be operating on easterlies as you don't really want to land there with a tailwind.
Heathrow Noise: Westerly preference
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Straighten Up,
When LCY is landing 09 traffic will be at 2,000ft crossing Tower Bridge. Aircraft are descended to 2,000ft on the downwind leg before being abeam LCY airport. Leaving plenty of space with LHR westerly arrivals.
As peter_griffen says it's more of a potential conflict point when both are on Westerlies as the stop altitude on departures off 27 @LCY is 3,000ft. With a good headwind the E-Jet can be above 2,500ft as it turns,or shortly after turning north abeam the dome. It's not too uncommon to get a TCAS traffic alert under certain conditions.
RJ.
When LCY is landing 09 traffic will be at 2,000ft crossing Tower Bridge. Aircraft are descended to 2,000ft on the downwind leg before being abeam LCY airport. Leaving plenty of space with LHR westerly arrivals.
As peter_griffen says it's more of a potential conflict point when both are on Westerlies as the stop altitude on departures off 27 @LCY is 3,000ft. With a good headwind the E-Jet can be above 2,500ft as it turns,or shortly after turning north abeam the dome. It's not too uncommon to get a TCAS traffic alert under certain conditions.
RJ.
