BOV ? Have they moved BNN then ? :confused::}

No; he can't spell!

Yes, I meant BNN. I had intended to write Bovingdon out in full, but in my laziness abbreviated it erroneously.

However, isn't BOV the alternate hold for when BNN is out of service, based on a radial from BIG, co-located with the coordinates of BNN, if I recall correctly?

BOVVA is the alternate :ok:

Thanks. I knew it there in the back of my mind, but couldn't recall exactly.

Can any of you more knowledgeable guys account for why the VOR on Stapleford airfield is called LAMbourne, and the VOR on (former) Wisley airfield is called OCKham ? Biggin Hill manages the same name for both quite OK.

I'm up in Hampstead, and seem to get woken up by the early morning heavies and see a lot of the late evening arrivals from the Far East finalising their 'downwind', and if walking the dog up Kite Hill can clearly see their 'base leg' before lining up (thanks HD, had no idea of the phrase!).

As I work closely with a lot of Far East airlines I can always (and sorry for being dull) recognise the airlines in the evening - I tend to see most evenings, almost tailgating the BR 777 following the SQ 380, TG 747 and an EK 380 - but very few BA / VS birds (as I guess most of their Far East trench of flights arrive early am into LHR), and very little smaller.

So, I guess a follow up question is - is there actually a scheduled pattern for the early morning and late evening arrivals from the East to come over North London?
But US / Europe flights to be directed to another holding area? i.e. further South?
Or is it just my Far East bias that means I just don't notice any other airlines?

Landing on 27R from BIG, the aircraft hits the ILS around Clapham/Brixton then and gets handed over to Hearthow Tower around EGLW?

ps Which is preferred Aircraft or Airplane?

PhineasC.. After a lifetime in ATC I never heard of an aircraft in the air hitting the ILS! The point at which aircraft establish on the ILS is determined by the radar controllers and can be anywhere from 6 to 20+ miles from touchdown.

The point at which aircraft are transferred to Heathrow Tower is variable and is not until the aircraft has reported fully established on the ILS.

Airplane is an Americanism. Aeroplane is preferred I suggest.

Sam Bee. The holding areas to which aircraft are cleared depend on their routes into the UK. Traffic from the north goes to Bovingdon. This includes internal Shuttles from Scotland, Manchester and also trans-Atlantic traffic using northerly routes. Traffic from the east goes to Lambourne; that from the southeast to Biggin and from the west and southwest to Ockham. As already mentioned, when one particularly hold is busy (or full up) traffic will be directed to one of the others.

119 to Croydon Airport (Colonnades)
 

The thing that amazed me when I rode the 119 to the New Year Aerojumble at Croydon was that it's a 24/7 round-the-clock bus service (like many buses in London. now)

I apologize for the unfortunate terminology, I think what I meant is called intercept, that is the point at which the aeroplane detects the ILS and is available for the pilots to use if they choose.

Phileas Fogg
 

I shall probably live to regret letting people know what I got up to as a little lad in Wimbledon, BUT if you want to relive those joyous days of old look at this website... busesatwork.co.uk and you'll find complete histories of all those routes.

Talking of ILS their localiser range can be quite long. I can remember 'locking-on' to the ILS at Gan (southerly part of the Maldives) from over 90 miles out in a Hercules.

> Can any of you more knowledgeable guys account for why the VOR on
> Stapleford airfield is called LAMbourne, and the VOR on (former) Wisley
> airfield is called OCKham ? Biggin Hill manages the same name for both
> quite OK.

Ocham VOR started life as Wisley (coding WIS). However, there were several "interesting" events when Wisley was misheard for Ibsley (coding IBY), which was another VOR just north of Ringwood in Hampshire. So, Wisley was changed to Ockham to avoid such confusion, and has remained so even well after the demise of Ibsley.

I seem to recall that Lambourne started life as Ongar (coding ONG). Although I cannot be sure, I suspect it was changed for similar reasons.

Then we have Bovingdon that used to be called Garston, and Midhurst that was intended to be called Blackdown. The latter actually transmitted as BLA during its test phase, but was already Midhurst when it came into service.

NN

Interesting, I heard years ago that MID is actually located at Northchapel but that was considered potentialy difficult for overseas pilots to pronounce, hence Midhurst. Looking at the map I see Blackdown Hiil is just west of Northchapel - is the VOR actually on the hill?

<<I seem to recall that Lambourne started life as Ongar (coding ONG)>>

As in "We're coming up on Mrs Ongar's coffee shop...", as said to me by a TWA pilot one day!

Bovingdon started life moons ago as Watford and was later called Leavesden too.

Does this help explain anything?

http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadba...2011-06-02.pdf

Well... I'll reply from the pilots point of view rather than all of these Tower geezer types. It's easier to fly a 'U' shape than an 'X' or 'F'... Too many 'g' in the pull through to the middle slash bit....

'W's are okay in an F16, but a bit of a bugger in a 340......... We 340 guys like the 'L' or 'I' shapes:ok::ok::ok:

Hope this helps:)

The VOR is to the East of Northchapel conveniently marked as beacon on OS maps.

Ah, thanks eglnyt, my reference map at work was a fairly dodgy road atlas - I'll dig out my 1.25000!