BAA couldn't care less about visitors or enthusiasts! The person I feel so sorry for is the Mach 3/Aviation Retail Direct shop that sells everything any enthusiast could want. First the roof gardens were closed and Mach 3 were forced to close their shop there and now the Visitors Centre is closed and their second shop has been forced to close! Is it really so expensive and difficult to make an official viewing area on the approach somewhere, up-sun? They would make a lot of money out of it if it was sensibly thought out?:ugh:

You have quite clearly forgotten we are talking about BAA here! :E

i think if they did it properly and had a shop and cafe they could probably generate substantial revenues at a "premier" world airport.
It wouldnt be just enthusiasts that visit the facility. Meeters/greeters and those with time to kill between flights - you used to see them all the time on the Queens Building. Something to take the kids to at half term as well....
Sounds like a sound business case to me.

Which is the reason the Visitor's Centre was/is a flop. Although someone must have had a Good Thought at one time about providing such a facility, the implementation was badly done - double-glass, facing South etc. - such that it attracted few repeat customers. (I suspect the 'someone' no longer works for BAA !). Despite promises to 'look into' both LHR and LGW, I do not expect to see any facilities of any kind. Much more fun chasing spotters around the perimeter :hmm:

You're all absolutely right and I wrote to the BAA PR office about it, only to receive a 'stock answer' in that the Government advised that all public viewing areas be closed on security grounds. The stupid thing about all this is that they don't think logically. Okay, the roof gardens at Heathrow on Terminal 2 and the Queens Building were wonderful viewing areas and could possibly be used by a terrorist to attack an airliner, but do you really think they could do that surrounded by lots of photographers and spotters?:confused: Did they consult any of the hoards that used to gather up there to see what the alternative could be...NO! So they build this useless 'Visitors Centre' completely in the wrong place. If I was given the task, I'll tell you where I would build it - the grass area at the end of Myrtle Avenue on the approachto 27L. If you don't know where I'm talking about, you are obviously not a Heathrow regular! An alternative would be to knock down the small white sheds between the BA Engineering Base and the main runway approach, both locations Up-Sun and exactly where photographers/spotters have stood for years and years without causing any trouble whatsover! Have BAA considered these locations - NO WAY!:*

Don't destroy the open field at Myrtle Ave! I was there yesterday (Sunday) shortly before 2pm in hope they would change from 27R to 27L for landings earlier than the usual 3pm. I left for Hatton Cross as the rain started shortly before 3pm without see any arrivals. The only else joining me on that field were three guys and a girl from Polen, but they were more interested in consuming the content of their beer cans.

http://www.plane-spotter.com/Jpegs/L...e/TheField.jpg

By the way - I was under the roof at Hatton Cross as the hail started around 4pm - and watched the KLM 737-900 PH-BXS taking a go around due to the wind conditions.

Yes, I was not serious, but just pointed out the ideal viewing spots that are 100% better than the so-called 'Visitors Centre'. This is council property anyway and outside the airport boundary. The other location near the BA Engineering Base would be the ideal location.

Compare it with another popular leisure activity in this country - supporting a premiership football club:

Most spotters are thrifty at best and don't really want to spend [much]. Airports are businesses and shareholders and owners need to see a return on capital invested.

The reason why there are huge stands at football grounds like Old Trafford is because football fans will shell out hundreds of pounds a year, or well over £20 per game, for a couple of hours of entertainment each week. LHR is in the "premiership" of airports, but even if the facilities were built how many spotters would shell out hundreds of pounds for the ability to sit and watch airplanes week in week out, how many spotters would pay well upwards of £20 per person for a couple of hours or even a day using good viewing facilities - plenty moan at paying a few quid for parking, or go elsewhere to avoid such charges, and even when they do pay they bring butties rather than use catering facilities which would also generate ROI.

So, I suspect its over as far as official facilities at LHR are concerned - OK, the visitor centre was in the wrong place, but any replacement is really not going to generate the return any business needs to justify investment.

A

Part of me agrees with you EastMids, and then part of me thinks that providing good facilities with plenty of parking space and just a minimum of catering options - all at competitive prices - would generate sufficient funds to cover operating costs. There would also be security benefits. It's a tough call.

Whoever runs the viewing area at Manchester seems to have made a reasonable success of it.

Was wondering how long it would be before someone mentioned Manchester! Makes you wonder why Machester can offer suberb spotting facilities, but BAA can't? Apart from the obvious answers! Still have yet to visit Manchester to comment on their viewing facilities.

Just out of interest, another BAA airport has recently shut its viewing area, the one at Southampton.:uhoh:

Football fans shell out hundreds (maybe thousands) a year because they have no choice, vantage points overlooking premiership grounds are few and far between, so its pay to get in or subscribe to Sky TV.

"Spotters" do just that it doesnt have to be at the airport, photographers on the other hand, do have to be near and will pay to do their thing, take Sharjah for instance, I think the last time I did Sharjah it was £40 for the day.

There is still a viewing area, but only for passengers flying out (after security check on the upper floor).

http://www.plane-spotter.com/Jpegs/E...iewingArea.jpg

This photo is taken in the evening of 24 March as we (the PLANE-SPOTTER.com crew) waited on our flight BE871 to MAN.

Kurt - editor PLANE-SPOTTER.com

I stand corrected!

Just another question, I have been to LHR on several occasions but have only got approach shots, would love to get some touchdown shots? After reading about the man and his ladder earlier in this thread? Is there any other way of getting touchdown shots?

Also any other hints to taking "different shots" at LHR?

This is one of my attempts.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../Virgin747.jpg

There is always the possibility to stay at Renaissance Hotel. They have a Plane Spotter Package where you get a room on the top floor facing runway 27R, and you can get this kind of photo:

http://www.plane-spotter.com/Jpegs/L...nce/9A-CTI.jpg
Photo taken shortly before 8am - sadly the windows of the hotel is very brown tinted and the cleaning is so and so.

Kurt

and you're facing south which is not much good on a bright sunny day!

Correct Avman - between 10am and 4pm the light conditions are not suitable for using a camera.

Ha, one of the most famous airports in the world and it does nothing for spotters!

How does the Aviation Experience at BHX do? Is it costing more than it makes? I visited it recently when passing through BHX and found it surprisingly large! Crap views of T1, limited views of T2 but good view of the south half of the runway, albeit it quite distance away. The place was fairly crowded even though the crap wx. £1 entry or 50p for kids, free for passengers, it's not superb for photography but at least it gives us a place to gather. I'm told you don't even get moved on from the main longstay carpark, where you are only 60m or so from the runway and right under the approach.

I can understand the security situation, closing down the visitors centre at LHR might save a few £££ but how much extra hassle will it cause for the local police? Do you think everyone will stop visiting LHR? Phtt, fat chance!

Kestrel 909

Can't see for the life of me what the spotting facilities at BHX has to do with this thread, but there you go.

I was at LHR on Easter Monday and went to the visitor centre, haven't been there for yonks but went to buy a copy of AL. The coffee was hot and the loos were clean and I even ventured into the tiered stand in the car park, luxury...NOT!! The guy at the Mach3 shop was saying that they were scheduling a meeting with BAA to find out what was ultimately going to happen to them.

I then went down to the approach of 27R and parked round the back of the factory units. I only saw one police patrol all day and that didn't bother me, all in all a nice few hours were spent watching the world go by.

I used to regularly go to Heathrow and Gatwick to photograph aircraft before they shut the viewing decks down. I had been hearing rumours even before 9/11 that BAA wanted to shut the observation deck at Heathrow so it provided a perfect excuse for them - that is if they hadn't waited until February 2003 to do it. The answer provided by BAA to Amos Keeto's enquiry is absolute rubbish in that "the Government advised that all public viewing areas be closed on security grounds". If that was so, then why haven't the viewing areas at Manchester and Birmingham been closed down?

The reason is far more likely that it is BAA Corporate Policy that all their viewing areas should be closed down and that aircaft enthusiasts should actively be discouraged from visiting their airports. Instead of hiding behind "Government advice", why can't they just be honest with people and tell them the truth which is that they weren't making enough money from aircraft enthusiasts etc and thet they wanted to use the space to built yet more fast food outlets and underwear shops? If someone at BAA had used a little common sense, they would have realised that having all the spotters in one place where they can easily be supervised with the minimum of fuss and expense would have presented far less of a security problem than having them dotted all around the airport perimeter - hardly rocket science, is it?

I visited the Visitor Centre when it first opened about 10 years ago and decided straight away that it was a complete waste of time due to it's location. Someone at BAA must have thought really long and hard about that one. They might as well have put it up in the Orkneys for all the use it was.

But the people I do feel sorry for are the people at Mach 3 - not only were they turfed off Terminal 2 and looking at their website at the time, they were under the impression that it was only a temporary measure. Now they've been turfed out of the Visitor Centre as well!

It's obvious that BAA haven't got the business acumen to realise that the visitors of today could well be the passengers of tomorrow. I for one will never fly from a BAA owned airport if I can possibly help it. I would much rather fly from somewhere like Manchester, Birmingham or even Amsterdam.