How are the Heathrow take-off and landing flight paths decided upon?

Answer 1

Given that the aircraft must take off and land into the wind, the exact path that they use to depart the area and arrive at the final approach fix are still subject to wide variation. I'm a US pilot and my British airport guide is at home (and ten years out of date) so I can't be precise, but factors that affect the route of planes into and out of Heathrow include:
* Where are the planes coming from or going to?
* Which neighborhoods around the airport complain a lot about noise?
* Is the Queen at Windsor? (Don't route traffic over Windsor Castle if she's in residence) (This one is a guess)
* Safety: don't run planes over densely populated areas at low altitudes
* Weather: if there's a thunderstorm moving in from the north, bring planes in from the south.

and so on. Often politicians get involved. The standard approaches and departures get published in booklets pilots can buy (and even subscribe to updates), but the air traffic controllers may change the routing at any time for any of these reasons.

Answer 2

There are 3 main runways in use at Heathrow. The prevailing wind is westerly and therefore the 2 primary runways are aligned east/west as it is far prefereable to land into wind. As the wind is predominately westerly the majority of flights fly over central london on approach to Runway 27 (27 means that it is aligned on a bearing of 270 - ie West). They land on either 27 Left or 27 Right. The other runway is used for departing aircraft which increases the capacity of the airfield. You will notice there is a regular interval between aircraft on the approach - this accounts for "wake vortex" which is the enormous disturbance in the air caused by the production of lift by the wings and the engines (much like a boat's wake) - the approach controller determines this interval in accordance with the rules. Aircraft tend to be stacked in a racetrack pattern, separated by 1000feet vertically. When an aircraft reaches the bottom of the stack (there are several of these around London) they then fly the approach on a Standard Instrument Approach. On the rare occasion that the wind is more easterly than westerly, aircraft approach to Runway 09L or 09R (ie the same runway as 27, but approaching from the other way). The overriding factor in determining the route of the approach is aircraft safety - the earlier the aircraft is lined up with the runway the better. Departure paths are decided by, amongst other things, where the aircraft is going after take off.

Answer 3

The Heathrow approach and departure paths are all predetermined. They can be found with reference to the airport 'plates' (diagrams) in a Pooley's or similar airport directory. An AC will follow published SID (standard instrument departure) or STAR (Standard Arrival) patterns which have been worked out by the UK CAA (civil aviation authority) and are only changed if obstacles such as tall buildings, masts or cranes are erected temporarily or permanently resulting in vertical clearance when taking off or landing being reduced below acceptable minima. A jet will aim to descend along the ILS (instrument landing system - composing of two radio signals, one projected along the centreline of the runway for approx. 25 miles and the other from the runway threshold at a 3 degree angle into the air for approx. 10 miles). The jet will be looking to acheive about 300 feet per minute descent rate in this final stage of the approach. Noise abatement has had a great effect on these published procedures, different for each airport, to attempt to route aircraft away from noise-sensitive areas, as much as safely possible. There is an example of an approach plate here: http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/04fs/tutorial/tut_minima.htm
This shows vertical and horizontal pictures of the runway you want to use at a certain airport. The inbound ILS is shown as a paper dart with a bold 251 degrees at the end (indicating the runway direction - a runway facing this direction will be called Runway 25). It shows two VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) beacons, coded Metro and Charlie, where you can see a racetrack pattern for holding aircraft, north and south of the final approach to runway 25. An AC approaching from a northerly direction would be instructed to hold at Metro pending clearance to land and would then take one of the three joining routes published there to intercept the ILS for runway 25, same for AC approaching from the southerly directions for the Charlie VOR.
The horizontal picture shows what height the AC must be at at each stage of the final approach - D9.1 or 9.1 miles out you need to be at 4000 feet height above mean sea level, or 3638 feet above ground. The D means DME, Distance Measuring Equip't, another radio beacon you'll have in your AC. It also published instructions for the eventuality of a 'missed approach' - i.e. you're coming in too fast or high - and you decide you want to 'go around' and have another crack at it.

I hope this helps!

Answer 4

Agreeing with the previous answer.......also if the wind is right, the controlers will assign the runway for landings so as to land AGAINST the wind. if more than one runway is aligned with the wind, one runway is used for takeoffs and one for landings, except if one (say landing) runway is extremely packed (like heathrow) controllers will assign planes to land on the designated takeoff runway. if there are other runways that are alighed with the wind, these runways are decided traffic by the controllers based on other runway's activity (so if the "active" runways are full, mixed takeoffs and landings cold be done on this(these) runway)
If there is only one runway aligned with the wind, controllers may use longer runways that are cross-winded for traffic or, if there is little traffic, just use the single runway as what is called the active.

Answer 5

Landing and take-off are into wind to reduce ground speed. The strength of cross-wind allowable varies with aircraft type and size.
Runways are typically aligned to prevailing wind direction. Flight path is controlled by runway alignment, direction of travel, noise abatement and airways

Answer 6

Wind direction. According to Meryl Getline's "Ask the Captain" column in USA Today, airports with only one approach often have limited access if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction (first link), and runway directions are decided by the prevailing wind (second link).

Answer 7

All i know that there are three runways at London Heathrow. There is a landing runway from North to South, another runway for East to West, and a cross runway.

Answer 8

i took a piloting class in High School...the Jeppesen manual says that take offs and landings are related to the prevailing wind (direction). take off is into the wind, and landing is with the wind.

Answer 9

Flight paths replace reckoning on winds and climate, and native noise ordinances related to time of day. Then there are alterations besides by using temporary community air area regulations. EDIT: friSbee - thanks for that link. eye-catching, and scary. Flight density in Europe and the jap US is astounding.

Answer 10

they must take off against the wind for max. lift
same with landing