Flight paths

[laalaa]

Ok i apologise as this is totally off topic with regards to florida, but im intrigued and i know there are a few flying enthusiasts on here.

Do airports have specific landing and take off paths?

I live close to an airport, about 3 miles away. If i look straight out my livingroom window I can see approaching to land, in a right to left direction, and taking off vice versa.

I only ever see planes in this specifc area.

However, about five minutes ago I could hear a really loud noise outside. I figured it was a helicopter landing at our local hospital, about half a mile away. Anyway, ive just looked outside, and a large aeroplane has just flown directly over my house. Fairly low as well.

What would be the reason for this?

Do they maybe fly over head and ive just not noticed before cos its been cloudy? Or has the plane had to take a different route for some reason?

Answers on a postcard!

[blott]

I think you're near Glasgow Airport? The plane that went over was probably

21:25 GSM428 PALMA LANDED 0048

as the next flight due to land isn't until 04:00.

If you Google Glasgow Airport, you can check out their website - I can't put the link on here.

Having lived very near Heathrow, planes usually line up for miles and you can see a whole 'string' of them in the distance. They used to look very close together but, of course, our sight perception of distances is different the further away they are - thankfully!

Small airports use the same runway for both take offs and landings and larger airports usually have more choices.

When they change landing flight path, it's usually because either the wind or the runway has altered. It's really late at night now so, if as is pretty usual, the airport has restrictions on night flights, that might be a reason for a change of landing course, particularly if it's a delayed flight.

Blott is right but it could also have been a 'go around' an abandon landing so it could have been as low as 200 feet and with full power on it would also have been very loud[msnwink]

[steph_goodrum]

When there are many aircraft arriving and waiting to land the usual procedure is to "stack" them overhead and call them to land when it's their turn. Their take roughly the same circuit but at different heights and then are given instructions as to what heights to maintain to avoid collision.

Oviously as the runways are set in place the planes have to approach them in a certain direction. We find living close to our local airport (Rochester) that the planes usually take the same routes but there may be the odd one that seems to be out of synch.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
When there are many aircraft arriving and waiting to land the usual procedure is to "stack" them overhead and call them to land when it's their turn. Their take roughly the same circuit but at different heights and then are given instructions as to what heights to maintain to avoid collision.

[/quote]

This is correct however if the aircraft was very low as in the OP it would not have been in the holding pattern as they usually don't drop below around 7000ft.

My guess is that it was more than likely a 'go around/missed approach' in which case the aircraft for whatever reason could be very low and not always on a particular flight path particularly if it was taking avoiding action[msnwink]

[Jill]

When we first married, a long time ago, we lived near Epsom and luckily were not on the main flight path for Heathrow or Gatwick but sometimes things would change and then we would have Concord fly over head. People often would stand outside and watch.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Jill
When we first married, a long time ago, we lived near Epsom and luckily were not on the main flight path for Heathrow or Gatwick but sometimes things would change and then we would have Concord fly over head. People often would stand outside and watch.
[/quote]

I may well have been on one of those flights so I hope you gave us a wave Jill[msnwink]

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

If I remember correctly, that would be the Ockham arrival procedure into Heathrow. This is one of the standard routes for aircraft arriving into LHR and is one that Concorde used a lot.

Ockham is to the west of the Epsom area.

Here is a link to the pilot's charts showing the procedure: http://fly.dsc.net/pdfs/uk/32LL070601.PDF

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Jill
When we first married, a long time ago, we lived near Epsom and luckily were not on the main flight path for Heathrow or Gatwick but sometimes things would change and then we would have Concord fly over head. People often would stand outside and watch.
[/quote]

[Jill]

Julie we frequently went outside and joined neighbours to watch Concord fly over none of us seemed to tire of seeing it. So we must have seen you fly overhead, not that you could have just popped in for a cuppa on the way through!

John thank you for the map we found very interesting as we have not seen one before. You are right as it used to fly to the west of Epsom.

One of the reasons I like this forum there is always someone who has some interesting and helpful information to pass on no matter what the topic.

[Tonish]

My brother lives in Reading and we used to enjy sitting in his back garden to watch Concorde fly directly overhead. It's a real pity we will never see it again.

I sometimes wonder how many times Mach 2 was on the flight. I never had the pleasure of a trip on Concorde, but my father- in-law once won one when he bought a new car. He hates flying but went anyway. He said it was cramped and uncomfortable, but the free champagne made up for it!