London Banter - View Single Post - BAA still making plans to resurrect dead runway

Bruce[_2_] · June 11th 10, 03:40 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:33:32 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:
On 11 June, 14:05, "Recliner" wrote:

All six runways were built, but when jets arrived, three were closed,
leaving space for a much larger central terminal complex. You can still
make out vestiges of the old runways in aerial shots of Heathrow (eg,
one ran under what is now terminal 3's remote pier).

The two east/west runways were lengthened for the jets, which have much
higher take-off and landing speeds. Runway 23 finally closed in 2005,
but was seldom used in the last few years before then. It was only used
when there were strong cross winds. It's now mainly used as a taxiway,
though the southern end is also used for T4 stands.

L and R do indeed mean the left and right-hand parallel runways of a
pair (the few triple parallel runways denote the central one with a C).

The number is the magnetic compass heading. Thus, 27L is also 09R, and
27R is also 09L. These are, of course, east-west runways, which are the
typical direction in the UK because of the prevailing winds (you rarely
see a north-south runway here). *The numbers are occasionally revised as
the magnetic compass drifts.

That all makes sense, but when I look at Gatwick something confuses
me. It seems to have a second runway, 08L and 26R, to the North of
the main one. I thought Gatwick only had one runway. This one is
rather short, and the markings on it are slightly different to those
on the main runway. What is this used for?

Gatwick has a taxiway that is parallel to the main runway. However,
it can be used as an emergency runway if the main runway is out of
action for any reason. It is not used as a runway under any other
circumstances. In particular, it cannot be used as a second runway
because there would be no proper taxiways and stop bars and all the
other essential features an airport needs to support two runways.

It is constructed to full runway (rather than taxiway) standards
including width, pavement strength and lighting, and has its own sets
of approach lights and VASIs (visual approach slope indicators).

There is a remote possibility that Gatwick may one day build a second
runway. However there is a restrictive covenant that was attached to
the planning permission for the second terminal, and this prevents a
second runway being built until at least 2019.

Furthermore, the current coalition government unequivocally stated
(within hours of the government being formed) that there will be no
second runway at Gatwick. Of course, that doesn't prevent the
decision being reconsidered after 2015.