1977, would walk down that runway every morning to work at the London Graving Dock ship repairs. Of course, back then it was a road with storage sheds and cranes on each side. Our workshop was right next to the KG5 dry dock which is roughly where the planes stand right outside the terminal. So the terminal was built right above th dry dock. Pretty sure the dock gates are still in situ.
The rate of decent was normal, check out the red/white slope indicator lights to the right of the runway. Only until the last few moment did the plane drop slightly below the normal path. Being a shortish runway I expect the captain wanted to get his wheels down early on the runway.
Normal for this approach, but London city airport is not a normal airport, the standard glide slope angle is 3.3 degrees, but London city has a slope of 6.6 degrees (I think) whatever the angle is, it is much steeper than a standard approach angle
No it is 't. Standard glideslope angle worldwide is 3 degrees. LCY is set at 5.5. And so are the PAPI's. Descent rates are higher. The issue with the 146 is the approach body angle requires a 'double flare'. The 2 white lights you see on the runway mark the last point you are allowed to touchdown. If you go beyond it's a mandatory go-around. The 146 & RJ series were a perfect LCY match. I flew it for 5 years from LCY. Lovely aircraft and airport.
I've always liked the overwing design for aircraft which to me seems more natural. Considering this plane has no reverse thrusters, it stops in a remarkably short distance.
no idle chit chat going on here. They are very focused. It is a 5.5 deg approach vs the normal 3 deg. They have to touch down within the marks on the runway or a go around is mandatory. At their rate of descent a 1 second hesitation to flare will use up 20% of their flare height and they will hit hard. Only 4400 ft of runway. It is a demanding operation, although the 146 is relatively slow and has a nice big wing.
With the state of automation, the controls of this aircraft seem almost ancient...effective but the similar cock[it design of an aircraft 40-50 years ago.
It was a standard design then, but it was even an old design then, it launched several years after the technology of the A300/A310 and only several years before the modern A320. Ultimately a beautiful aircraft, entirely fit for purpose for what it does. The RJ upgrade provided a lot of useful modernisation
And just over the dome at 11 O'clock sits EGLL London Heathrow. I love taking off from EGLC London City airport and going the dome to Heathrow, nice practice
George Reynolds you try holding an iPhone 5 on a bump approach into city, I filmed this for my personal memory and thought I’d share, I’m no film maker 👍🏻
@@danshelswell4335 It's a nice personal memory, but the zooming magnifies the shaking. As it is a steep descent, a shot of the AH or vertical speed instruments would have been interesting.
I’ve landed at London City in September 2015 - also on a BAE146, I can assure you that was a very smooth landing indeed - for the 146. Perfectly normal touchdown. Also note the lack of any reverse thrust upon touchdown, and that very short roll out.
the bae146 has been build to be approved by the london city airport. He has very big flaps for his size. It allows it to have less noise than other aircraft + it has been build to be a " high approach" aircraft, in order to reduce noise for residential neiborhood around the airport. to summarize to all urban airport in the middle of city . That's why it has a high approach :)
@@scorpion7227 reverse thrust makes it so you can land on a shorter runway. this aircraft has no reverse thrust, only manual breaking. the slower airspeed needed to land at london city due to no reverse thrust making it be a hard landing. they had to get the aircraft down as soon as possible to ensure them stopping on the runway with only manual breaking.
