21 April 2007
NATS switched over the air traffic control of Heathrow to its new control tower early this morning. The move also marks a switch to new systems and ways of working. The £50m tower will replace the old one in what is reckoned to be the biggest ATC shake-up at the airport for 50 years.
As the switch-over happened earlier this morning, officials were warning that there may be some teething problems. For the first few days, operations will be slowed slightly to maintain safety, and there may be some delays as a result.
Martyn Jeffery, General Manager NATS Heathrow, said: “We are reducing the number of landings while our controllers familiarise themselves with the new tower, so that they have less traffic to deal with than is normally the case.”
Local residents had been told that they may have more night flights than normal as landing patterns are spaced out to allow controllers time to get used to the systems. However, reports from our spies within ATC say that everything seemed to settle down quickly and that few, if any, problems were encountered.
So if you’re flying in the vicinity of Heathrow over the weekend, expect the unexpected – and please don’t give them more to do by infringing the zone! The new tower is reported to be the highest in the country, and with new glass in the full 360 degree view windows, they may well see you before you see them – whether the radar’s working or not! 🙂
