Heathrow Viewing areas?

[wiliferus]

Greetings!

It seems my 3 year old boy is turning into a bit of a plane nut. I spontaneously took him down to Heathrow earlier with the intention of parking up and watching the planes take off for a while.
It seems due to industrialisation, and probably security there's nowhere to stop anymore!
I don't fancy paying Heathrow parking prices, so am looking for advice from anyone who knows of a good free place to plot up for the boy.

Cheers

[SVTRick]

Just sit in my friends garden and you can count the rivets the planes are that close

[Planet Claire]

I've parked up here before http://goo.gl/maps/iuwXc
You can't see them take off/land, but they fly straight overhead. I find it best when they're coming into land from the west.

Just found this!

[BlackCup]

There's plenty of nice places to watch light aircrafts at Fairoaks airport which isn't far from Heathrow. You can park in the carpark, walk along the left of the fields and sit right under the flight path on a nice day, it even goes through to the back of McLaren so you can have a ooogle at the cars on display through the Foster designed building (from distance).

HTH


The arrow is a good place to set up camp.

Matt

[Dr Jekyll]

There is a service station with parking spaces between the M25 and terminal 4, On a weekend there are often spaces especially in the evening. There is a reasonable view of terminal 5 and the Western end of the Southern runway. This is the only place I know of with free parking and a view of the airport itself.

Approaching from the M25 either follow the signs for terminal 4, go past the service station then do a 180 round the roundabout a couple of minutes down the road. Or take the exit for terminal 3, drive round the perimeter road that goes straight past the BA maintenance area and back round towards T4, then approach the service station from the East.

Someone with far too much spare time has produced this:

http://www.plane-mad.com/airport-spotting-guides/u...

[wiliferus]

^^^^ That is just the ticket! Plenty to choose from! That's Easter weekend treat sorted!

Ta

[iva cosworth]

Often see a number of spotters beside the A30 just west of Hatton Cross.

I guess they park somewhere south of the DC and walk to the grassy area to watch planes.

[PK42]

The place iva cosworth is talking about is End of Cains lane in Bedfont. It is free parking or a little further along is Myrtle Avenue in Bedfont (again free). Both are right next to the A30 and is close to the end of the runway so you have planes low over your head. All the spotters seem to congregate on the green at the end of Myrtle Avenue I have been there with my young sons a number of times.

Easiest way to get to them is to go along the A30 from the M25 direction. When you get to the Clockhouse roundabout, instead of following the A30 left, you go straight on into Bedfont. Then turn left down Hatton road which takes you past St Mary the Virgin church.

[Russellely]

Farnborough airport is another good place to watch planes come and go. But of a way from you I would imagine but with the army bases around you could also take him to one of the reme museums close by.

[Howard-]

What you need to do is first ascertain which runways are in use and in which direction. If runway 27L is in use for westerly arrivals or easterly departures then you want to head to Myrtle Avenue - it's the most well-known spot for watching the planes take off and land on this runway. It's the field shown here:

http://goo.gl/maps/EAd7G

You'll struggle to park down the road itself but across the road, about 50 yards back down the main road is Bedfont Football Club car park - they don't seem to mind if you park in there and wander down.


If runway 27L is being used for westerly departures or easterly arrivals then there's a petrol station you can stop at here:

http://goo.gl/maps/QZlKD

That'll get you good views if you have a quick wander.


If the 27R/09L runway is in use for landings you can park up on the pavement here:

http://goo.gl/maps/G4TUE

This road isn't usually too busy but do be careful if you and your son are crossing over, etc.


If you want to know which runways are in use, the quickest way is to check flightradar24 - http://www.flightradar24.com/51.47,-0.45/14

See which path arriving and departing planes are using and then visit the appropriate site. Be aware that they swap runways at 3pm every day. So if 27R is being used for landings in the morning, it'll swap to 27L at 3pm.

Hope this helps.

[Dr Jekyll]

Even when the wind is from the East you don't get many landings on 9R, most of the departures are on 9R rather than 9L because there is a particularly noise sensitive area off the end of 9L, leaving 9L for arrivals.

[RichB]

Can you no longer watch the planes from the roof of the Queens Building? Used to cycle there in my school holidays, take a packed lunch, play the penny slot machines and generally muck about.

[iva cosworth]

Is the Queens building part of T2 ?

In which case,it's been demolished.

[Dr Jekyll]

The Queens building was next to T2, with the viewing area originally across both buildings but with access from the Queens building so everyone called it the Queens building. It got massively reduced over the years and finally closed about 10 years ago.

[iva cosworth]

I was sort of right...

[RichB]

iva cosworth said:

...it's been demolished.

part of my childhood gone.

[mybrainhurts]

Terminal 5 when the wind's in the wrong direction and aircraft are approaching from the west, over the M25.

You can't stop, but you can drive continuous loops and catch aircraft landing very close to your car.

Here's how...

Follow signs to T5 drop off. As you negotiate the roundabout before the ramp, aircraft will be very close to you on approach.

Go through drop off, back onto the road, then left and uphill to the roundabout again, then through drop off again...and repeat.

If you find a busy time, it's easy to be on the roundabout at the right time. Check live arrivals on the Heathrow website for expected arrival times.

You could, of course, do 100 laps of the roundabout...

There are often many bods with cameras around there, so there might be somewhere to park on public roads.

PS....don't tell anybody about this. If everyone goes, gridlock will ensue...

Edit...

Short stay/pick up car parks cost...

Up to 30 minutes £3.00
30 minutes - 1 hour £6.00
1 hour - 2 hours £10.00
2 - 3 hours £12.70
3 - 4 hours £16.50

At T5, you enter on the top level, then spiral down to ground level. You might be able to walk from there up to the aforementioned roundabout, but not sure about that.

Edited by mybrainhurts on Friday 18th April 00:00

[PaddyZulu]

iva cosworth said:

Is the Queens building part of T2 ?

In which case,it's been demolished.

Ah bless, hold that thought - its under this lot……..

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.470847,-0.45169,...

[Dr Jekyll]

If you are going to park at T5 there are places near the terminal entrance that give a good view of 9L arrivals and nobody seems to mind spotters. There is also a coffee shop on the top floor, landside, basically the NW corner of T5, that give views of the approach and touchdown.

Incidentally motorbike parking is free.