London City Airport Landings

I have been (practicing) trying to accurately touch down at London City .26 is not too bad but 09 is the challenge. Aligning with the runway and at a suitable height with all those tall buildings! The video attached has helped a lot although in reality our A320 is not licensed to land here but hey! it’s a sim. :smile: How do the Pro’s do it daily? This video by BA is the answer, heights, speed, position for finals.

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I believe to fly an approach to that airport, pilots need special training.

Yes they do need special training. I think in the video she quotes there are only 25 pilots for airliners licensed. General aviation I am not sure about. I can land the prop Cessnas, Bonanza and the Beech Twin just… That road bridge just before threshold can put you off a bit… :grinning:

I think Easyjetsimpilot did this a couple of months ago on his youtube channel and was explaining the challenges of landing here as he did it especially as the A320 isn’t certified for this airport. I have managed this in the stock A320NEO but its pretty hairy and my landing was, ahem, somewhat less than optimal…feels like going down a roller coaster even though its “just” a 5-6 degree approach. There is apparently an A318/319 mod coming in the future that will hopefully have the steep approach profile added, I’m certainly interested in the forthcoming A220 that’s being worked on as it should be useable in London City too (Swiss airlines use them here)

I trained pilots to fly the approach in the Falcon 900 at FlightSafety. Few airplanes can manage the 5.5 degree glideslope to either end of the runway. Others need special avionics modifications to track the glideslope and inhibit the ground proximity warnings. It’s huge fun in the Level D simulator or in MSFS. It would be pretty hairy in real life, especially if the weather is right at the roughly 500’ AGL minimums.

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I did a few approaches to London City… and while it’s a touch approach, it’s not impossible of course. All you need is to be fully configured for landing before you intercept the ILS glideslope. This means you might need to capture the G/S at VLS speed at full flaps and gear down. Let the G/S take you down, and disengae AP at the absolute last before you flare.

I’m planning to do some more approaches here but I’m waiting for the compatibility of the world update with ORBX London city scenery and the airport.

And one here for the history buffs: being a bit of an old giffer, I can remember when Brymon Airways (a long gone local airline based at the almost gone Plymouth Airport) did a demonstration flight into London Docklands to prove that a small airport or STOLport could be viable. They took one of their Dash7’s and did some landing and take off runs at Heron Quays which is now an mix of office blocks, very expensive apartments and some waterfront parkland but back then really was a disused dock. “Look Ma, no runway” and certainly no ILS… :

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I think I remember for noise abatement, the minimum altitude was 4000’ or something (not anymore), and the GS still a steep 5.5° which makes EGLC interesting.
Trick is to not be overspeed at the top of the GS, or u have to use spoilers to slow down which is a bit of a mess, same at LOWI OVJ LOC.

In real life, if the headwind is aprox 150 knots, and you can even land a 747 over there. Ofcourse the pilots need special traing for that to.

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That could be simulated in the Sim easily… worth a shot.

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London renowned for rain but a full blown hurricane might be pushing it a bit. I don’t think the glass and cladding on Citi and HSBC would still be there. O2 might become a flying saucer. :grin:

I will give max wind a try just for interest. :wink:

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Have flown there in reality (as a passenger) and it’s really startling how close to the buildings you fly. You look out the window and you can literally see the people in the offices…

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I had no idea of this and yesterday I randomly decided I would have fly there with the A320 by Fly By Wire.
I followed the procedure trying to do my best but after the final 180 turn I honestly thought I did something wrong for how close were the buildings.
The 5.5 degree slope is absolutely scary. You intercept the glide slope at 2000 feet. The airplane was very light and I was at about 120 knots. Five second later with throttle in idle I was 130.

You have to make the whole final approach with your airbrakes extended!

That was supercool!!!

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150 knot headwind is a category 5 hurricane (or an F3 tornado!) so it would have to be some VERY special training.:grimacing::wink:

Thats why you probarbly not seeing lots of 747’s over there. They are just mortals, unlike the view brave simpilots on MSFS.

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