Heathrow to employ new landing systems

Monday 30th March 2009

London Heathrow airport has announced the implementation of new landing technology to help planes land in low-visibility conditions.

The new Microwave Landing System has been installed on 29 British Airways planes for £5 million in an effort to help reduce airport delays caused by fog.

Breaking new ground, this is the first time this kind of technology has been used anywhere in the world and it's expected that 20 per cent of flights that couldn't land previously in foggy weather will now be able to do so.

The current technology, Instrument Landing System, uses beams of light to gauge distances between the plane and the ground. The beams often cannot penetrate fog, rendering the system useless in such conditions. Microwaves, on the other hand, have no problem piercing through the low cloud.

The system lends itself to being used on short-haul flights due to the frequency of taking-off and landing so has been fitted to several A300s and A321s. British Airways plans to have the system set up and working for the remaining 12 unfitted planes.