Summary: go to Hatton Cross and walk to the Southern Perimeter Road and watch aircraft coming in to land over your head. Pick the time of day when aircraft are landing at Heathrow’s Runway 27L. Of course you can also go to City Airport which is a lot nearer (but the planes are smaller).
Image from Google Maps.
Heathrow has two parallel runways which run East-West; the top one is the Northern runway and the bottom one is the Southern. Aircraft can take off or land in a Westerly or Easterly direction and the direction is predetermined (there may be short-term changes due to weather).
When aircraft are facing West the Southern runway is on the Left and the Northern Runway is on the Right. Equally, if the aircraft are coming in to land while facing East the Northern runway is now on the Left and the Southern runway is now on the Right. To avoid confusion Heathrow, and indeed all airports, simplify things by referencing the compass point / magnetic direction.
When you’re landing facing East the runways are called 09L and 09R (090 = 90˚ = East) and when landing facing East the runways are called 27L and 27R (270 = 270˚ = West).
Northern runway: 27R = 09L
Southern runway: 27L = 09R
There’s a really good spot near Hatton Cross / Myrtle Avenue, at the Southern runway where, if aircraft are landing facing West (27L) you can see them very very up close. If they’re taking off at 27L then you can’t see them as they’re getting airborne at the opposite end of the runway. If they’re taking off towards you (facing East so same runway but it’s now 09R) then you can see them but they are well in the air by the time they pass over you so less dramatic. I’ve not investigated spots at the Northern runway.
Typically aircraft at Heathrow land and take off facing West because of the prevailing wind direction in London (it’s the same at City Airport). In any given week they land on the Southern runway between 6am and 3pm, then swap to do the same at the Northern runway between 3pm and 6am. The following week they’d be on the Northern runway first then swap at 3pm to be on the Southern runway in the afternoon.
You can find out aircraft movements, i.e. when planes are landing at 27L, in several ways.
- Heathrow publishes its Runway Alternation PDF several months in advance so you can see what runway is being used at what time in any given week.
- The Twitter account @HeathrowRunways provides on-the-day information about runway changes, e.g. for planned resurfacing works
- FlightRadar24.com lets you zoom in to the point that you can easily see which runway is currently being used. Note that if you’re viewing it at 2 in the afternoon and it takes you an hour to get there it will likely be the other runway that’ll be in use by the time you get there. The pic below shows aircraft A and B landing at 27R and C taking off from 27L. The picture is dark as it’s in the evening and FlightRadar24 darkens the screen (!).
to land at 27R and C is taking off from 27L. All are facing West.
Here’s a gif I enjoyed making to show the various permutations of which runway and which direction. 27 landings and take-offs are on the left in blue and green with the ideal-for-Hatton-cross-visits 27L landing in green. 09 landings and take-offs are on the right in reddish pink with the 09R take off in red. Hatton Cross and Myrtle Avenue aren’t much use to you for aircraft movements where Myrtle Avenue is highlighted in yellow. Those permutations would be better seen from plane spotting areas at the Northern runway (which I don’t yet know about).
Myrtle Avenue, a short walk or bus ride from Hatton Cross, is quite the famous spot for watching aircraft landing at 27L. People turn up with picnics and bring the family (note, no loos). I’ve not actually been there but have instead just walked out of Hatton Cross, past the bus station and along the Southern Perimeter Road onto the grassy verge which is even closer to where the runway is.
My preferred spot is great if you want the experience of large aircraft flying directly above you from less than 100 feet. I think if you want decent photography though then Myrtle Avenue is probably the better bet as you get to see more of the aircraft from the side.
If you’re standing on the Southern Perimeter Road at approx https://what3words.com/years.summer.limbs then the aircraft will be flying directly over your head moments before touchdown. It seems to be perfectly safe (the aircraft are landing at a third of the speed they cruise at) but as you walk along the grassy verge you can judge how close you want to get.
How to get there from Blackheath
Train or bus to Woolwich then Elizabeth Line to Heathrow. I went for Terminals 2 & 3 and followed the bewildering exit to get to the Piccadilly Line, changing for the tube to Hatton Cross. There’s a snack shop in the station. Exit and turn left passing through the bus station and going past a car park and onto the grassy verge. Within a minute of leaving the station you’ll have seen / heard a plane as they come in every 60 seconds or so.
Myrtle Avenue is behind me but you’d need to walk back to Hatton Cross and around as the other road is blocked off by a hedge.
Photos taken at Myrtle Avenue look photoshopped but aren’t. All that’s happening is that really large aircraft are flying to the right of the houses (not over them) but it still looks like the aeroplane is much nearer cos it’s so huge).
Blackheath and beyond 