Planning application reveals a surprise about Heathrow Airport’s runways

Planning applications can reveal surprises, such as that planes weren’t allowed to lift off from Heathrow Airport’s northern runway when flying eastwards.
Photo by Harrison Lugard on Unsplash
It’s generally beneficial to fly into the wind when landing and taking off, which means that around 70 percent of flights at Heathrow Airport take off facing west. Heathrow uses both runways, alternating their use at 3pm each day and the pattern each week to reduce the burden on people liv