On Thu, 3 Nov 2011 21:54:07 +0000 (UTC), Andy Breen
wrote:

And the more wiggling about they do, the more fuel they will have to burn
particularly if they have to do it just after take-off, when they're
heavy with fuel.

What utter ********. The quicker they can get to altitude the better
from a fuel usage point of view, but they are usually climbing most of
the time during a departure, that they have to fairly rapidly change
their heading two or three times in a pre determined sequence is
irrelevant to overall fuel burn.

That's got immediate environmental costs, will add to
operating costs and could make the airport unattractive for airlines
operating the very long-haul routes (Japan, Australia..).

It's no different to departures at many airports worldwide, you don't
just take off and carry on in the same direction to your destination.

You also really don't want to be manoevering at maximum weight and have
an engine ingest a goose. That could lead to substantial stress in the
cockpit.

Better drain those reservoirs near Heathrow then.


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