Well, been there, done that! For those who are interested, here's a detailed report.
What a great experience! Even the wife said WOW when we walked in and saw the stunning view over the airport. Many thanks to Ian, Terry and others who PM’ed me – your advice was spot-on.
I was lucky that the inner window opened easily, so photography, while it was still through one sheet of glass, was possible, and there was a nice wide sill for the standard RadarBox aerial and camera.
The hotel is right beside the touchdown point for runway 27R, so great landing shots are easy, and when it is being used for take-offs, most planes pose nicely beside you while they’re waiting.
On both sides of the room-width window, concrete pillars stick out a foot, reducing sideways visibility for human eyes and RadarBox aerials, but the aerial was happy being set up right next to the glass, so its angle of view was wider, and it could see what was coming before I could – perfect for warning of approaching interesting stuff. I was glad I had paid for the internet at the hotel (pretty expensive at £15 per computer per 24 hours – wired and wireless available) because the concrete pillars did cause significant drop-out of aircraft from, at a guess, about 10 to 3 miles from touchdown, but the live network filled in the gaps beautifully. There were also some gaps in the coverage where I could actually see aircraft, and I wondered if the radio signals were being reflected off the glass.
The one problem was that I got complacent, and often forgot that there are still some non-ADS-B aircraft, even at Heathrow, and that led to cussing and rushing for the camera when an interesting bizjet or cargo aircraft suddenly appeared without warning.
The RadarBox range was very impressive – see the polar which was just from 2 days’ use, through glass and in the south-facing window.
Most useful arrangement was to have the map with two views – one showing just the landing lineup, and one showing either a wider view for seeing what was taking off and on the way in, or showing detailed movements around the airport. The small size of the laptop screen wasn’t a problem, even though I’m used to by 22-incher at home. I just hid a few of the less relevant grid columns to make more room for the maps.
I tried applying an altitude filter to avoid clutter from overflights, but soon abandoned that when I realised that it also hid flights with no altitude showing – with status of N/A or Ground so ground aircraft at the airport disappeared too!
On the Saturday and Sunday mornings, 27R was used for takeoffs, but on Monday morning, it was used for landings, so I was up at 6AM and yes – it was worth it – a brilliant stream of heavy stuff, and I didn’t disturb the sleeping wife too badly!
The room itself was on the compact side, but crammed with all the facilities you would expect, including tea and coffee making, at least three power points, and a button to turn on the Do Not Disturb light outside.
The spotters’ package at the Renaissance includes a guaranteed runway view (we were on the third floor – I’m sure that would be preferable to the second), free English breakfast, free car parking, and entrance to the Club Lounge, also on the third floor, with free soft drinks, tea and coffee, two free internet PC’s, and the same stunning airport views. There’s also a £20 deal where you can get a day’s parking and access to the Club Lounge (but photography through two sheets of glass). Outside the hotel there’s a garden with picnic tables and a pretty good runway view, obstructed a bit by trees and the airport fencing. There is apparently a Sunday Spotters meeting there every week.
The hotel itself has the standard facilities including a gym and spar (no idea what they’re for), a shop, hairdresser and bureau de change, restaurant and a friendly bar that does good snacks. On the Sunday night we went to The Pheasant – a real “country” pub less than 15 minutes’ walk away. It does bar meals but we went to the restaurant – about the same price as the hotel restaurant, but a really different experience – well recommended.
Overall a brilliant weekend and I certainly want to do it again. And do take your RadarBox – it really adds to the experience.
Rod
