Myrtle Avenue is a street in Hatton in the London Borough of Hounslow which is near the eastern end of Heathrow Airport's south runway, 27L. [1] The street is noisy when aircraft are landing or taking off from 27L, or taking off from 9R, though its view of the aircraft has made it the prime location for plane spotting. [2]
Every day, dozens of spotters from all over the world go there to log and photograph aircraft taking off or landing at Heathrow. At the end of the road is a large green space which is directly underneath the flight paths to and from Runway 27. The nearest London Underground station to Myrtle Avenue is Hatton Cross on the Piccadilly line. [3] On special occasions, such as the arrival of a new type of aircraft, there may be hundreds of spectators there, including the general public as well as regular spotters. [4] [5]
On 17 January 2008, British Airways Flight 38 narrowly overflew the street and the adjacent A30 road while undertaking an emergency landing following fuel starvation due to ice building up in the fuel/oil heat exchangers of the Boeing 777 operating the flight. [6]
Heathrow Airport, called London Airport until 1966, and now known as London Heathrow, is the main international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system.
Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and was originally planned by its co-founders Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary to fly between London and the Falkland Islands. Soon after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company to Richard Branson in return for unlimited free travel. The maiden flight from London–Gatwick to Newark took place on 22 June 1984.
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Hatton Cross is a combined London Underground station and bus station. It is located on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line. It is in Travelcard Zones 5 and 6 and stands between the Great South West Road (A30) and the Heathrow Airport Southern Perimeter Road. The station serves a large area including Feltham to the south and Bedfont to the west. The station was named after the crossroads of the Great South West Road and Hatton Road.
Hatton including Hatton Cross is a small settlement and locality in the London boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow, on the south-eastern edge of London Heathrow Airport and straddling the A30 road. Prior to 1965 it was in the county of Middlesex.
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