LHR, like many other airports outside of tropical climates, especially inland airports experience possible seasonal changes in the prevailing winds. Airports in more tropical climes enjoy prevailing winds from the same direction all year long. In all my years, I've NEVER seen ANY plane take off from east to west in Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Grenada or Antigua (all with headings of 80 or 90 degrees.) If anything if you are at one of these airports with your back to the wind and you are facing west, you better run for cover because you have a tropical storm or hurricane on your hands. Cheers, Matthew > -----Original Message----- > From: Smurf smurf@zajil.net > Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 15:28:33 +0300 > To: AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU > Subject: Re: In defence of Heathrow > > > I always thought that the runway selections were based on > wind direction and not seasonal. Therefore the fact that its > summer or winter shouldn't have any bearing on when Rwy09 is > in use..... Or is LHR different to the rest of the world? > > Cheers > > Mutt. >