Circular runways are the answer! ?

[Oscar's dad]

He has nice simulators though.

Exactly.  Actually I think the Dutch bloke is on to something.   I mean, what the fuck does TimC know about such matters!?!

[mrcharly-YHT]

When I got as far as "The military tried them out in the 60's" but decided there were no advantages . . .

So, you need a huge amount of land to make a circle even approaching large enough to be usable, even then it makes landing more difficult. Landing, the time when you really, really don't want things to be made more complex. Added to which, it makes the traffic control more complex while (theoretically) increasing the number of aircraft in the air?

Anyone see a problem with this? Apart from the resident expert? 'cause we don't listen to experts these days.

[Basil]

He has nice simulators though.

Exactly.  Actually I think the Dutch bloke is on to something.   I mean, what the fuck does TimC know about such matters!?!

Ftfy

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I'm just wondering whether they'll go clockwise or anticlockwise and whether they'll actually be able to have multiple planes using the runway at the same time.

That will depend on which hemisphere they're in.

[Jaded]

I'm just wondering whether they'll go clockwise or anticlockwise and whether they'll actually be able to have multiple planes using the runway at the same time.

That will depend on which hemisphere they're in.

 

[hellymedic]

Seems mad to me, but I await TimC's sage words

It's bollocks. Won't happen. Dreamt up by someone for whom flying is a theoretical, not a practical, issue.

Why am I not surprised?

[caerau]

Pfft - who wouldn't want a Mobius stripped airport?

And the amount of land you needs is irrelevant when you consider that any difficulties in pilot skill and such can be solved simply.  You have an ILS linked to the landing area.

This landing area will consist of big hatch that will open up on the side of a mountain and once you're inside, the ILS will funnel you into the Mobius strip that will be as gentle to land on as anything any pilot could dream of.

So land area solved, the whole thing is underground.  Cross wind problem solved.  It's underground.

Simples.

Take off of course will happen through another giant hatch disguised as a swimming pool of course.

This guy's Dutch you say?  No wonder he hadn't considered a mountain.

[Oscar's dad]

Of course if we'd all got jet packs like I was promised as a boy in the 60s plus flying cars which I was also promised we wouldn't need airports.

I can't tell you how pissed off I've been for decades 

[LEE]

The answer is clearly in lots of short runways, using catapults and catch-wires, like aircraft carriers.

Who wouldn't be thrilled with a 6G take off and landing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3irhyNzKXA

[mrcharly-YHT]

Why not just build flying airports with lifts to take the passengers to/from the ground? I'm sure it would be much more practical and would save loads in fuel.

[clarion]

Better than that: Spaceports with Clarkeian Spacelifts.  Then the spaceships can hop from platform to platform around the globe.  No launch/re-entry problems, saving on fuel, and minimal air resistance, making hypersonic speeds achievable.

Of course, given the lack of planning restrictions, we could make circular runways as big as we like, just for shits & giggles, so maybe they could be so big they interlock and create a literal network across the skies, meaning ATC don't have to worry about airspace, just managing the crazy space traffic jam on the 'ground'.

What could possibly etc etc...?

[Jaded]

It could double up as our Hadron Collider when we leave the EU.

[hellymedic]

I thought part of the Hadron collider was in non-EU Switzerland...

[Oscar's dad]

I thought part of the Hadron collider was in non-EU Switzerland...

Stop it, you're going off-topic.  Such behavior isn't allowed on yacf.  We're discussing kittens, remember!?!

[caerau]

I thought part of the Hadron collider was in non-EU Switzerland...

Mountains and swimming pools....

Lots of awesomely cool turrety castles too...

Switerland here we come!

[clarion]

This is a circular argument

[Cudzoziemiec]

It could double up as our Hadron Collider when we leave the EU.

Britain has the best hadrons, and what's more, the best British hadrons are in UKIP. Trufax.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-32230155

[Oscar's dad]

Specsavers for you sir! 

[Morat]

I thought part of the Hadron collider was in non-EU Switzerland...

Mountains and swimming pools....

Lots of awesomely cool turrety castles too...

Switerland here we come!

Don't forget the folding palm trees. They're compulsory when designing a proper lair.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The circular runway ignores the fact that at Heathrow and most other airports aircraft land using the Instrument Landing System (ILS) which, in simple terms, projects a radio beam along the descent "path" to the landing point. The plane locks onto this and the autopilot flies the plane down the path to the landing point. A circular runway would require multiple sets of ILS transmitters on the ground, one for each approach path

That's similar to how the Luftwaffe guided its bombers towards UK targets.  The counter-measures reportedly had some amusing results:

A side effect was that as the German crews had been trained to navigate solely by the beams, many crews failed to find either the true equi-signal or Germany again. Some Luftwaffe bombers even landed at RAF bases, believing they were back in the Reich.

Maybe the next London airport should just be an extra lane on the M25?  Solve all the problems.

[PaulF]

The inventor's response to some questions is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39643292

[clarion]

Good grief!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Offices under the runway? Ideal working conditions, I'm sure!

[ElyDave]

ah! I read the response article today, but hadn't found this thread again

[Adam]

Bonkers.