Myrtle Avenue is a street in the
London Borough of Hounslow which is near the eastern end of
Heathrow Airport's south
runway, 27L.[1] This makes it 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 the aircraft. 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]
In popular culture
Floating Points references the avenue in his song "Myrtle Avenue".