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Looking at a satellite map to the East of Heathrow Airport, there is a small passenger jet parked in a walled off area. Looking at the aerodrome chart the entire area is listed as Bealine Base, which I assume is used for BA operations. What it the purpose of this walled off area?

Walled area in Bealine Base, East of Heathrow

mfurseman
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    Possible duplicate of What are the steep ramps often erected at large airports? – fooot Jan 08 '19 at 15:38
  • There is a similar wall on the corner of Dallas Love Field as seen in this google street view. This wall may actually be a part of some maintenance operation rather than the airport itself, but it's the same principle. – JPhi1618 Jan 08 '19 at 15:51
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    The suggested-as-duplicated is not the same thing. This is an engine run facility, with 3 walls to contain not just jet blast but also noise. What's in the not-really-a-duplicate question is just a wall to protect an area from jet blast. These engine run facilities have *far* more structure than the jet-blast barriers. – Ralph J Jan 08 '19 at 16:14
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    If we told you we'd have to kill you. – Hot Licks Jan 08 '19 at 17:42
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    This is a time-out corner for planes which experienced minor incidents on their last flight. – 0xdd Jan 08 '19 at 18:47
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    Here is an example engine test run at full thrust that takes place in this kind of walled off area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAJNoJvpftY – Jan Jan 08 '19 at 21:47
  • It seems that another question does actually provide the answer to this, but in that case the question is asking about a ground run up area that is formed from a loop of taxiway: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/52663/what-is-the-purpose-of-this-loop-in-a-taxiway – mfurseman Jan 09 '19 at 13:29
  • say @Jan thanks for that video - but if it's so dangerous why was there a hand-held camera right there ?? :O – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 15:18
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    That's where they reload the airplanes with chemtrails stuff. – void_ptr Jan 09 '19 at 19:11
  • @Fattie it't not so much about being dangerous, it acts more as a sound barrier and to redirect the jet blast away from the airplane or any nearby structures or vehicles – Jan Jan 09 '19 at 19:31
  • a few people gave mentioned the sound aspect, @Jan - you know, I really doubt they "stop the sound" much. Although it might help a bit, sound trivially travels OVER barriers (all that "wave" crap they taught us about in physics, recall! :) ) I honestly doubt that the primary reason is sound reduction. I bet the actual reason is indeed safety (stop stuff being thrown around, etc) and any sound reduction is just a bonus. Anyways. – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 19:34
  • Damn - that being said, the link in the answer below specifically shows it as a product primarily focussing on the acoustic aspect! Heh ! :) Sometimes, you're wrong ... – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 19:36
  • @Fattie, haha yeah I was about to say that, if you look at the link to the IAC website from the answer below they advertise the facility's noise reduction capabilities. – Jan Jan 09 '19 at 19:39
  • I left my TOTALLY WRONG comment there, as sometimes you have to man-up to having been TOTALLY WRONG. (Naturally, usually when I am totally wrong I just delete the post :-) ) – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 19:42

1 Answers1

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It allows them to do a run-up test of the engines without blowing debris at other parked aircraft, people, or things on the ground.

[Credit to Ralph J]
The walls have a structure that allows the noise of engine run-ups to be absorbed as well. Engine run-ups, especially multi-engine run ups, can be very loud.

You can read more about IAC-Acoustics ground run-up enclosures here.

Ron Beyer
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    The walls also are constructed to absorb the considerable *noise* that a high-power engine run generates - which is part of the reason that these structures have 3 sides rather than simply 1 wall. – Ralph J Jan 08 '19 at 16:12
  • These are IAC acoustics ground run enclosures; as the name and Ralph J suggest, the primary purpose of their shape is noise reduction. – Gray Taylor Jan 08 '19 at 17:23
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    If the primary reason for the walls is noise then this answer needs to be modified or another answer given. – CramerTV Jan 08 '19 at 17:32
  • I'll add the extra info from Ralph when I get back to my computer. – Ron Beyer Jan 08 '19 at 17:39
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    Interestingly, the linked IAC-Acoustics page includes a video with the same run-up enclusure at Heathrow shown in the question - unless there were more than one in that airport. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRbAaAInMH4 – Pere Jan 08 '19 at 22:20
  • These structures are super important. My father told me of an incident in Hellinikon airport, where an Olympic Jumbo did a run-up test of the engines, and some policemen that were curious came relatively close (to an agnostic person, they were still far away); the police car rolled over from the blast, killing both guys that day. – gsamaras Jan 09 '19 at 13:23