View flying into Gatwick from USA??
 

Wondering if we will be flying over anything interesting as we fly into Gatwick.....

I wasn't aware there is only one approach pattern for that airport. Hopefully someone can answer your question. I assume this means you will be in window seats.

Buncha fields. Enjoy.

Thanks!!

If you are on the starboard side of the aircraft, you will have a view of the south coast in the most common approach to Gatwick. Depending on the details of wind and clouds, this could include Portsmouth and Southampton. The plane then does a gradual 180 to line up for an east to west landing. You could have a nice view of Kent during the turn, and I was able to pick out Hever Castle once during that part of the flight.

If it's during daylight, a lot of fields that will look like a patchwork quilt.

All of the above assume visibility.

Which is rarely realistic, especially on flights arriving around dawn. When (or if) the clouds break you see lots of green fields, and usually puzzle over how many different shades of green there can be (it's even worse flying into Cork or Shannon).

It's far more dramatic flying into Heathrow or London City. But 90-something percent of England is green fields, so it's the most typical picture you could imagine. Since only about 1% of most visitors' travelling here happens in countryside, it's a side of England you're unlikely to be exposed to once the plane has landed

We flew into Heathrow last time and I remember at least one castle and yes lots of green fields - wondering if any castles or noteworthy landmarks flying into Gatwick and yes it will be early morning so clouds likely - good point.

Flying into Heathrow usually involves crossing over Windsor Castle if the flight lands from the west, or flying along the Thames, over central London, if it's landing from the east (neither of which depend on the direction the flight arrived from).

There's no equivalent drama flying into Gatwick. As with all airports, anyone accustomed to the territory underneath will be able to identify familiar landmarks (and coming into Gatwick, landscape historians can have great fun tracing the visible history of settlement.) But for most visitors, it's all just a patchwork of indeterminate but pretty green fields, with nothing particularly worth looking out for.

Not a bad metaphor for English countryside generally.

The area around Gatwick is prone to fog especially in the early morning.

The largish seaside city you may circle over several times if you have to hold is Brighton.
We were visiting friends who live near the racecourse, and we flew over their house four or five times out the starboard side.

My first ever landing at LHR we circled all the way east over London and when we broke under the cloud cover I recognized the Tower of London from a picture book I had as a child, and saw the river through the whole city. I was 25 and had never been out of the Western US - and I knew I was in LONDON! :) It was a cold/wet Feb morning. Most other times I've seen Windsor.

For Gatwick - a few fields if anything. Mostly clouds/mist/fog. Once we flew over Brighton and I did see the Pavilion and race course. But mostly just green or clouds.