Heavy Airbus Maintenance, Aircraft Junkyard | Inside Airplanes | Free Documentary

the Colossus is being disassembled 350 men are in action every detail has to be controlled because what looks like a scratch can have serious consequences for some it may only be a scratch but for us it's serious structural damage the six of the Nova first class come out in the economy class every seat is removed and reupholstered well that's a lot of work this reveals a mile-long network of cables there's a separate hanger for the engine check this engine is broken yes there's a hole here yep blown and cracked even the tank is inspected from the inside not harmless if I climb in here I have to remember the way I did it because I have to climb out again in Reverse only five weeks to take the plane apart completely and then reassemble it with a new interior this long-haul aircraft has barely unloaded passengers from Bangkok now it goes to the technical headquarters in Hamburg for a checkup first the colossus has to go into the hunger a job for kai / hasser there are a lot of guides down here to make sure that you don't collide with anything because there's a lot of stuff around and it's always difficult to tell where the end of the plane is we don't want to cause a crash okay all clear 210 feet span 210 feet in length for 15 years hi / hasehas' been parking such Giants in Reverse almost weekly and meanwhile his feet is pretty impressive [Music] you have to move slightly to the right ten men are busy parking the plane even the smallest bump can cost millions with this highly sensitive Giant the plane can stay there we can connect it this way every five years the plane is checked every ten years there's an all-round renewal like this time every minute a plane spends on the ground costs the airline money that's why the crew starts immediately they mark every part with stickers [Music] then the planes taken apart every single screw every cover has to be checked 350 men work in shifts almost 24 hours a day for five weeks no lift can manage this giant alone three hydraulic lifters share the 130 tons total weight now the angles good the plane now has absolutely horizontally the process continues just like for a cup for a thorough inspection the machine must fire be raised 20 feet into the air and it will spend the next 5 weeks in this position now 25 work platforms are placed at different heights around the plane [Music] what [Music] so you have better access to the huge plane and you can work in several places at the same time [Music] two days later service to oliver paula and his colleagues painstakingly scan every inch of the outer skin because even inconspicious damage to the pain can cause serious problems [Music] it must be a what we see here now is a small black dot from a lightning bolt above the fuselage now we have to be very careful what we do it may only seem like a scratch but for us this is serious structural damage many covers have already been removed and work continues under the shell no one is checked here for five years Oliver is looking for the slightest deformations or signs of wear basically we look at everything if we don't do that something will get overlooked you divide the plane into smaller areas so that nothing can get missed in commercial aircraft the muzzle can be easily folded up below is an important instrument the weather radar [Music] bloody afford UV the panel here in front moves then scans the sky and gives the pilot an indication of whether he has to fly around the weather or just through it what looks like a towel rail is also an indispensable tool the runway emits radio signals and the antenna picks them up so that the pilot knows if his landing approach is the right one then it's off to the plane and into first-class where Hollywood stars and professional athletes usually take their seats but today it's all about the luxury recliners the whole first class comes out while there are 40 passengers in 215 square feet in the economy class here there are only eight at the front there were only these screws right I've got them loose now nobody has looked under the seat for five years mechanic banned Rosic s treasure hunter no one's found ten euros it's not really worth it and sometimes it's a bit disgusting all kinds of things fall under the seat here that's why all the dirt is here too the dirt is everywhere where the cleaning crew can't get their hands on anyone who has flown from Frankfurt to Los Angeles on this seat has paid well over 10,000 euros now the noble seat goes into the garbage the first class is being completely removed from the plane because the demand for the expensive luxury recliners is falling at some point everything becomes obsolete and has to be made again if you pay a fortune you want high quality monitors for example today you have better monitors in economy class that's all outdated it did all has to be replaced these business class seats also have to go the entire front half of the cabin will turn into a new business class day 9 meanwhile the gullies and toilets are being enlarged the cabin is empty all furniture is screwed into these standard rails they have to be scrubbed thoroughly after 5 years a general overhaul also increased the compartments above the seats if there are the reading lights ventilation and oxygen masks are now an indefinable grayish Brown layer of dirt as well dirt dust from flight operations also forms condensation this will no longer pass the test in the workshop and it will then be replaced accordingly 9,000 flights and 67,000 hours in the air are leaving their mark [Music] day 17 the airbus has now been reduced to a shell the cabin floor is disassembled the things that you normally don't see now come to the fool like those tanks where everything is collected in what passes through the bathroom in the cabin there are new chairs and TV screens that means hundreds of new cables before that the old ones have to be taken out this cable goes through the whole plane I don't know exactly where so I'm just following it now more than thirty miles of cables run through the cabin Daniel doesn't know the exact length of this one nor his end point a single cable can keep you busy the whole shift it's not complicated just a length can be a good hundred feet long and very well secured for three hours now Danya has been searching for the end of the cable and he likes it sometimes you put them in sometimes you take them out I like the variety most Norman winter has the most dangerous job his workplace for today the interior of the left wing where Norman is now crawling there are usually more than 50,000 litres of kerosene once that's trained it's ventilated for two days only then our specially trained employees like Norman loud in step one vacuum of the last remaining kerosene metal on the body is strictly forbidden because of the possible sparking there is always danger of explosion here [Music] normally there's kerosene in here right up to the ceiling completely full the whole area the tanks divided you can see a lot of different things in here also measuring instruments for fuel quantity after cleaning norman checks all the instruments and attack to get into the back corner he first has to unscrew some hatches kollek's have lost their way in this oppressive maze [Music] as of a night when I climb in here I have to remember how I did it because I've got to climb out again the other way round it doesn't work the same way you really have to remember if Norman suddenly panics an emergency plan would be used his colleagues would have to cut the wing open from above fortunately that is not necessary today the most valuable individual pieces of the aircraft are its engines there are four sections on the a340 each worth 10 million euros Daniel Sherman and his colleague can only look into the depths of each engine with this so-called borescope an illuminated miniature camera look there are more findings in the background the technicians have discovered serious damage and report this to the format even if three of the four engines failed the Airbus can still land so there was no actual danger due to the damage this engine will still not survive the check it's really burnt out there's a hole and it's blown and cracked it's finished the engines got to go that means the engine goes into the workshop then we get a completely overhauled engine back and then install it four days later Reiner Milda gets ready for his assignment no I'll strap that on switch it on and then slowly lift the engine up the engine that is now installed is already used it has been repaired in the workshop now it is as good as new and ready for another five years in the air the installation is precision work it still looks good but now it's time for details for words a bit push it down the second-hand engine weighs over four tonnes wonderful nothing stuck perfectly installed the new drivers bolted in a few minutes now a lot of cables have to be connected a bus general overhaul day 31 in the workshops everyone is working at full speed on the last components only whatever can't be safe must be thrown away everything else is repaired sometimes a fresh coat of paint is enough the cabin furniture especially often only meets minor repairs as with these luggage compartments the staff in the seat workshop had the tightest schedule every day 20 new economy-class chairs have to be finished lots of different steps in no time that's the challenge for us we're putting in a new entertainment system new cables new displays CPUs touchscreen everything you from the old sees only the framework remains ultralight aluminum to save weight and brought all the wiring has to go only then will the new parts be put in each worker completes a maximum of two chairs per shift the seats must be taken to the play these tyler's robots take care of that they automatically follow a program fruit and even avoid any obstacle with foresight 225 economy seats have to be put back in the plane in just two days at piecework rates the workers fit seats into the floor rails we put them here in the holes then they have to snap in and be clamped and we have to do that now sitting in economy class may be a tedious task for some people screwing the rows close together definitely is this task is one of the least popular well it's just a lot of work sometimes it's not so nice when you're lying on the hard ground all day and have to fumble around in the corners 25 men simultaneously work on the installation of the new economy seats at the front in business class it's more spacious but these seats are heavy and full of cables and wires airplane electrician maracas Stankiewicz is twenty two and one of the few women on the team my job is to connect the seeds electrically so that you can listen to music afterwards and watch movies without that the flight would be a bit boring the big advantage of the new business armchairs is that they can be completely folded down almost like a small bet on such a seat a return trip to Los Angeles costs around four thousand euros five weeks are over the eight 340 has been completely disassembled and reassembled with plenty of new guts on board at the end clean again properly every second is used until departure while the jet is waiting for the engine check the service crew is still working on the final details [Music] we've just got the last remaining jobs to do now finish off the seats go through the work card this carries on until the test flight will be busy for a while now quiet over houses parking skills are required again the 210 feet long airbus has to enter the engine test hunger the tailfin sticks out at the top a tight manova in here the engines will go full-throttle only michael finger can issue the final flight clearance now first he looks closely at the machine the technician then checks the hangar floor very meticulously objects lying around could be sucked into the sensitive turbines and damage them [Music] that's a prime example that's something that shouldn't be found cast aluminium and in extreme cases it's an escalation level there have been incidents where this has led to massive engine damage that was lucky now all four engines are thoroughly flushed a high-pressure cleaning with 80 degrees hot water dissolves tiny almost invisible soot particles if done regularly the jet can increase its performance by one to two percent because clean engines consume less kerosene [Music] meanwhile every last corner of the cabin is spotless everything is ready and checked only the most important thing is missing the drive function check in the cockpit brakes subject brakes and set and checked wheeler doors close we were doors engine Tina Texas clear engine Inlet and exhaust are clear every function has to be checked press the two buttons for one hour and note numbers everything's great readings are good we'll now accelerate the engines one to four thirty five percent and 60 percent alternately okay I'm ready the technicians accelerate the plane up to eighty percent of its maximum power in the air this power will propel it to speeds of over five hundred thirty four miles per hour only the brakes and the wheel chocks prevent the join from racing against the wall a risky maneuver we haven't noticed any interference everything looks fine the engine runs very smoothly good work wonderful that's how it's done the plane is given clearance for the perfect condition of the machine Marco finger will now stand for the perfect condition of the machine with his good name until the next check in five years after a short test flight the Airbus a340 is back in service next stop South Paulo Beijing or Delhi if a plane lands here it will never take off again we're standing in the middle of the largest airplane scrapyard in Europe nothing rusty lasts forever because among the wrecks there are true hidden treasures [Music] within eight weeks we have a plane as soon as it lands stretch right down to nothing aircraft mechanic Ellis dissembles the scrap parts while sales chief James sells them back to the airlines these are all to make sure that if the aircraft is needed tomorrow it can fly tomorrow straight into service so really it still looks like an airplane Cemetery here Cotswolds Airport in the South of England is the treasure trove of the company air salvage international each year the team disassembles 60 planes from around the world two percent will get reused or recycled through the parts being removed at the beginning of a process where they go back to either an airline a broker an MRO even use turbines end up installed in brand new holiday planes at first the idea might make you a bit jumpy but we'll see in a test just how safe the scrap engines really are many well-known airlines trust in the work of James and his crew their used parts also have a clear advantage [Music] so the advantage of using serviceable parts basically this will save an airline hundreds of thousands of dollars by buying a certain unit rather than a brand new unit from an OEM one thing is clear this is an amazing deal for the airlines but how safe are the serviceable parts aircraft mechanic Ellis has years of experience in dismantling planes he knows how to deal with the world's most expensive scrap parts he dismantles one of the most inconspicuous but vital parts very carefully try to keep all bolts with the product itself if the antenna fails a collision with another plane becomes likely even such a vital aircraft component ends up in the junkyard for their job the plane dismantle is often get into dangerous situations Ellis has to climb into this tank today there are poisonous liquids that can easily drip into his eyes which small drop of that into your eye will release that pressure of paint straightaway it almost sort lacus your eye which is described on the way from it which takes the [Music] it can be quite claustrophobic in there scrapp components that end up on our vacation planes Ellis works in the most extreme conditions such as this narrow dark and stuffy hole [Music] this is the main tanks and if that doesn't work the pilot doesn't know how much fuel he has left incidentally we can also find these fuel probes in car tanks it's a part that mustn't go missing under any circumstances can be just having a bit of a thing keep your eyes open Digital everybody else you and safety in place Ellis and his colleagues work under great pressure on several machines at the same time there's a demand for the most varied array of parts it's the same principle as in a normal junkyard a triple7 still needs to be completely dismantled today it's considered one of the safest most robust planes in the world the consequence is that very few of them are ready for being turned into scrap [Music] [Applause] because he'd already the time has come for that triple 7 but how safe are serviceable parts more on that later first Ellis and his team secured one of the most important parts of the aircraft the turbine fan without it any plane would overheat yeah yeah we should have a proper gag in place to hold ce o--'s up but he's gonna be in there for probably 5 10 minutes and back again patch-up work on a part that keeps us all in the air these way I don't know exactly how much but I know I wouldn't want to be holding normally oh so the issue we've got the moment is this lift is too big to drive in so what we're thinking of doing is actually opening the TR more a little further in Ellis's plan he pulls the iron turbine cover with his forklift and then his colleague Sid will use a new wooden beam the work is back-breaking they're not experts but handy men Ellis is a trained landscape gardener the engineers take care of the quality control later so Verisign about never break-in I've never seen one break the broken strap is the smallest of their problems now struck and the fan if the fan breaks because several thousand dollars [Music] the plan works in contrast to other spare parts the fam with it's way too low whopping 176 pounds is very hard to remove together Sid and Alice recover the last big piece of treasure in the triple Saturn the interior of the aircraft has now been completely stripped doors seats seat belts luggage racks ventilation systems and lights have already been sold 25 years ago this was a regular workshop for small propeller planes then a large airline phoned in there probably they were looking for a rare spare part the solution the workshop buys the whole plane and sells the to desired spare parts for the price of the entire aircraft a brilliant business idea back in the aircraft hangar we find something that calms our nerves the aircraft parts are cataloged here examined several times and their condition is recorded in detail whether turbine or antenna the same rules apply to every part to make sure nothing goes wrong here Sean photographs and labels everything and make sure that no part has any cracks or dents in case something gets lost or they just need to check the part that's why we take photos in case that if it gets damaged so obviously we got something we can look back on and say it wasn't damaged here it must have been damaged elsewhere the plane wreckers know exactly how many hours each scrap part was in operation the airline's test each item again before it can be installed in an active aircraft these will obviously have to go to shop who love it can depend on the date manufacturer this one was 2003 so it's only about sort of 15 years old so it's still in good condition in terms of age even fifteen year old emergency slides are still as good as new under the Aviation Act however they must be tested every three years if they pass the tests they can be used for decades to come [Applause] easily 30 to 40% maybe serviceable that have gone to a shop or something but not all parts may be installed in new planes so over here we'll have things like quarantine parts this one is come back off you can see from this side is damaged there with awfully advised the customer of the damage that was already on there when we took it off and it's their decision how they want us to proceed with it nothing that good potentially break ends up in the new passenger aircraft the crazy thing is that James can still make a profit with the discarded parts films like Star Wars Doctor Who series they come in and sometimes take parts you know all this stuff here is very much either expired shelf life or they belong off aircraft that no longer fly so it's not going to be put back into the market but to go on to other aircraft each part is treated with the same care but James separates severely broken scrap pieces from valuable spare parts theoretically at least the sales manager wants to prove that to us and takes us to a turbine test and then after that scarran with the 7-day check the engine runs together with his most experienced engineers James tests the engines of a scrapped airliner on a new machine some of the LLP parts are worth tens of thousands of pounds the whole asset is itself is worth you know millions of dollars so certainly that the big proportion eighty nine percent of value would be with an urn with energy only the bosses themselves are allowed to work on the engines the condition of the turbine is thoroughly inspected is it still working if it is it means a lot to James one and we're going to carry a low-power around on the 8020 duration possibly five minutes perfect pressure will the engine start the exhaust gas temperature isn't the green range the speed adequate ventilation perfect the ignition system okay time to start the engines and indeed all values are right now James and his team know that millions of dollars are churning in front of them perfectly safe yeah it's in a flight ready status that's what these checks are for when it's under storage amounts program we have a seven-day 14-day 30-day check so these are all to make sure that if the aircraft is needed tomorrow it can fly tomorrow straight into service so absolutely hundreds then fire to fly [Music] the engineers made it the valuable heart of an old plane may now start a new life with many other used parts even if the second-hand parts are already millions of miles into their service life we can rest assured that the scrap in our vacation flights is meticulously tested and is super safe [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, BBC documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), mega pitstops, mega manufacturing, exceptional engineering, airplane documentary, airplane maintenance, engineering, engineering documentary, lufthansa documentary, Aeronautical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering documentary, greatest pit stop, flight safety, Aviation safety, air safety, a340, airbus

Id: H45vSzyiXH4

Length: 34min 47sec (2087 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 20 2020