How Heathrow Deals With Large Cargo | Britain's Busiest Airport | Spark

[Music] [Music] london heathrow gateway to the world heathrow is a huge melting pot one of the biggest hubs in the world flying to 194 destinations in 82 countries [Music] singapore which class [Music] so the front the size of a small city it's europe's busiest airport it's very quickly that things can turn into chaos as heathrow gets ready to build its third runway this year is said to be the airport's busiest with more than 76 million passengers [Music] meaning to stay on schedule a plane has to take off or land every 45 seconds we're busy all the time it's relentless we're gonna have trouble right we've got trouble operating at full capacity there's no room for error this is a disgrace even the smallest problem can cause chaos and cost the airport and airlines millions of pounds in fines and lost revenue every minute every second here is money but working against the clock there's an army of staff we're going to try our best to get you there from plumbers starting to get that little smell of sewage now to pilots they're just such pretty machines and specially trained police until we've left the plane you cannot leave the plane yourselves all battling to keep britain's busiest airports [Music] flying is approved 2016 was heathrow's busiest year ever with 38 million passengers departing keep moving around keep moving around with such huge numbers the airport is only ever a heartbeat from grinding to a halt you're shouting you're not letting me smile so they employ passenger troubleshooters like newman to try to stem the tide of chaos hello uzbekistan yes we're expecting four to five thousand passengers in about in space for one and a half hours and that's just through checking noman's job is to try to keep passengers happy even when things aren't going to plan was because i'm just going to hear from you please i absolutely love what i do i wouldn't change it for anything just follow into there [Music] [Applause] it's 4 p.m peak time for the terminal [Music] and the airport is operating at full capacity i've just been called on the radio to go up to check-in for uh one of the airlines where i believe the flight's been cancelled um we've got to destructive passengers and go in there and find out what's going on air india flight 171 to newark new york has been cancelled due to a software fault this is where the card is 40 passengers are demanding to be rebooked on flights today but the airline says there aren't any more flights to newark until tomorrow there is no seat available try to understand are you checking there's no seats available the passengers want the airline to look at other new york airports this is a disgrace that they tell us there are no tickets to new york it's not true all the flights have tickets to new york all the flights four hours on from their original departure not one passenger has been booked onto an alternative flight and noman is determined to ease the passenger panel so basically the flight's been uh cancelled there's a number of passengers a lot of different needs of getting to their destination today so i've arranged the agent now to start having a look at other flights that can get them to other airports in new york all right do you want to bring it to the side and we'll take have a seat over there now they're up against the clock the last check-in to jfk closes in less than three hours all right what is your position here i'm a heathrow passenger experience manager experience been a great experience i hopefully will get better one person in desperate need to get to new york is art dealer nick so hopefully they're going to rebook us on another flight but there's limited availability on other airlines and uh there's very limited staff here there's just one person to deal with passengers so uh i'm at the back of the mong queue i don't know if i'll be flying to new york tonight with only four flights to new york remaining today and 40 passengers still to be rebooked it's a race against time it's another day just another day at hebron [Music] across heathrow britain's front line is protected by dogs sniffing out everything from drugs to explosives today it's cash we're basically looking for any money that's involved with criminal activity so that be that either the importation of drugs human trafficking weapons money that's involved with terrorist activities um cash is involved with you know such a huge area with the help of springer spaniel ruby dave and a team of border force officers are looking for passengers carrying one thousand pounds or more in cash these passengers will need to prove where the money is from to make sure it's not linked to crime we're at 1004 we're looking at the vietnamese flight to hanoi there's been quite a few previous jobs previous fines going out to vietnam so we're going to have a little sniff around the passengers and hopefully we can find some money today the officers have just 30 minutes until the flight has to depart okay not long to sniff out the cash decide if it's suspicious and then seize it hello just let them have a little sniff in your bag here okay money in here money in here yeah 2 000. good girl okay bring your bags down to the officer it's not long before ruby gets a whiff of cash and it's down to dave's colleague ronnie to get to the bottom of the situation what is the reason for your travel i come back to my family you're going to see your family and what you do here for work shop nail shop your nail shop you work for somebody okay the dog is looking for money yeah right how much have you got it two thousand five hundred where's this money come from where has it come from from work from work this is it 2500 i'm gonna have a look in your bag you said you had no money you had no more money now where's this money come from i asked you i have a time saving for my job you've got bank saving for your child how much is this madden answer yeah another 2 500 yes is there any more money no no [Music] the woman claims a friend helped her save the money but can't prove it you don't call her no i don't do not use your phone now you do not use your phone do not use your phone [Music] 15 minutes before the plane must fly and ronnie has to make a decision whether to confiscate the 5 thousand pounds if i take this money away from you if i seize the money right will you fly are you gonna go or you're not gonna go i can you go right guys the time is 10 51. i'm very pleased with the result she knew there was more money in the bag i want you to sign there for me the sooner you sign the sooner you go the money will now be investigated if it turns out to be legitimate the passenger will get it back that was a good amount keeping planes moving is heathrow's number one priority one small problem on the runways and the airports in trouble airside operations make sure this doesn't happen from magnets picking up stray metal to patrols collecting litter that could jam a plane's engines today driver hugh has one of the least popular jobs it's not the cleanest of jobs we're going to be emptying a few suspects this morning [Music] overflowing cesspits could seriously disrupt the airfield in the summer as soon as they see this vehicle all the windows shut heathrow has five cesspits that are regularly filled with sewage you've done we pumped right now just start drawing now so if we pull it back this way any feel it put your foot on it what normally goes down a toilet is what you'll find down there but you'll find liters upon liters each of the cesspits needs to be emptied manually twice a week including one with some poshapoo because this is where they've situated the royal suite so aircraft will come straight off the runway straight in and they get an express departure and landing we wouldn't be doing this if the queen was going to be boarding a flight with 7 000 liters of sewage emptied the job's done suede cone there the gully sucker is full and needs emptying hughes unloading into heathrow's main sewer whoever was here last has left quite a mess the aircraft sewerage comes off the aircraft they're supposed to pipe it straight into here and as you can see they've just dumped it there absolute filth i was gonna have a curry tonight but i think i'll swerve that mauritius five three on four zero seven roger your pushback is approved face to the north just advise your ground crew triple seven will park on four zero nine air traffic control oversee the takeoff and landing of over 1 300 planes every day you know we're busy all the time it's relentless it really is you know we're from 6am to 11 30 there's just continuous traffic but today they've got one less plane to deal with the 12 30 to newark has been cancelled so they have a certain window to get airborne to push back off they stand they will get fined heavily by the airport because they've been sitting on stand for so long how many passengers are here 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 any more air in their passengers time is running out for naman to help get 40 stranded passengers to new york there's only two hours to go until check-in closes for the last flight of the day this is going to be very expensive for the airline there's re-booking costs for passengers and onto other flights there's overnight stay at hotels traveling to and from the hotels food vouchers this could this has got the potential of going into the hundreds of thousands under eu law if a plane's more than four hours delayed to a destination over two thousand miles away passengers are entitled to six hundred euros compensation back at the ticket desk time is running out for art dealer nick saying there's no seats available on the replacement flight but that's not true there are many fights going to new york i want to be on one of them i don't care i don't need food i just want to be there more than 600 flights are scheduled to depart heathrow every day but today one of them is going nowhere the 12 30 to newark has been cancelled um i'm going to go to the air india desk and see what progress we made yeah [Music] naman now has only 60 minutes to get the remaining passengers booked onto the last flight leaving tonight most passengers have now been rebooked we've got a last few that we're waiting on um we've done everything we can so i'm just really hoping that they do make it let's just wait and see still in the queue is art dealer nick it's now six hours since we were supposed to take off and i'm still stuck in the airport where i started so i'm not feeling very happy numan wants to make sure everyone gets the assistance they need you got your rebooking have you got a ticket no what are they saying some problem with her system because i changed my ticket she came afraid but so what they're gonna do about it now then yes they say she will try it but after council urgently needs to get to new york for her father's funeral [Music] i don't need to go what's happening with the lady there she needs to get she needs to get her funeral she needs to get to her funeral the lady said she's gonna stop but she has got a seat yeah she has got a seat where too okay so they have got a suit for you already they're just having trouble as you're saying printing it off but they have got a seat for you to jfk on the 8 15 flight tonight 8 15. yeah 8 15. sorry yeah so i've just got to deal with these last few people once they do this last few people they'll get that print out to you and then you can make your way or they'll even arrange transport for you to get to terminal 3. as the last remaining passenger a lot rests on nick making his meeting in the morning are you going to make loads of money in that meeting it's possible is there bonuses involved well i'm fine back with air india on friday so if i make it successfully i'll be i'll be standing in the rivals yeah sorry people that missed it quiet i'm here nick's patience has paid off after a six-hour wait he finally gets what he wants in sleep tonight what have you got well they've given me a piece of paper which might get me to new york if the next plane works properly and we take off we'll see they finally have their tickets but there's another headache for noman getting the passengers to a different terminal they've got 35 minutes to check in yeah because 7 15 7 15 but they need to get there as well this is going to be getting 10 minutes it's 5 miles to terminal 3. it'll take 10 minutes to get there and there's no sign of their taxi no okay how long have they got left before checking closes uh 25 minutes we won't miss it we'll see with 20 minutes to go before check-in closes in terminal 3 the taxi finally arrives thank you have a safe journey everyone we've got 17 minutes to get there so fingers crossed those last six will make it and um that's the end of it that's the end of that disruption and that one flight [Music] over the last 30 years 50 000 people have tried to face their fear of flying by taking a specially designed course [Music] some of them even work at the airport like animal welfare officer shannon hello shannon [Music] thank you in an attempt to face a phobia head-on shannon's on british airways flying with confidence course held at heathrow and so i've just got my boarding pass um for the flight later i wonder if that's an aisle seat when i'm on an airplane the thoughts just flood into my head it will be like sounds really bad but it will be like images of me dying or people on the aircraft dying but if you look at the statistics you are hundreds of times more likely to die in a car crash several times more likely to be murdered by someone of you from your own family along with 150 fellow anxious flyers shannon's getting a pep talk from one of the airline's most experienced pilots captain steve allright i'd like to dispel this morning with some of the myths around flying if all the engines stop we can actually glide for a hundred miles perfectly safely the seat belt sign ding dong it doesn't mean imminent disaster after two hours of flight theory it's time to put the learning into practice i'm still a bit dubious about getting on the flight i'm determined to do it i am i've never flown by myself before never flown without a family member or a friend ever didn't ever plan to because i'm just too scared [Music] uh i need a book or something something to read or like take my mind off it okay so last couple of minutes we're going to close the door in a second now you're all doing brilliantly one last group breathe and squeeze i think so here we go let's breathe out two three four and in two with the bumps please three four and relax can't be crazy [Music] so you will feel the thrust of the engine coming here comes the power and lots of noise everything's normal breathing and squeezing open your eyes and everything's normal 80 miles an hour ready everything's normal engines working perfectly pilots nice and relaxed 100 miles an hour 120 miles an hour accelerating faster than a ferrari now everything's normal we're lifting the nose using the elevator and therefore [Music] yeah i'm on a plane by myself after 45 minutes flying towards southampton and back it's time to land at heathrow [Music] touchdown any second now there it is big round of applause i've been really good now that i've done the course i'm really glad i did it i did it and my holidays now i can be excited about flying on holiday rather than being a wuss and panicky so yeah good day the sleet and wet snow will clear east by 8 p.m tonight but in the threat of ice will begin around 6 p.m and persist throughout the evening at night bad weather is threatening to bring the airport to a standstill already 80 flights have been cancelled in anticipation now the airside ops team must overcome the elements to keep the remaining planes flying what we're trying to do is gauge a window of opportunity if we can possibly anti-ice before the sleet and snow but we're not 100 sure that's going to happen at the moment but that is the plan they have 87 snow plows 90 support vehicles and 20 de-ices at their disposal one of which is manned by airside operations driver hugh all right then it's going to get me coat and then we're going to die the vehicle we've got the ice of four your apple core i think it could be a long nape it can be we can be out there for quite some time that's why they give us these little packages a couple of packets of crisps bottle of water and i think a fruit bar something like that hugh has worked at the airport for over 40 years snow is a problem not only for the runways taxiways etc it's also a big problem for the airlines because the airlines have got to get the aircraft out if they can the flights are going to get delayed they've got to get their contractors in to de-ice them or their own staff in the meantime flights are one are going to arrive aircraft can't get out in the meantime we're doing our best to clear the runways the turn-offs the taxiways the cul-de-sacs etc the de-icer is a key weapon in the battle to keep heathrow open in the winter with a remarkable 45 meter span the vehicle carries 10 000 liters of de-icer [Music] you can de-ice the runways in six minutes but they have to be closed suspending takeoffs and landings will cause huge delays and delays can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds yeah we went for the call at heathrow the weather is deteriorating already 80 flights have been cancelled and now the runways may have to be closed for de-icing not the available isn't a decision taken lightly it costs around 80 000 pounds to spray both runways i just thought you know we're in position roger received now all you can do is wait for the final call we're getting in position and we're going to be ready to roll rush the runway and the ice at the same [Music] time as hugh waits the weather's creating havoc across the airport almost a third of britain's exports pass through heathrow at the cargo terminal a plane has just arrived from moscow an hour late go here go back the weather is atrocious today it can be very dangerous we've got a lot of heavy freight that comes on we have engines sometimes weigh up to 14 tonne their turnaround time has been halved freight coordinator gary and load master chris have just 90 minutes to shift 100 tons of freight before it departs for frankfurt we have about 13 pellets going off the airplane and we have around eight pellets coming onto the airplane we have to move some pellets around for the loading sequence and uh we have to watch the destination you have to watch the weights it's not just getting things on and off it's you have to watch everything holy slowly slow it's like a puzzle it's like teachers if you know the game you have to be flexible with the clock ticking and the weather against them gary and chris take drastic measures to make up time we are going to open the nose cargo door because we are running a bit late tonight and we have to load some pellets to the nose so that's a good opportunity to save some time [Music] loader but opening the nose hasn't been enough to pull ahead it's six o'clock they're scheduled departure time and chris needs to rebook his takeoff slot jamie we need some minutes more we are ready to leave at 25 past i said okay for you you've got to get a bucket with bait got a load of water regressing one of your pallets the rain hasn't helped much today because it does does add a factor into it [Music] with 15 minutes to go they can't miss their new slot we've got three coming through the nose now [Music] [Applause] [Music] cheers chris thank you okay it's quarter to seven 45 minutes behind their scheduled departure we had snow we had rain every single element that could be thrown at us today everybody's going home safe and the aircraft's about to go off to frankfurt so the big smile on my face gets to know off she goes but like every other planet heathrow tonight it'll have to wait for the runway to be de-iced hugh's finally been given the green light let's go [Music] with 40 planes waiting to take off and 40 planes stacked in the sky hugh has only six minutes to de-ice the two and a half mile long runway we're restricted to a speed limit of uh 20 miles an hour because of the size of the boom of the vehicle time is of the essence because aircraft are being held back so the time we clear it doesn't disrupt their travel this is a little bit more exciting because it's life and we've got to be very proficient and professional we can't afford to get caught with our pants down it's getting a little bit heavier now in the nick of time hugh manages to finish the job as you can see we're getting quite a bit of sleep all done another success story for the department cleaning my desk because there could be like ebola on here there could be like i don't know anything flu senior customer service agent carriane is preparing for the busiest check-in of the week a flight to dhaka in bangladesh done thank you boarding's going to be about 5 30. okay [Music] working alongside carrianne is selena the airline's newest recruit today's flight is for lows yeah almost reaching its capacity in the next two hours they have over 400 passengers to check in the heat is gonna be on in a bit when it starts building up with one of the most generous baggage allowances of any airline carry-on and selena have their work cut out i've got a group of 13 so they're allowed up to 26 pieces of luggage um do you have 26 or more you'll have 26 okay this is your bag is it spider-man most airlines allow just one bag today's passengers are allowed two weighing 20 kilos each any more and they pay an excess of six pounds per kilo do you have the cash available yes yes there's nothing you can do no no no just tell them no thank you no i'm really sorry so you've agreed to pay but you're not going yeah i beat you okay so you're wasting time aren't you you need to go and pay there's people that need to check in you need to go and pay then come back to me collect your passport and then you can go through security yeah okay so go and do that now then please because you've wasted time [Music] with just an hour to go until check-in closes big family groups are slowing things down yeah the queue is building we're losing time we're starting to sweat we're not even halfway [Music] no i run out of luggage tags not my stress thinking i think you learn to love it you love the chaos you love it it's never the same it's never boring so yeah it's okay we've got about 100 passengers left to check in in 45 minutes right so you need to reduce the bag because it disables the belt see it's flashing it's not going to go down the belt today more than 93 000 people are departing heathrow hi how are you i like your suit thank you for customer service agents carry on and selena it feels like most of them are trying to take a flight to dhaka in bangladesh probably the most challenging thing over here in this flight is trying to juggle bags and sending passengers for repacks or excess luggage check-in is almost done and with 90 minutes before departure carry-on heads over to the gate to board the 400 passengers it was watching programs like this when i was younger like airport and airline and things and and i just always thought that's going to be me i want to do it all right let's open this gate [Music] straight down please straight down please thank you very much you have any liquids in your bags any creams just lovely okay if you like to take a tray between check-in and the gate like security a vital piece of the jigsaw keeping the skies and country safe please make sure you have no metallic items on you any heavy jewellery bulky belts no coins or mobiles in your pockets [Music] sean has worked in security at the airport for almost four years we love the passengers here big cultural mix new challenges every day anything i put here okay it's too big this is too big this is too big tricky passengers especially language barriers you can't take it on a plane do you do you understand what i'm saying or you don't understand you don't understand we get to learn our own sign language hand gestures so this is all fine this is not drinks uh we do this like drinks uh any laptops ipads computers like this do you live in saudi do you live there are you going on holiday [Music] last year heathrow confiscated everything from knives to face creams to jars of jam wow they're all for you t4 watches yes most times passengers think they've done something wrong but is basically the case of not knowing so we're just here to try and teach them educate them basically on the procedures what we do here why we do it you know and hopefully they understand hello boys do you have anything sharp in your bag i'm not so sure because my mom picked this oh your mom packed it okay [Music] did your mom put this in it yeah you know she call her and tell her off okay this is what you're supposed to be checking so i'm so sorry sir okay all right moral of the story is don't let your mom pack your bag [Music] thank you set your bag border force officers also protect heathrow's front line and today they're still on the hunt for illegal cash rube's biggest find it's about 200 000 it was in uh i was in suitcase going to america actually to get a brand new tennis ball for that one to go [Music] while ruby and dave carry on their hunt border force officer prakash has had a tip-off about a passenger flying to china i need to have a chat with you okay so i'm going to take you around in the room yeah and then yeah i'll speak to you about your stay in the uk and ask you some more questions okay he's been told the man could be carrying cash from working illegally you have been referred to us by one of my colleagues do you understand me do you speak english at all sir a little bit uh where do you ready where do you ready okay with 82 nationalities passing through the airport language can be a problem fortunately they've found someone who can speak mandarin to translate i'm one of the offices so i just need to ask him questions he doesn't understand uh what i'm asking them can you ask this gentleman when did he come to the uk he said i came for 10 years about 10 years about 10 years yes he came here by the plane but he don't have any visa just came in okay we have evidence that he has claimed asylum in the uk and his asylum case has failed in the uk i see this man has been in the uk illegally unlike more than 24 000 others last year he's returning home voluntarily however the law prevents illegal immigrants from working so any money earned must be seized has he been working in the uk can you ask him a kitchen cooking cooking yeah how much money is he carrying it by sunset um one hundred one thousand thirty one thousand one hundred and thirty yes okay can you show me the money please sure he's working and some of them from his friends so he has been working yes okay right if you just let him know that i'm going to refer this to my office and i'll let him know what the outcome hello hi it's uh practice from the cash team yeah unicorn 3. [Music] he's carrying 11 other powers which he claims that he has gone through working over here after liaising with investigators the decision has been made to seize the passengers money investigators now have three months to prove the cash has been earned illegitimately otherwise the money will be returned to the passenger thank you so much [Music] that's [Music] it's common for the team to see passengers without visas some of them victims of crime themselves come forward that's fine thank you very much that's great we do see quite a lot of exploitation over here people have been brought by certain gangs and working slavery as enforcement officers we have to adhere to the law of the uk and in this instance we had to take the money that he had earned here illegally for further investigation [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen may we have your attention please beam and bangladesh airlines are pleased to announce the departure of flight bg2 to select and daca please have both your boarding card and passports ready for a final inspection have got just 25 minutes to board over 400 passengers to ensure the plane gets away on time it's just to get everything on time it's a bit challenging here because there is a lot of people that we are handling there's a lot of wheelchairs there are a lot of big groups of families that kind of hard to get organized and everybody coming in on time it's you know this is this challenge here to make matters worse the boarding scanner has broken forcing carry on to go back to three basics five just sweating like a pig just keep everything cool keep counting thinning out so it's getting good but selena's noticed a discrepancy in the boarding figures [Music] islam that's mr laurel islam you're coming on flight bg2 dhaka please make your way immediately now to gate number nine your flight is now closing thank you is here with us one of the missing passengers has just boarded the plane and carriane thinks she spotted the other one at the far end of the gate should i push him through and we'll board him yeah yeah you got your passport with you sir yeah everything again i thought you were getting wheelchair people who's yes okay okay let's go then [Music] so this is our final passenger going on board nice and quiet it's nice we've done it [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Spark

Views: 1,459,478

Rating: 4.8504953 out of 5

Keywords: Spark, spark channel, spark documentary, full documentary, Britain's busiest airport, Heathrow documentary, airport, a day in the life, pilot documentary, managing an airport, how to airports run, biggest airport in Europe, busy airport, engineering, engineering documentary, how to run an airport, day in the life of a pilot, airhostess, airport manager, plane commands, airport commands, science, science documentary, airport schedule, airport police

Id: 8AadwkiyOck

Length: 45min 18sec (2718 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 04 2018