2564 is coming up on 2564 at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the world five runways handle up to 250 flights an hour security staff check 95,000 bags every day we are taking anything you can eat drink or serve the webw out of the bags I'm looking for anything a connect to make an exposed material the airport handles 2 million passengers a week this is final 1286 and IT employs 63,000 staff the pilot doesn't get this he can't go anywhere so how does this enormous airport work the volume here at Atlanta is always the difficult part exclusive access takes us behind the scenes it's kind of like the underground Disney exploring the airport's hidden secrets some people don't even even know that I exist to discover the amazing team on call 247 what I love most about this is being the good guy and incredible technology you process a US citizen in a matter of seconds that makes this extraordinary Place work once's the captain get his clearance out we're ready for on time departure this is the secret life of the world's busiest airport final the flight 332 liia Costa Rica Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta handles more flights than heat thr and Gatwick airports combined good afternoon ladies and gentlemen your aircraft has justed here at gate a28 around 261 million people 80% of the US population live within 2 hours flight of here Delta flight 2179 at pensacol and it's the home base for Delta Air Airlines one of the biggest carriers in the world hell connections information is here on the overhead monitor that's why 104 million passengers pass through the airport every [Music] year relying on the 2,700 flights that arrive or depart every day so it's 104 affirmative and make a left turn on taxi to ensure everything runs on time hundreds of aircraft must be emptied prepared and reloaded at one of the airport's 192 Gates under such pressure every breakdown every weather delay every security alert has the potential to bring the operation to a grinding halt so how do you manage the job of getting all those aircraft in and out throughout the day this is where it all starts Delta Airlines ramp Tower one of three across the airport and American 1309 uh coming on your left side to your gate Tango 10 from here the staff control all the operations required to turn an aircraft around across 60 Gates simultaneously each flight has certain things that have to happen it has to be fueled has to have catering has to be clean so we're coordinating all those different inspections and activities that go into it every flight we're ground control so we bring the planes in and we push the planes out repeat and go repeat and go Roger United 4484 your push approved tail South currently there's 2 and Q ramp controllers manage the flow of aircraft enabling Pilots to find the right gate and head for the right Runway hey I got a Bravo 29 it's uh ship number 950 gate controllers oversee the turnaround itself self managing up to eight Gates simultaneously constantly troubleshooting problems my gate bra 31 he just pushed off the gate he was on time and I got Bravo 33 we have the jetway off and it looks like he's going to be early it's the gate controller's job to liaz with the ground crew to ensure baggage tugs arrive for the luggage and catering trucks arrive with newly loaded Galley cars but one vehicle you won't see out here is a fuel tanker so how do these planes get refueled running underground is a hidden network of pipes 23 M long which feed fuel to every single gate at the airport and the system pumps 11 million L of aviation fuel every day Sky West 109 North cargo Dixie 35 the ramp tower has INF information on every aspect of an aircraft's operation from how much fuel it needs to how many bags should be on board this information is fed to the ground crew using the latest inh handheld Electronics which is how they know that this flight has a problem we out 41 bag Hey listen you guys got any bag I got um 2330 Tampa Alpha 7 we're missing about 40 bags okay it's 23:30 and uh we got uh 15 minutes on the clock 5 or 10 minutes and that issue should be resolved all right 38.5 hey stand by one second Bob San Francisco Bravo 22 it's the job of the ramp Tower staff to deal with any issue and minimize the risk of delay planes will come in and something goes wrong with it it'll break needs tire changing you know doors won't open delays affect us greatly because we're such a tight operation there's one problem the ramp Tower dreads above anything else worst nightmare bad weather you know here in the South we have thunderstorms that just pop up out of nowhere when it starts raining we start slowing the flow of traffic coming in here at that point we're taking major delays the ramp Tower staff constantly juggle resources to keep delays to a minimum 4803 W the fuel on board can you tell me what maintenance is actually working on they can track every single inbound outbound and grounded aircraft coming through Atlanta in the next day and if a problem calls for a replacement plane they know exactly where to find one sometimes these aircraft come in and they might be sitting on the ground for two hours for their next flight so what we do is the aircraft that just broke has a 2hour ready time we'll take that ship that's sitting here waiting for two hours and we'll put the passengers on them and then by the time that happens this one should be be repaired and it'll be able to make up we're moving things around we're trying to utilize all our resources that we have to get them up I mean it came in early you see the Standard Time right there is 11:50 or whatever but it came in 11:34 it's a constant battle against time technology and the elements and it never stops up here we're kind of like a a beehive everybody I mean it's just activity if you were to take the lid off you're just going to hear you know buzzing going on the tower is also in communication with the gate agents they must deal with the single most timec consuming turnaround job of all us the passengers we should begin boarding at 35 minutes prior to departure so we are getting ready to begin boarding but the boarding process has been delayed hi are you good thank you no problem cute glass thank you whether the captain and first officer are here or not all flight attendants have to be here before we can Bor so right now we just have one we're still holding on three more maintain control of your bags at all times we're all familiar with seating areas where we can wait for our flight but what about the air crws hidden out of the way underneath the terminals are two other lounges one for cabin crew the other for Pilots you have a typical passenger that goes from the west coast to the east coast on any given day they will tell you they're warn out and that's just from riding in the airplane well we're busily working and flying these airplanes and we need downtime to so if we're able to go into a lounge at our base we have enough time we'll go in there sit relax for a little while and uh kick back put our feet up and and out of the public view because no one in the airport wants to see their pilot sleep that is not a good look as Atlanta is the main hub for Craig's Airline he spends a lot of time down here there's a blue chair over there in front of the television that I am particularly fond of reclines almost completely flat I've spent many hours in it from their Lounge Pilots can get their schedule for the day and up toate weather forecasts but as they head for their gate it turns out that one of the most critical things the pilot of a 75 million plane relies on is an oldfashioned print out this is the Pilot's pre-departure paperwork it basically lets them know which Runway they need to take what elevation it has all of the how much fuel they need all the little details who his crew is everything so this is vital to the operation the pilot doesn't get this he can't go anywhere here you go gentlemen outstanding thank you very much we aren't able to accommodate any additional passengers for this fighter has Che completely full there are still 5 minutes to go when the aircraft door is closed even though work can still be going on on the tarmac uh the clock is showing uh D minus 2 on there so everything was closed up at D3 uh we ready for on time departure um he's on the headset right now just waiting for the captain to call him once the captain get his clearance out and be ready to go we're ready to take the canopy off the aircraft and get the plane back on an on time [Music] departure the ramp controller leazes with air traffic control Roger before giving the pilots clearance to move right now we got this aircraft that's pushing back we're giving them instructions how to to go so they can get oriented to the right Runway so they can take off flight dl2330 heads off to Tamper bang on schedule but keeping Atlanta's 2,700 flights a day on time isn't just down to the ramp Towers hidden out of sight is a vast Subterranean Network moving passengers and baggage from one part of this enormous airport to another 35 Mi of conveyor system mostly hidden under the building so it's kind of like the underground Disney Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta has been the world's busiest airport for the last two decades and last year it handled a staggering 104 million passengers Rec 2609 for charlot managing that number of people requires two two massive Terminals and seven concourses spread across the 2 m long axis of the airport once again this is a final boarding call for Delta flight 1286 all confirmed in ticket at passengers must be on board at this time at gate T6 they've almost finished boarding a flight to New York hey how are you today but some passengers are missing we're missing still about eight passengers on board most of these passengers are coming from a in Flight Atlanta is a massive Hub with flights coming in from all over the world as well as across the USA over 60% of passengers are changing from one flight to another and with Gates as much as a mile and a half apart getting them from one aircraft to another is a huge issue so how do you get passengers to their flight on time the solution lies under ground a Subterranean automated Railway which handles more passengers a day than all the terminals at Heath row combined a 3em loop of track runs along the spine of the airport connecting Terminals and Gates the next up is for a Gates a as an alpha at peak times the trains run a minute apart allowing the plane train to shuttle 250,000 passengers staff and crew from terminal to terminal every day it's the busiest automated airport Railway in the world the next up is for Bates b as in bravo but what and who keeps it running get you to head out to F2 got doors felling the lock F2 we have to ensure that there's no glitches no hangup we want to keep it moving smooth it's all about getting people safely from entering the airport to their destinations from the control room Rod can monitor the performance of every train in the system any problem like faulty doors overloaded trains or power failures will raise an alarm train 4 car 47 doors fell in close and as soon as there's an issue Rod alerts his roving team of Engineers to fix it all right no problem they are part of a secret army of people who keep the airports functioning you have three guys spread out across the entire system and they all have a certain area to cover if a issue happens we can tell him where the train is um car 34 what the problem is the pressure on Rod is immense a plane train breakdown is the nightmare scenario without that one minute trains now the crowd starting to pile up and pile up and pile up those stations would be crowded in just 5 minutes it affects everything now the planes can't depart because they don't have the passengers I mean it's a ripple effect with 2,700 flights routed via Atlanta each day the ripples spread far and wide it wouldn't affect just Atlanta we're talking the whole Southeast Eastern Seaboard I mean it is not a good thing not a good thing at all will not be open while Rod's team attend to every technical fault some problems are beyond their control number one would would probably be passenger interference that means people jamming [Music] doors the automated system requires the doors to close properly before a train can move off if the doors are jammed open or damaged it brings the plane train and possibly a significant slice of US Air Traffic to a complete halt these trains will not move without the doors being closed that's why it's so crucial it's so important careful but passengers are just worried about catching their flights I don't feel too comfortable checking in luggage like especially if I'm traveling with dance costumes or something important like I always get scared that they're going to lose my bags this is actually only my second time on a plane so the first time my uh baggage got lost worldwide around 20 million bags are lost or damaged each year costing the industry 1.8 billion [Music] Atlanta uses the latest in technology to minimize the chance of your bags missing your flight welcome to Atlanta's Hightech baggage Highway first stop on the line the Transportation Security Administration screening facility TSA as they're known scans every single check-in bag before it goes anywhere which adds up to 14.9 million bags a year at peak times TSA will run 42 x-ray machines each costing £ 261,000 to hunt for explosives or other banned items if we deem that it might be suspicious we end up sending it to one line and if the machine says we're okay with this bag it'll actually s to another line on straight onto the plane most bags pass through without any problem but a significant number are sent down the suspicious bag slipway to tsa's baggage inspection room for stage two this is my bag right now using the X-ray from the scanner inspectors can zero in on the suspicious part of the bag any back has a laptop in it is going to pretty much come down and be alarmed and checked on the floor cuz that's easily something that you can hide or conceal uh an explosive device or makeup of explosive device in I'm checking for any type of explosive or Trace material that it might be on the item itself analyzing a swab from the laptop is the shest way to check if it's okay or not okay any bag containing tools Electronics or liquid contain containers must pass George's inspection before it can go on its way oh now so with this bag here it's locked if a bag's locked and George doesn't have a master key he must adopt a more direct approach explosives thankfully are incredibly rare but George does get a surprise now and again one time we even seen like some some dead rats U mice and it was just a whole bunch of them in little Ziplock bags one time we even seen a complete car the hood just bits and pieces the headlights just in different bags it was literally like a whole car confirmed as safe bags move to stage three where the adventure really begins 35 Mi of conveyor system mostly hidden under the building so it's kind of like the underground Disney where you really don't know all the different things that are happening it's some mechanized Wonderland with 500 Junctions and it's here that the tag on your bag really earns its stripes at Atlanta they're special because they contain a microchip or RFID we have Optical readers around the system that that periodically check the location of the bag um as well as RFID readers the RFID allows bags to be identified even if the barcode gets obscured this ensures that every bag gets rooted to the right destination and the microchip offers an extra little piece of mind so it allows us a lot better information uh we're now able to relay that information to our passengers they can use an app to see the location of their bag at any time whether it's on board uh whether it's sitting at the claim unit for them Andy and his team constantly monitor the system there are different color codes that come up depending on the activity of the system green is good green is always good uh purple indicates there's a little bit of a problem and bags are starting to back up and then if there ends up being a jam it indicates a jam and yellow unfortunately Andy and his colleagues see yellow over 60 times a day we have a jam at MB 143 MB 143 a baggage system technician is dispatched to sort out the problem our goal is to clear them within a minute and a half there's a little competition between the day shift and the PM shift on how quickly they can clear Jam most jams are like this one four bags have ended up wedged together blocking the conveyor it's simple enough to clear and Andy's computer screens are green for go again the biggest cause of lost bags is when luggage is in transit to a connecting flight at Atlanta they have an ingenious solution to deal with bags which have a long layover bags like this one are sent to a facility called Cold Storage is tracked by the system so it knows its exact location so if this particular bag which is going to Sacramento uh is needed for a flight that going out then uh the bag will Purge out go to its on time pier and then any other bags that were not needed at that particular time by the system will come back and be sorted back into a Time Lane the final stop on the system is one of several unloading stations on any given day you can lift couple of hundred to several hundred bags just like the passengers bags have departure boards and the baggage handlers make sure each bag catches its flight this screen right here lets us know what flights are going out on this pier and then we set these carts up for each destination Jacksonville it's due out at 12:18 we like to haul the first card out 40 minutes prior to departure then if any other Jacksonville bags fall we like to have those to the gate within 25 minutes of the the most we've handled in any particular day was 108,000 that's pretty mindboggling uh how many bags were able to move through here in a day uh keep them sorted out keep them uh get them to the correct flights the airport systems do a remarkable job of getting passengers and Luggage to their onward flight but what do you do if you've got a tight connection and even the plane train isn't going to be fast enough ever wondered what those people with name boards on the airbridge are doing are you Mr sender I am yes how are you good morning sir Delta passenger Steven stender has less than 30 minutes to make his connection well I've got a nice Treet waiting for you downstairs if you follow me having alerted the airline to his problem they've stepped in to help this is their Porsche transfer service reserved for VIPs paying clients and people who really can't afford to miss their onward [Music] flight I was really sweating it you know I was a little concerned about weather and everything else it's a big day um actually asking uh my girlfriend to to be my wife I'm flying home to Milwaukee and immediately as I see her I'm going to ask her to marry me and we are then celebrating we're off to Hawaii it might seem a bit absurd using a sports car capable of 160 mph to tole Across the tarmac at a modest 30 but with an automated massage included it's been chosen for Comfort rather than speed we could just take a little tour around the airport for an hour I could get used to this and again just uh just watch your step Mr cat as we head up perfect great thank you one passenger's Journey that could have gone South is now heading north on time to Milwaukee there's only one thing more important to the airport than getting people away on time and that's ensuring their safety with terrorism an everpresent threat how does the world's busiest airport Keep Us Safe never again do we want 911 to happen across the world there are estimated to be as many as 16,000 planes in the air at any one time controlling each and every flight is a mammoth task 326 tax via the Pink 3 hold short Runway ner right Runway ner right via the Pink 3 Del 2326 at the world's busiest airport air traffic control is one of the most challenging jobs we are servicing 150 domestic destinations 70 International destinations and 50 countries and so our job job is to make that portion where you start and you end your flight AS seamless as possible 254 is coming up on right it's a Non-Stop Carousel of planes in and out South 105 at Romeo 3 cross Runway 9er right turn left on Taxi open every airport is different but here in Atlanta you have to have that energy to keep going and and keep moving forward when you are getting behind because you can get behind real fast here Paul and his colleagues handle five parallel runways in constant use and 2,700 flights a day we can handle anywhere between 130 arrivals an hour and 120 departures an hour so roughly over 250 operations an hour so how do you manage the flow of aircraft when there is a takeoff or Landing happening every 15 seconds Atlanta airport is divided in two each side serving one half of us airspace on each side one Runway is dedicated to takeoffs the others to Landings and each Runway has a designated controller got the 1471 you can make the left turn at Lima 1 you'll follow an imer approaching from your left 1471 monitor Tower 12385 breaking the system down like this makes the process of air traffic control much more manageable 26 is that finish out for you that's good thank you Delta 2326 I'll pass this information on thank you 1564 turn left on November and hold shter when ATT sier the airports taxiways operate as enormous oneway streets channeling aircraft to and from their Gates and this allows air traffic control to maximize throughput when things get busy the ground controller's uh main objective is to taxi the aircraft both arriving and departures um to get them to their Runway there shut 6116 you'll be next for departure monitor Tower 12385 12385 aircraft need a minimum separation between takeoffs but smaller gaps are permitted if their routs diverge as soon as they're Airborne when they tax out for departure you could get a North departure and you can get followed by another North departure and what the ground controller would do is he would park that second North departure and wait for a West departure to come out 3 Atlanta Tower on the right number two by alternating aircraft so that one with a flight path going left is followed by one with a flight path going right you can speed up the rate at which they depart that's fine for getting aircraft out but how do you get inbound aircraft to the gates without Crossing busy runways Atlanta's built a way to keep the taxiing traffic flowing call taxi wave Victor it's effectively a bypass diverting taxiing aircraft round one end of the runway but the crucial factor is it sits in a man-made dip this means the taxiing aircraft is below the level of the runway so it won't interfere with aircraft taking off it uh actually reduces our Runway crossings by about 600 Crossings uh a day and it also allows the aircraft to keep moving which means they don't have to idle down and power back up so they use a lot less fuel in air traffic it's always to good to keep an aircraft moving moving aircraft is a happy aircraft as we say so even if you're taxi and longer and you're not stopping I think the passengers uh enjoy that cuz at no point do you stop taxiway Victors being so successful a similar system is planned for the opposite side of the airport join the principle of simplification even applies to the technology the air traffic controllers use for all the radar and computers they have the most essential tool for managing individual aircraft is this a plastic strip those plastic strips um those are the flight plans and basically they have the aircraft call sign on there they have the destination the altitude they have a transponder code on there in which that code is linked up to that particular aircraft so that we can radar identify them and follow them throughout the airspace there's times where you could have 50 of those strips and that's a way for us to keep them organized um and it's a Memory a for us so we use those uh all the time passing the strip from One controller to the next keeps responsibilities clear and the traffic flowing airports rely on keeping the passengers moving as much as the planes and as any regular traveler knows that means clearing security having people go through security is probably the biggest thing you know with 911 and everything after that you know going through security that can be rough for some people sometimes standing in line is kind of like long and annoying but like it's definitely necessary you want to make sure you're safe when you're traveling the Transportation Security Administration or TSA are responsible for all us airport security attention please airport security alert please maintain control of your BS at all times they were formed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack and Christy Newton Terry was one of their first employees the training was very fast I had my interview U my test everything all in the same day within a 3 week span it was like this and I had a a job that has lasted me this long it was amazing to me you know uh what it is that we do you know basically saving the public every day move your jacket sir you can step around I have open station in the front we have a modotto not on our watch basically it means never again do we want 911 to happen everything that's in your pocket put it in here very first station the main weapon in tsa's Armory is the X-ray scanner but if it can see inside our luggage why do we have to take anything out anything that we have you take out of the bag it's basically for the X-ray operator so that they can see clearer through the item to make sure nothing prohibited is inside laptops and other metal items can block the X-ray machine's penetrating eye which is why passengers have to remove them from their bags they can hide prohibited items from detection remember guys we are taking anything you can eat drink or serve the webw out of the bags last year screening at Atlanta revealed 245 handguns carried in people's luggage of which 222 were loaded we find their gun almost every day some of them forget they're in their bag some of them think that it they can bring them because they have a carry concealed license and they think that they can still bring it through remember guys Anything You Can Eat Drink serve the web with go ahead and take it out of the bag the meticulous process of security can cause long cues but Atlanta does have one tool up its sleeve more efficient than metal detectors and body scanners it can keep cues to a minimum say hello to Flint one of 17 specially trained explosive sniffer dogs he's not going to buy he just going to smell you well the technology is very good um but the dog's Keen sense of smell is much better than the machinery and it's a lot quicker so we can screen passengers much faster we used to screen cargo and they would call us cuz if they had 20 pallets to screen the dog could do it in 10 minutes where it would probably take them two hours bu eliminating the possibility of passengers carrying explosives before they even reach the X-ray machines the remaining Security checks can be simplified he not going to bother you he's going to smell you they don't take their shoes off they don't have to take their liquids out it's just much more efficient and a faster way for them to pass through the secondary part of the screening security is one of the most important aspects of Airport's life and it can affect its operation in some very unexpected [Music] ways take food for instance with 275,000 people passing through every day restaurants are a vital part of the airport we'll get a bite to eat before we get on the airplane just because of the fact you never know what they're going to serve you you know if you're waking up early to go to an airport you're all stressed you don't really have time to eat so getting there and having a place to eat is always nice Jackal Island Seafood is one of the 114 food Outlets dotted throughout the airport most of the seafood the shrimp and fried fish and crawfish and calamari most of that stuff's 10 minutes tops with chicken takes a little longer to cook so we're looking at about 15 minutes definitely no longer than a 20 minute ticket time whether you're turning out grilled Atlantic salmon or just a burger the question is the same how do you get all the ingredients and staff to cook them into the airport without the headache of passing through security the answer is you can't security is non-negotiable all the food is subject to being inspected and checked um before it makes its way into the airport so it's a very demanding precise logistically complicated process that we have to go through in order to make all of this work I have a chicken Caesar and a kids chicken tenders on the way the biggest obstacle that I tackle here with my staff is getting everyone here on time everyone has to go through security every day all of your belongings so the staff have to make sure that they're prepared at least an hour an hour and a half to just walk in the doors to be here at work getting people and produce to the restaurant is only part of the challenge if all sharp objects are confiscated by security how do chefs prepare the food all of the knives have to be feathered or attached to a string or they have to be locked away in the safe we have to keep a record of it daily for the morning as well as the PM that we're checking to make sure that all pointy sharp objects including knives and scissors they're accounted for twice a day although no airport can guarantee to eliminate every single risk to our safety air travel Remains the safest mode of Transport on the planet there are however some threats you can't control like bird strikes so how does Atlanta keep Wildlife at Bay leave the area it's unsafe this is not for [Music] you as any regular traveler knows Mother Nature can have a dramatic effect on air travel storms snow and lightning can all cause airport delays but the natural world's interventions aren't just limited to the elements Wildlife also poses a significant risk we see the most activity on the south complex Canada geese kill deer morning doves European starlings all kinds of different black birds near normal everyday Birds we experience them here out on on the Airfield jet engines are designed to suck in air not Birds and the results of a bird strike can be catastrophic 2009 you may have heard of the aircraft that took off from JFK ingested Canada geese into both engines lost thrust and essentially became a glider he was able to land on the Hudson River so 155 people evacuated safely from that aircraft it was a miracle Atlanta has a special team dedicated to minimizing the risk Birds pose to aircraft the problem is airfields are surprisingly attractive to Wildlife they don't have much disturbance from human beings outside of the aircraft so once they condition to the aircraft noise it's really a nice place to be if your Wildlife Steven's job is to make sure they don't stay this is what we call our Wildlife kit it's in every one of the operations Vehicles starter pistol it has all the pyate Technics Steven uses a range of pyate Technics to flush out different birds but not everything in his kit is about scaring Wildlife gloves uh along with alcohol wipes these are used when Steven collects this the remains of a bird strike blood feathers uh dyed tissue we call that snarge in the industry snarge the snarge will be collected and bagged up for DNA analysis at a laboratory IDE into species helps us determine what's bringing that Wildlife to our airport and what we need to uh mitigate on an Airfield that covers nearly 5,000 Acres getting rid of troublesome Wildlife requires more than just a suitcase of equipment this is one of our Wildlife uh deterrent units um it consists of a propane Cannon and then also a bioacoustic generator so this is a sound system that's playing multiple different species distress cries to say leave the area it's unsafe this is not for you so please remove yourself from the environment go ahead and activate the cannon after he pass despite all these efforts birds still take up Residence at the Airfield right now in July we're seeing our Peak bird strike numbers and that can range from one a day to one every other day when taking into account uh how many movements we have here at the bus's airport it's not bad we don't have a wildlife problem necessarily we have a aircraft problem catastrophic bird strikes are incredibly rare but what happens when a plane is damaged this building over a mile long houses Delta Airlines technical operations department or Tech hops for short if a plane arrives at Atlanta after a damaging bird strike this is where it ends up anything that's solid that goes through an engine typically does significant damage the worst damage I've seen was a bird strike which caused um all the bed in the HPC to disintegrate and so the HPC that we see behind us here has nice uniform blades and the worst one kind of resembled a corn cob you know after the corn had been eaten and we actually refer to it as being corn cobbed and all the blades break off and it is a mess Blain's team don't just deal with repairs this is where the majority of the 1700 engines that power Delta's Fleet get serviced we overhaul engines for Delta so we've got uh about eight different engine lines and we can bring the engines in disassemble them to the peace part level and reassemble the engine and then get it ready for test these engines are incredible pieces of engineering the temperatures and pressures that they work at are are extreme and uh they often stay on wing for thousands and thousands of hours and thousands and thousands thousands of Cycles an individual engine can cost as much as6 million brand new servicing them requires an extraordinary range of techniques and materials which is why a complete overhaul can cost as much as 2.3 million aircraft like engines will run for years and years with a regular service so specialist teams work every night to get planes back in action in the morning this plane tonight we have a Ron it's a remain overnight visit where we do standard routine maintenance on them on this one tonight our main focus is on the vertical stabilizer most of the other checks we have on it are like service and tires changing brakes the fluids we'll be doing uh engine work where we're changing the igniter plugs we have a really good crew and we work through the issues we figure out what the problem is and what it's going to take to fix it and uh we try our best to get it fixed and um be able to turn the aircraft have you already got it opened up yet as the lead technician it's Donna's responsibility to oversee every aspect of the service and to make sure the aircraft is ready before the dawn deadline I love working with the uh all the hydraulic portions of the aircraft and I want to be in there turning the wrenches Delta serviced 21 different kinds of aircraft in this hanger each comprised of millions of Parts if just one of these spare parts is out of stock and a plane can't fly the cost of the delay and the KnockOn effects can quickly Skyrocket into the [Music] Millions to keep their Fleet in the air Delta have built one of the world's biggest spare parts stores it's beyond me how many parts would actually be on here there's 2.4 million different part types but actual Parts probably trillions who knows finding Parts in such an enormous store is so complicated the entire system has to be run by state-of-the-art computers when the mechanic orders apart it goes through the system so it actually cues up everything for us the system will determine what parts and what priority they need to be picked in it brings it to us once we confirm that order it sends it back and then the uh retriever will bring another part sometimes it's a the struggle to keep up with the orders especially in the summertime that's our peak season the mechanics are busy keeping the planes cycling and we've got to get those parts to them so sometimes it is a a challenge to keep up maintenance is so important to Delta's operation that the team here retrieve and send out a staggering 4668 to parts and components every day and the need to keep aircraft in operation can have unexpected consequences in the normally Cutthroat business of US Airlines unfortunately every once in a while we will find ourselves out of stock on a part so sometimes Airlines work together and they share parts or borrow parts from each other or buy parts from each other it's very very very rare that we ground a plane meticulous maintenance is what makes Global air travel all possible but how do you maintain the airport and its systems when they're in constant use every day welcome to the secret nighttime Army responsible for keeping the world's busiest airport up to scratch it's one of the most crucial system that is on any airport at xray Runway 7le Runway 12 it's 11:00 p.m. and passenger flights have all but ceased the cargo terminal will run throughout the night but activity at the passenger Gates has come to a halt now another secret army of people leaps into action these precious few hours when passenger flights are suspended are the only time most airports can carry out essential maintenance and with five runways 192 Gates and over 5,000 acers to look after that means a lot of work 20 Oscar 20 Tango 34 crew un 5 Unit t all concerned beway 26 right is closed each Runway is closed once a week for the airide operations team to conduct inspections and running repairs [Music] so right now I'm beginning the uh nightly Airfield inspection we're going to start with air fill lighting Runway lighting ensures Pilots can clearly see the runway whatever the weather and nighttime is the only time these legally required checks can be made we're looking for lights that are out of service lights that are angled the wrong way lights that are overly bright uh lights that are very dim anything that could be detrimental to the operation of the Airfield we cannot have more than two consecutive out and we cannot have more than 10% of the entire lighting system out of service it's a big job 18,295 lights are needed to illuminate the Airfield properly the lights aren't just there to indicate runways and taxiways special patterns and colors help tell a pilot exactly where they are on the air Strip This is a 9,000 ft Runway so you want the first 3,000 ft for a a touchdown of an aircraft what we're seeing on the left and right sides of the center line and they are three lights spaced 150 ft apart from each other what we call Runway touchdown Zone lines South 1470 right turn at the end and then there aren't just patterns at the start of the runway other lights tell you when you're close to its end from this point we have 3,000 ft remaining to the end of the runway and at this point your Runway Center Line lights will change from white in color to alternating red and white in color November four roll to the end please November two is unavailable and the runway Centerline lights will change as we approach up here the 1,000 ft remaining mark from alternating red and white to solid red the lighting code isn't limited to the runways green lights indicate the center of taxiways blue the edges and flashing yellow means you're about to cross an active Runway 2 clear for take offway 26 left Southwest Matt's lighting chair isn't the only work being carried out at night this is the only time they get to mow the majority of the Airfield managing grass height is crucial keeping it too short leaves easy feeding grounds for Birds too long attracts small mammals and then Birds of Prey letting the grass grow to an average height of 15 cm is ideal for minimizing Wildlife inside the airports buildings an army of Engineers technicians and cleaners has descended to ensure the buildings are returned to full working order before the first flights depart at 6:00 a.m. special machines are deployed to dust every KN and cranny wash the 1,378 public toilets and clean 3 and 1/2 miles of moving walkways and escalators nothing escapes the attention of these Nighthawks check the GSU and its cable also the cphase cable and the aase cable good even the points on the plane train track get a clean nighttime is also the only opportunity for any airport to do construction work airports are all expanding right now as aircraft keep changing they're going to have to expand the gates to get a bigger aircraft in or they're going to want to have more aircraft in so they're going to add more bridges they're going to add more hold rooms there'll be construction constantly it will constantly change it's 4:30 a.m. passengers will be arriving to check in for the first flights of the day but there's still one routine check that needs to be carried out all right so now we're heading into the runway safety area which is giving us an alert so we know we're getting that area which we're not allowed to be in unless we have authorization which we do because we have a Runway closure technicians from the Federal Aviation Administration are here to test one of the airport's most vital pieces of equipment so here they are ever wondered what the mysterious antenna ey at the end of the runway for this is part of the instrument Landing system or ILS for short the airport simply can't operate without it we only have a two clearances one on this side and one on the 1 15 side is one of the most crucial system that is on any airport because they are used to ensure that in the worst weather condition possible an aircraft can land at an airport safely without seeing the runway so I'll read and you write 13° Point 299 in the 90 got it with a ground check what we basically do is check the Integrity of the signal that's radiating out to align the aircraft on Center Line in principle the ILS sends out two signals for approaching aircraft to lock onto one tells the pilot when they're lined up with the center of the runway the other when they are descending at the correct angle to land and in an age of computers and digital technology this system is remarkably old school it relies on radio waves it's very simple in the concept if I had two radio stations one CH tuned in to this Channel and one tune in to the other channel and I put them on different sides of the runway and I tell the pilot I want you to find a spot where you can't hear either Channel when is that when you're dead center so if you start to hear this FM versus that FM uni in the center find the center making sure the system is working is critical at any airport but at Atlanta it has added significance here we have five parallel runways and sometimes we have triple Landings and they're always locked on to those IL iss's because there's so many planes coming in at the same time they want to stay on that Runway center with all the checks complete the world's busiest airport is fully open for business again early morning is one of the peak times for international arrivals so how do Customs and Border Protection turn the airport into a frontier on a good day we'll find hidden compartment our biggest thing here is marijuana but we'll sometimes find cocaine or heroin [Music] Long Easy 6 Delta Bravo Runway 7 land rway caet around 20,000 people arrive at the world's busiest airport from overseas every day they fly in from Europe Africa Asia and Latin America and every one of them needs to pass through customs before they can enter the USA but what the thousands of people queuing to pass through immigration don't realize is that the work of the Customs officers has already begun guys just keep on walking for me please keep on coming officers from Customs and Border Protection will sweep an international arrival as soon as the passengers have disembarked they're looking for any kind of Contraband we're looking for items or compartments where they may have head stuff that they're bring back into the United States including our itics we use our dog as another tool and we still like to go double check everything by hand there are too many international arrivals to check everyone so flights are picked at random we just like to hit different flights all the time to keep everybody on their toes and my in their p's and q's The Sweep is thorough inside and out right here I'm looking at the inside of one of the cargo holes on this aircraft you don't just have passengers involved in the uh drug trade you also have people that work for the Airlines and people have access to aircraft that are involved in hiding in Hidden compartments at times that the general public doesn't even think about or doesn't even see inevitably most of the things the officers discover have been forgotten rather than hidden most days we find things that people leave over just like the toothbrush right here we find tablets and cell phones but on a good day we'll find hidden compartment filled with different drugs our biggest thing here is marijuana but we'll sometimes find cocaine or heroin this plane is clear but across the US Customs and Border Protection officers find over 2 and 1/2 tons of Narcotics every day the staff in the immigration Hall process the passengers as fast as possible long cues here can have a major impact on the rest of the airport hey guys hello good morning I have your passports thank you their aim is to confirm the identity of every traveler but how do they deal with the 20,000 International passengers that arrive every day ni so what is the purpose of your trip Atlanta has installed the latest in biometric recognition systems automated booths check paperwork unique facial features and fingerprints it allows the passenger to present themselves to a kiosk uh swipe in their documentation answer all the Customs questions with the uh new technology that is um being tested here in Atlanta now facial recognition you could process a US citizen in a matter of seconds on the screening process doesn't stop in Immigration while passengers wait for their luggage another CBP officer is on patrol a four-legged one breaking dog hold on unlock like other dogs at the airport Murray's not looking for explosives or drugs his Target might seem mundane but it's potentially just as dangerous no maray what do we have here he looks for like plants vegetables meats and other um prohibited items passengers often bring food in as an innocent treat for relatives or a Sentimental Taste of Home oh that's a good dog look look at that ham and every bag that Murray and his colleagues sniff out must be examined by cbp's agricultural Department inspectors so I see our K9 has hit on you oh okay the fresh leaves that you have that you're carrying these are a prohibited item so unfortunately all your fresh fruits and vegetables will not be permitted to the us today but why is something you can buy in any Supermarket such an issue letting a non-native item into the country could have catastrophic consequences any foreign pest or disease that could come into the US can cause billions of dollars to our economy as far as the agricultural side it's not just the odd bit of fruit and veg that gets confiscated a typical morning's Hall would put a top Chef's Kitchen to shame we have some fresh okra we have eggplants avocado we also have some bananas and then of course we have a big beautiful bag of some dried meat with some items like these cherimoya or custard apples the pests are visible to the naked eye pests for an example that we find on the cherya are going to be typically your melee bugs which is that white dot even spices conceal potential biohazards inside of the cumin there is a federal noxious weed that is found once we go through the process of sifting it first eye contact here are two and so therefore unground cumin cannot come in for that reason so what happens to this culinary Contraband the only way to dispose of it safely is by feeding it into a blender then incinerating the pulp over the course of my career I must have grounded thousands upon thousands of pounds of food in 2016 detector dogs like Murray quarantined 1.7 million items intercepting more than 60,000 harmful pests no mean achievement good boy given all of these dogs have either been rescued or donated to CBP Murray is a rescue when they found him he was badly abused if you look at him um half of his um ear is uh cut off I don't know if somebody tried to cut his ear or from a dog fight we don't know because he was in really bad shape he was really um skinny he was scared of people that a boy that's a good dog we have an on time scheduled departure this afternoon of 4:48 with an arrival into Detroit of 6:39 9 p.m. local time as airports become increasingly familiar in our daily lives it would be easy to take these complex places for granted there shut 6116 you'll be next for departure monitor Tower 12385 yet behind the scenes is a secret army of people dedicated to ensuring our flights arrive and leave on time my job's invisible to the public that some people don't even know that I exist and I don't mind mind that I get enough credit and satisfaction out of knowing that I'm making this place safer for the traveling public get a lot of people that come in and say thank you for what you do I know you have a difficult job and we appreciate it and we in turn appreciate those people that say that they operate Around the Clock uh typical night for me starts at 10:30 p.m. it ends about 7:30 a.m. this industry it's a 247 365 industry and the midnight shift is a necessary part of that and they work with all manner of Machinery I enjoy being able to take an engine completely apart and then later seeing it on Wing flying safely to make our Journeys run as safely and as seamlessly as possible they are living The Secret Life of the world's busiest [Music] airport life of the hospital [Music] the NHS has 1.7 million staff making it the biggest employer in Europe logging over 125 million visits a year hospitals around the UK are busier than ever treating 1 million of us every 36 hours but none of us sees how a major Hospital gears up around us when we're ill in Southwest England the Royal Devon and exitor is a typical large modern hospital with 750 beds 7,200 staff caring for 750,000 patients a year hello res it's full arm 24/7 medical or trauma incoming ambulance Crews give 10 minutes warning the switchboard operators Act Fast alerting the right people with the right EXP right now it's literally the worst feeling in the world when that goes off just bleeds instantly it goes to your P the NHS uses 130,000 Pages more than any organization on Earth blood can be ordered red x-ray Imaging put on standby operating theaters prepped Laboratories readied anst woken up Porters called in in minutes the switchboard can mobilize an army so we get Specialties and expertise from all around the hospital uh to manage the patient so that they're they waiting before he arrives everybody ready for a lift ready steady so this is Margaret Dodd 76 inter cranial Hemorrhage it's primary diagnosis the assembled team swings into action fighting to save Margaret's life you've basically got someone's life in your hands and if you delay then that's going to have an impact whether they survive or not as they rush her to x-ray for critical scans her blood samples are rushed to the lab for [Music] testing the problem is the hospital is half a mile long and every second counts the solution the Estates Department rapid transit system the system is basically the email for solid objects key in the address to where you want it to go as if by Magic it goes the pods fly to and from 63 locations throughout the hospital loads of up to 2 kilos are propelled by powerful air pumps at 6 m/ second it's very fast I I don't think I would like to be a pod they rocket along the hospital's arteries of 6-in tubes unseen inside the ceilings and walls it'll probably be 3 to 4 minutes maximum from one end of the hospital to the other the emergency samples are whisked to a place we never see the blood science's lab so the whole trust is connected by this network of very primitive drain pipes essentially but it allows us to get those specimens rapidly to the lab from a so we can start that process of getting those results back to the clan so that you can get the patient sorted out blood tests are so crucial in diagnosis that 95% of emergency patients have blood sent for analysis on top of that hundreds of vials of blood ared from all 30 Wards in the morning rush hour I can hear another PT coming so how do they pick out the Urgent ones like Margaret's from A&E or intensive care everybody else um have their clear bags the red bags comes from an urgent Place such as the emergency department so we can tell at a glance that it's an urgent one rather than a normal one if a sample Maye arrived now we'd expect that to be done and tested within 1 hour that first hour is key for a seriously injured patient like m Margaret Medics need information fast from scans from blood tests and from medical [Music] records any calls that come through the emergency phone line um we have to get those notes within an hour of receiving that request in one room health records keeps the 75,000 files accessed in the last 2 years over 145,000 older ones are also stored on site but when you add the offsite archives there are around 3/4 of a million files dating back to the 1950s with so many files stacked on the shelves How do they find an emergency patient's medical notes we use our lovely P system to find where the notes are depending where they are is then when the real fund starts just like the blood test lab the health records emergency desk is in a race against the clock it is quite complicated when you think that we run a 24-hour service 7 days a week it has been this way for a long time medical records yes the NHS has been going since 1948 and doctors have been using paper long before then a squad of dedicated Clarks are well drilled to beat the 1-hour target by hand it should be in here somewhere hopefully they're in the right place cuz when you've got 145,000 sets of notes that can be a nightmare to find the system does work well it's a very well oiled machine but in the next 3 years health records is going [Music] digital [Music] as the Pod system pumps in more and more samples the blood lab is under pressure across the UK 300,000 patients are tested a day that's 6.2 million tests a year in this lab alone how can a handful of lab technicians possibly process results fast enough to beat that Cru 1 hour [Music] turnaround automation plays a massive part in what we do we'll generate about 25,000 results a day the days of bubbling test tubes and crazy scientists have gone haven't said that we have got a few crazy scientists Milling around but the automation is key these days to diagnose and treat patients doctors can choose from a menu of 900 different tests for blood oxygen levels liver or kidney function or heart problems even cancers can be discovered or ruled out some of the tests are equally as valid as a negative result as they are with a positive result the robot analyzers are super fast and Ultra reliable but not infallible what if they make a mistake the machines themselves have constantly monitor if a result is generated that's abnormal that's where the human element comes into it so automation is great we still need that know markco and human eyeball to look at that result and decide what to [Music] do as the emergency department admit a stream of new casualties the first hour is almost up for 76-year-old Margaret she's still unconscious her blood results reveal good oxygen levels and her brain scan is clear so she's now in the catheterization laboratory where Consultants inject a d to investigate her heart function actually her arteries are normal and there's no blockage there so it's not a heart attack now we can see the pumping so that is an abnormal pumping of of the heart it's very discordant and you can see the D kind of hangs around that should not happen so this is clearly a problem with the muscle of the heart itself rather than the blood supply while Margaret is taken to a bed in intensive care on the wards the hospital comes face to face with its Arch Enemy so infection kills I couldn't contemplate not doing the deep clean and goes to war on killer bugs hospitals are very unhealthy places sick people go there taking a stream of bacteria and viruses with them the foot soldiers in the constant battle against infection are the cleaners 300,000 patients a year in England acquire an infection while under treatment at a cost of the NHS of1 billion there we are your breakfast the danger of infection is present on every hospital Ward from bugs like norovirus and clostridium defil and MRSA which is resistant to Common [Music] antibiotics resistant strains are a very dangerous proposition which we're facing at the moment if you have an organism which is resistant to a majority or a vast range of antibiotics then obviously we haven't got any options to treat the patient with one 30 of us has MRSA living harmlessly on our skin or in our nose over your head but for patients with open wounds or weakened immune systems MRSA can enter the body to cause serious infection blood poisoning and even [Music] death hi I'm cat one of the nurses going to do two swabs for MRSA okay so one of your knows I want to be throat okay hospitals screen every patient for MRSA before they get bed okay and next is your throat so open wide for me fantastic there we go well done okay a positive MRSA result triggers a protective regime on the wards the Medics would put that patient into a side room and isolate them so that if there was a patient with multi-resistant organisms we try and contain that and don't allow that to spread around other vulnerable patients so how do our biggest hospitals defend patients from such dangerous cross infections obviously we do environmental cleaning every day in the hospital 24/7 365 days a year but once a year we make that decision to deep clean all of the impatient environment in deploying the deep clean they unleash Armageddon on killer bugs this is so important you know it's once a year annual deep clean when everything is stripped right back and clean throughout so we start at the top and we work our way down so we take curtains out everything comes out old hand tows old gloves and know we clean beds we take beds apart completely that's a really difficult task to do when a patient's lying on it the work that they're doing here today is absolutely vital to the running of the hospital we can't run a hospital unless it's clean and safe the deep clean puts these 10 beds in the acute stroke unit out of action for most of the day and NHS hospitals are always short of beds infection kills I couldn't contemplate not doing the deep clean um we have a duty to our patients to make sure it's as clean as possible the Royal Devon and exor hospital has 60 departments spread over six acres so how does it link them all together hello Porter is John speaking I can help you there's nowhere Porters don't know excuse me please no one they can't collect thank you guys nothing they can't deliver cheers thank you day or night thanks Kei they know all the Departments they know all the bits of equipment don't think there's nothing they don't know really except for surgery the themselves Porters are the lifeblood of a hospital reaching even the remotest parts on foot average we do about 10 to 12 miles a shift in an 8 hour shift so yeah it's a hell of a lot of walking I did a 28,000 step day the other the other week been in 5 months I'm on my third pair of shoes already we pick up blood for General patients and for emergencies we attend every Cardiac Arrest that goes on in the hospital if there's an emergency down that end blood transfusions down at at the other end and sometimes on one call you could be running backwards and forwards four or five times they got to work really they hard sometimes cuz I'm the one that makes them work they don't call me any names on the radio but I can feel it they call me the Beast Master sometimes this is a 750 Bed Hospital and I'll drb you some fresh towels for tomorrow oh good thank you very much on busy Wards linen can be changed many times a day to keep up staff need 10 sets of linen per bed two pillows enough it's yes quite enough thank you very much but how does the hospital cope with thousands of dirty [Music] sheets [Music] in the hospital laundry they've mechanized war against infection The Laundry state-of-the-art Machinery cleans 260,000 articles a week over 14 million items a year it's not just linen that must be spotless doctors's greens and nurses Blues scrubs and gowns all the hospital's dirty clothing is resurrected here the guys at the bottom are feeding the laundry up to the top of the Gant tree where the guys are then sorting it out into sheets blankets bath tows pillowcases patient guns nightwear theater scrub suits everything you name it we've got it in it potentially infected linen is double bagged at the hospital an outer red bag to alert laundry staff to danger and an inner bag that dissolves in water it gets a different wash process it's getting a double wash so we're definitely going to kill whatever's in it laundry workers often find a more pleasant surprise in the folds we occasionally get mobile phones iPads laptops and things like scissors and needles which aren't really helpful we also find quite a lot of personal jewelry rings necklaces earrings which is always nice to find when people phone up cuz sometimes they've lost a relative and it means a lot to them to get it back and it's good to get it back to people they're very grateful back in the acute stroke unit after 3 hours of scrubbing and steaming they wheel out the latest technology in the arms race against infection the deep clean robot it will fill the air with a powerful chemical that's familiar to hairdressers hydrogen peroxide it's great at bleaching hair but as a vapor it's weapon to exterminate killer bugs we have to be outside because the environment inside we're going to fill with a hydrogen peroxide Vapor which is going to kill the microorganisms the bleach vapor is so strong it can't be allowed to leak out all the air vents are sealed and covered so the gas doesn't harm people elsewhere in the hospital obviously we doubled that to escape from the room w happening so we seal the room up completely with tape on the door and then uh we'll make sure everything's ready before we start the misting will keep this Ward closed for another 2 and 1 half hours the laundry's two huge washing machines are brand new and cost half a million pounds each they're hungry beasts consuming 50 kilos of dirty linen eight domestic clothes every 2 minutes 3 tons of washing an hour this is the first part of the area so this is doing our pre-wash this is wetting down and adding chemicals to try and break up the stains to start with in the center sections is the main wash and the real bug killer thermal disinfection 65° C for at least 10 minutes there's no spin cycle every 2 minutes a clean load emerges squeeze dry by enormous pressure 350 tons total per load if we don't manage to find any items back up in our sorting and Grading area this will demolish it staff clean on an industrial scale a synchronized regiment with one aim killing bugs yeah I'm a bit OCD I think not car a b OCD with that it's got to be clean all the time you know I don't like dirty glass I don't like dirty paint work wheels are got to be spot on so yeah attention to detail with me you're in the right job then I think so yeah sh Shirley inspects 800 sheets an hour Eagle eyed for any fault she rejects anything not perfectly clean and my mom's been in hospital quite a few times this year and the sheets are always clean that's the main thing isn't it if we s through clean sheets then the patients can't get any ger from here so we'll just go into the W to make sure it's um going to finish on time it's crucial that that the beds come back into the system by the end of the day um we'll have 10 empty Beds By the time uh we finish tonight in the acute stroke unit hydrogen peroxide Vapor settled on every surface penetrated every nook and cranny killing any remaining bacteria or viruses I'm checking that we've got no uh gas leaks so we're safe obviously inside the room there'll be quite high levels but we need to make sure that we've sealed the door correctly and so far so good at the end of the cycle the robot reabsorbs the mist and the room will be safe to enter patients will be returned to disinfected freshly made beds so once the Mis is finished in there we'll move the patients brilliant okay good good good we need those beds the ward will soon be back in action cheers thank you while upstairs another unseen team keep the operating theaters running on schedule 14-year-old Sid needs life-changing surgery to straighten his spine it's quite painful a lot of the time surgeons will put in titanium rods and colorcoded screws yeah but it' be like wol me won't you but the vital ingredient is a big surprise see the anst did say that they use old lady bones recycled bone through the double doors here stairs on your left lift on your right you need to go at one floor A&E is the most high-profile Hospital department but our backstage pass to the secret life of the hospital reveals it's just a small Cog in this vast medical machine morning in fact only 14% of patients arrive at hospital unexpected seeking emergency treatment the vast majority have an appointment one of over a 100 million appointments attended in NHS hospitals every year this level straight to the end left area C getting ready for this Deluge is another Mammoth task for health records every every day the records team must find almost 2,500 sets of notes and prepare them for over 300 outpatient clinics I've had quite a few dreams about stamping prepping members of the team being in my dreams very very odd dreams I think we pretty much do it in our sleep as well as uh come in during the day and stamping away as much as possible Consultants must have a patient medical notes at their fingertips for a patient you know there is an assumption that when you're seen your notes will be there I've actually been in health records in clinic prep for this will be 12 years coming up um so I've kind of spent my youth here I think I've got about another 60 sets of notes to prep and not a lot of times to do it [Laughter] [Music] in 14-year-old Sid Hancock's appointment is with the orthopedic surgeons who will be operating on his spine so this Chap's 14 years old and he has a scoliosis and scoliosis basically is a three-dimensional deformity and we can see that the curve here is in the the thoracic the chest region of his spine so what we're going to try and do is rotate this part of his spine back to to being straighter morning morning Sid's operation is just one of 80 scheduled today any problems today no it's a surgeon's decision to operate but the power to organize the 24 theaters is in the hands of the matrons all days have you got x-ray have you spoken to them yeah they already booked any additional comments and actions the beds are a bit tight but they think they'll all pan out fine any equipment issues so far this morning I just they're call me the Oracle When anybody comes in they can't find find anything and they just all make a be line H where's this hill where's that is that all you need would you want a few more things on the other side okay give me a shout if you can't find it thank you I've got a lot of knowledge in surgical procedures and in anesthetic procedures so unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time to be given this job I managed to stock for the department so anything runs out here it comes down to me in total I manage about 4,000 lines and I take a lot of Pride knowing that everything is here with 30,000 procedures a day and millions of potential patients the NHS supply chain never sleeps delivering over 1 and A2 billion worth of supplies a year including 10 million disposable scalpel 200 50 million syringes of all sizes and over 1.7 billion pairs of examination gloves we need to save money and over the last seven years I've saved hundreds and thousands of pounds by sourcing alternative suppliers just just things like this is our suction tubing used everywhere in the chust by just changing the bore by 1 mm save thousands and thousands of pounds yeah two Kil cats PS yeah baby8 in yeah although frantically busy every operating theater is shut down for maintenance twice a year the Estates Department takes care of even the tiniest backstage detail we try to catch anything that might break there to check it all and make sure it is going to last to the next 6 months unless they do something silly with it which is quite possible every single light bulb is replaced working or not everything is double checked just making sure that they got full movement no obvious damage excess wear things like that at the end of the day if it was your relative or a friend being brought in here to be operated on to have their life saved You' want everything working to its best ability to give the surgeons the best chance they had of saving their lives Sid is called into theater only when everyone and everything is ready for him hello there all right come on in hi there hi all right let's get you settled down let's get sat down behind the operating room doors is a hidden world of precision tools spinal surgery calls for trays and trays of specialist surgical equipment TR we have a few more ners and racks and racks of screws they are colorcoded for diameter but each must be carefully double checked for length by hand yeah but finely machined from titanium they are light strong and will never corrode they cost up to 300 each Sid will need 22 hold please when a patient is cut open they're vulnerable to infection a clean and sterile environment is a matter of life and death but bugs can still get in carried by the air the plant rooms in the roof of the hospital are a far CED from the quiet pristine theaters but in this noisy dirty place is one of the most important pieces of theater equipment its air handling unit this is the dedicated ahu air handling unit it takes the air from outside in it puts it through various filters uh sensors things like that and then it'll go through a chilling coil or a heating coil so that the air can be chilled or heated as required by the theater pushing clean air into the operating theater has a vital extra role dirty potentially infectious air is pushed out the air inside the is pressurized you got invasive surgery going on you don't want outside air for the germs coming in you should try to keep out as much as possible well should we do an x-ray now of the scre scre an x-ray of Sid spine shows that all the screws are well positioned to hold the titanium rods that will straighten his back the screws grip hold of the spine and then the rods have a certain shape so you attach the rod to the screws to put the spine into the shape you're hoping to get it to somewhat straighter and then you want it to stay there but the metal work is only half the story that's it over time the rods may break or the screws come loose so to fuse his spine Straight For Life Sid needs a bone graft we want the correction to be maintained by the rods and screws while the bone heals in the same position to create a fusion so that it's solid bone but where will his bone graft come from over 120,000 hip replacements are carried out in NHS hospitals each [Music] year successfully treating what was once a crippling condition you get pain in the hair when you're walking going downhill you and as it gets really bad you can't sleep so how does getting a new metal hip help with bone grafts this is your thigh bone as it would be as you can see from this it go this way um when you have your hip replacement um the surgeons will actually cut across here and this bit will be removed the old femoral heads can be donated for recycling for all the Hightech equipment in theater bone gra preparation comes down to what looks like a good old-fashioned mincer to get ephemeral head operating staff make a withdrawal from the bone Bank it at the very back 5682 kept deep Frozen way down atus 80° C the donated femoral heads can be stored for 5 years I don't think I've ever known that we've actually discarded as we call discarded um Emeral head that has actually reached its cell by date there are always was implanted prior to that actually happening it's marvelous that people have donated and we don't want to waste anything at all I'm just taking off the soft tissue and cartilage from the head cuz we just want the cancel bone that's inside 30 femoral heads are donated every month making the hospital self-sufficient in bone graft material and even better it's free it's a win-win situation really people like it cuz it's up cycling it's time to add the mill femoral head that will fuse Sid's spine in position so the femal head M up what act basic as a scaffolding for this young man's bone cells to grow through to create the F once the bone has been used Louise the bone Bank coordinator organizes a surprise thank you letter from the hospital it gives them a feel-good factor um I've actually had patients phone up and say to me that they were so chuff a bits because obviously it's a long time sometimes from the point of donation to the point of implantation can be up to four and a half nearly 5 years years and sometimes they forget that they've done that it feels nice to get it it's an acknowledgement that you've done something that somebody you know definitely has has benefited from that Sid's operation has taken 4 and a half hours and now staff have a lot of clearing up to do medicine is a messy business and and a third of the waste it generates is classed as infectious as it can't go to landfill it's expensive to get rid of costing from 400 to 22,000 per ton the logistics team collected in their electric tugs and take it away 2 three 4 5 6 78 but the contaminated surgical instruments are much too valuable to throw away they are Precision engineered for specialist procedures costing from 600 up to 8,000 each so where do they go after the surgeons have finished with them when used surgical instruments arrive at the hospital sterilization and decontamination unit they are filthy bloody and potentially infectious they have to leave pristine and stera ready to go again and again and again that figure there is the amount of times that's been used so that's 1,238 that's been through 500 sets a day are sent through these powerful industrial dishwashers just make sure it starts it's the first step in a 4 Hour process next each instrument must be thoroughly checked I'm just checking all the instruments all the joints to make sure that they've all come through the wash clean if you come across anything that doesn't look like it's meeting or it's a bit broken you send it off and it'll go for repair we actually have to know all the instruments so we can make sure they're all there in the first place that's the little woods there an Addison's that's a for set I call it when I first start I was thought it was a tweezer but it's not that's a retractor sort of pulling you open from our urg operating I've seen a couple of operations really interesting you get the chance to go off and watch some what's your favorite uh hip it's really interesting how they throw the your leg around to get to the hip before sterilization each set of washed and checked instruments is wrapped it looks like a simple parcel but the cloths and the sticky tape are designed with hidden qualities once steam sterilized under pressure at 135° C for 3 and 1/2 minutes the stripes on the tape have changed from green to Black what I'm just checking is that the indicators all change color staff can tell at a glance that a pack has been sterilized The Weave of the cloths has closed up in the heat sealing in the sterilized instruments the sets are ready for surgery again excent yeah just do a little bit don't worry too much Don't Force It after his spinal operation SIDS in the recovery area I'm feeling like been stabbed them back a few times but like yeah pretty pretty good to be honest it's going really well doesn't it yeah it's kind weird to think there are titanium rods in my back if I had a hit replacement or two hit Replacements and a new replacement we have reuil yeah going to be like Wolverine Wolverine then it only be a matter of time before I can move into my cyborg body The Secret Life of the hospital is full of contradictions while one department is killing bugs another is feeding them growing them as fast as possible because another patient's life hangs in the balance ready stady the emergency department is dealing with the aftermath of a serious crash at 8:30 in a five people in a van and the van hit the central arm coat you know the the central reservation bounced flipped and then crashed into one of the bridge parapets and the rest of them have gone somewhere no the driver dead on the scene okay right Justin so this is the CT scan okay the bed is going to move into the stone nuts okay it'll be noisy but you'll be okay Justin has suffered possibly serious head and facial injuries so a CT scan will reveal really Vital Information so all patients who have made trauma will have a CT scan of virtually their entire body quite often it's possible to miss quite important injuries Medical Imaging is a magic window for doctors to see inside the body but there's certainly no major amount of blood there there isn't there's a anterior skull fracture probably running just about down here in relation to the eye he's quite drowsy that's I I did notice that yeah the history goes against this being a significant head injury doesn't it because he he crawled out and it immediately was speaking crawled out through a rear window Medical Imaging is such a vital tool in diagnosis that 42 million scans of all types were made in England last year doctors rely on them the scanners simply have to work at 6:00 a.m. this morning this room looked very different when the engineer woke the CT scanners these giant x-ray machines are one of the most complex in the hospital and there was a hitch something's not picked up something's something's not synced as this system's coming up so it's not happy they break down quite a lot there's an awful lot of systems there's a big computer under here there's various computers actually within the city itself they've all got to come up and they've all got to sink so that they all know what they're doing the cost of one CT scanner is £480,000 before installation the human cost of a breakdown is incalculable if it fails this test now and the system's not working in it's absolute chaos modern medicine Demands a vast number of electronic devices of all shapes and sizes working 24/7 we have many machines we have something like 30,000 assets actually on the hospital site that does vary from a standard little handheld thermometer up to ventilators and critical care and anesthetic machines so within this hospital we look after anything that attached to the patient so that's the ECGs defibrillators monitors equipment that patients are connected to such as the incubators born 10 weeks early weighing just3 7 oz Beatrix has spent her first 4 days either on her mom Jess or in an incubator she's still on 61% humidity so it's it's nice and warm in there um and it's also quite humid nice tropical environment yeah parents Jess and Mike have been told jaundice is common in pre-term babies and Beatrix is being treated in the incubator with ultraviolet light and she's been sunbathing because the the UV lights the phototherapy that she's having which is why she's quite dark sounds like a nice holiday really doesn't it at Becky's workbench is an incubator just like beatrix's so the problem with this piece of equipment is this sensor here it wasn't picking up the temperature very well on plan maintenance I have a new one that I can replace with infant respiratory distress syndrome is the leading cause of neonatal death an incubator malfunction could be disastrous then we actually replace Parts before they fail so it is very much a proactive rather than reactive the incubators are always left at a running temperature so they can swap the baby safely into into another incubator we tend to be the pixie service we go in they don't see us we pick up the the equipment that's failed and and uh we drop it back when we've tested it and it's fixed good morning would you like some breakfast yes pleas sometimes I feel then a nice cup of tea is just as good as any medicine try wck come go back to cedy yeah as Porters move people through the hospital maze the patients are in their care a part of our job is actually sort of reading the patient a lot of people are coming in here are quite scared nervous about what's going to happen sometimes they'll confide in you when you're on your way down to x-ray at 3:00 a.m. rather than talk to the nurse how are you today sir I'm okay thank you very happy chappy that's the main thing I'm going on what today yeah oh you get the ones who want to talk you know who tell you their life stories go and see my wife again the only CH we've been aart is when I've been in hospital if you go into an oncology a paliative section of the hospital um you got to be sensitive respectful dignified you want to sit in the bed or a chair I'll probably sit in the chair I think yeah goes right from the bottom right up to the top consultants and things we're all doing the same job in a sense of you know patient care good afternoon Ro to town yes cly every day the switchboard staff double check the emergency team's pages are working 99 before they're needed 099 even testing for speech on 099 testing for speech on 099 thank you thank you very much we do it cardiac in the mornings lunchtimes it's the gy teams evenings it's trauma the important ones let go to the crash calls we go out to the air ambulance and you never know what's going to come in off there doing a lot of helicopters we get it through on the bleep it say helicopters Landing in 5 minutes if I got two pors free and available I send them straight down they stop all the traffic and then they bring a patient in from the helicopter we do the same again for a takeoff Charlotte Blackman is finding it increasingly hard to breathe it's an emergency because she has the genetic lung condition cystic fibrosis the problem with cystic fibrosis is the lungs don't clear secretions as well so all the gunk sits in the lungs and it's more likely to get infected we'll just take some blood let us know if you feel dizzy we can lay you back a bit scratch coming yeah healthy blood is sterile your body kills off invading bacteria in minutes but Charlotte has a weak immune system and could easily develop blood poisoning sepsis my sepsis is a big problem because it can be such a life-threatening illness then we need to be on top of it as soon as possible a quarter of a million people develop sepsis every year often deadly it kills one one in six patients with a bacterial infection are immediately prescribed a generally effective antibiotic but there's a danger it might not work the problem is that once miraculous all powerful antibiotics are now defeated by resistant strains of bugs so hospitals Counterattack with another weapon in their Armory microbiology it's critical without microbiology we wouldn't know what the bacterias are wouldn't know what antibiotics we were able to use and more importantly what antibiotics we can't use Charlotte's blood is drawn into special blood culture bottles and sent by airpod out across the hospital site to the microbiology [Music] lab but flying possibly infected blood around the hospital in a pod can be dangerous if it breaks this is [Music] Stargate the heart of the Pod system a giant router of 16 three-way switches and of course miles of [Music] tubes Paul is one of the Engineers whose job it is to fix the Pod system when it goes wrong it is really reliable it does break down it does give us headaches big headaches at times if the bands come off or the lids break it could cause Jam UPS in the system so you'll end up with a pod stuck in the tube and other pods will back in onto it then you end up having to take the tube system apart to Rod out push out the damage pods a damaged pod can mean a leak of infectious body fluids spread throughout the hospital you do get spillages of items that are sent some of them AR unpleasant so how do you clean the system like this uh we've got a second pod which we load it with a chlorine cleaning chemical and then as the pods being forced through the system by the air the the chlorine solution comes out of the pod which disinfects the line as it goes in the microbiology lab how do the scientists know Charlotte's blood even has bacteria in it just have to try and give them the best environment for them to grow as quickly as possible so the blood bottles are kept at body temperature 37° C got this is a machine which monitors the blood Bloods every 10 minutes and if there are any bugs growing they will flag positive there we go that is a positive it just tells us that there is something going on we need to take the bottle off and then do some more testing next they encourage them to grow even more into colonies of over a 100,000 big enough to clearly see the damage they're doing in the blood so those bugs are producing a toxin which are lizing the Red Cell so it's actually breaking rupturing the red cells so if you can imagine that's what's happening in the blood then the blood cells are being ruptured how serious is that it could be very serious be very serious if you don't find out which antibiotic is the best one what's going to happen here if you don't find it straight away or as soon as possible then this could be a life-threatening situation so how do they find out which antibi biotic will kill the bug before the bug kills the patient we've got some paper discs impregnated with different antibiotics after many hours on a culture plate coated in the bacteria one antibiotic has clearly lost the battle this antibiotic has no effect against this bacteria if the organism grew up to a disc and the patient was on that antibiotic then that wouldn't be beneficial to the patient and we would try and get the patient off of that antibiotic and onto something more effective as soon as possible fortunately for this patient there's also a clear winner this antibiotic here has created a big zone of inhibition and so the organism would be killed in the patient if they were on this antibiotic thanks to the lab the bug causing Charlotte's chest infection is identified and quickly treated we're trying to save lives we don't actually see patients themselves we see little pots of people little bits of things which come into the lab and we do our bit to try to get the right results back to the Medics so they can then affect change in the patient and hopefully get them home as soon as possible the microbiology lab is full of bugs but now the secret life of the hospital leads us into its brand new bug-free facility not just the cleanest place in the hospital but one of the cleanest places on Earth One bacteria inside the product could cause death to the patient can you confirm who you are I'm Cameron Brooking yeah 16th the 10th 2002 correct 15-year-old Cameron is halfway through a 16we course of chemotherapy right you fabulous Madam Che a diagnosis of cancer is always a shock so it's hudkins lymphoma um it's a lymph node in my neck that got cancerous cells and it's gone down into my chest and lung my long big T big tumor on your chest a tumor so I didn't notice it at first I just found a lump Hodgkins lymphoma is one of the most common cancers in 13 to 24 year olds and fortunately one of the most treatable if found early it's all very new to Cameron and his parents your diagnosis was quite recent then yeah eight8 weeks8 weeks ago about 8 weeks so it was very quick very quick from diagnosis to start of chemo wasn't it yeah literally six days and you're on you know a bit of a roller coaster there you're mind's not in it and you you know you're we were swept along as a as a family looking after uh looking after camera and then uh the treatment started intravenous chemotherapy like Cameron is a poison to kill cancer and must be made especially for each patient so how does this busy Hospital meet the demand for 500 sterile bags of Highly toxic treatments a week this is an all new facility aseptics it's not just the cleanest place in the hospital but one of the cleanest places in the world staff are zealous in keeping it a strictly germ free zone we can't have one bacteria inside the product because it could cause death to the patient the aseptics facility doesn't only make poisonous cocktails to kill cancers but also nourishing liquid food called tpn for vulnerable patients in intensive care and premature babies like Beatrix she is very small and when she was first born her stomach's not developed enough to take my breast milk um and so she's on tpn which is as far as I'm aware it's like a a liquid full of nutrients that she would have got from from me but it's fed to her intravenously while her stomach gets used to my breast milk so the tpn in itself is filtered through a line and that one gets changed every 4 days so the tpn is is in the bag the bag that's sealed from light so we do protect it from light and that comes down the orange line here and then directly into her vein because that's the way that she's getting her nutrition so she isn't going to grow without [Music] it at the heart of aseptics is a sterile room it's ringed with defenses like a medieval Fortress designed to be impregnable to bugs to get to work in there staff must negotiate five zones first a gowning room each zone is at a higher air pressure than the last bacteria are simply blown away we're having a Cascade of pressures as well to ensure that the bacteria which is more or less our enemy doesn't come into our cleanest room but the Fortress has one terrible weakness the staff although they scrub up like surgeons and even check that their hand are bug free they just can't help bringing in dirt against the flow the skin of humans is one of our biggest problems unfortunately the skin is shedding so particles are always getting into the environment which could be a risk of contamination of any product so the staff going inside the facilities are only G up to a maximum so the exposure of skin is kept to a minimum anyone with dandruff or dry skin problems can't go in makeup is not allowed and even in surgical clogs feet are a curse so shoes are one of our biggest enemies as well because there lots of dirt you could bring through your Footwear the counter measure is high-tech tacky mats designed to snatch any particles of dirt from shoes regularly cleaned and serviced their tough specially formulated polymers last for 25 years if it all seems a bit Ott remember bacteria have no mercy we do not want to bring even a smallest bacteria into the room cuz we could contaminate the product and then we could infect a patient the technicians are only halfway through their super clean journey to work before they can make any life-saving intravenous fluids there is yet another gowning room at even higher pressure where they must add an extra layer of sterile clothing and an extra pair of sterile gloves just to be sure at last the inner sanctum the preparation cabinet is completely sterile and has a third pair of gloves as a final barrier in there is the highest pressure of all and even a nicked glove will trigger an alarm there has been shown worldwide that products have been contaminated during preparations and then maybe infused into patient patient died following contamination of the product or patient maybe died on overdosages because maybe the products were not diluted appropriately the worst has happened but never here okay tpn baby tpn solito each preparation has a team of at least three people pety tray 2.5 one making and water in for injections 5 mils one double checking fluid volumes correct thank you and another triple checking the whole process if there's any doubt it gets rejected and we have to restart again so it's never anywhere that we're not 100% happy with the product no no this is the half hour one oh BR and then you have the big long one that Cameron's treatment today will take some time yeah I've got a 7h hour one that's coming up so it's like a 1H hour infusion but then they need a 6h hour flush so that's what's keeping us in for most of the day so you got start a main course and dessert today yeah Cameron's chemotherapy fluid flows in through a semi-permanent catheter or pick line to a major vein by his heart I'm big on football and table Denis but with the with the pick line it's it's a bit of a struggle so I'm not allowed to play in goal which is where I played and I'm not allowed to play t tennis but temporary temporary it's temporary yeah exactly so we go to hospital to get better but it's a fact of life that some of us will not go home hello pooris John speaking I can help you for the Royal Devon and exitor Hospital hosital it's a daily event decease patient all book for you bye we rely on our hospitals for treatment throughout our lives specialist departments are there for us at the start of life and at the end [Music] hello Greg hey can you take you and young Ryan with you and do a Rosie please St on YY okay got patient that go to the Rose Cottage which is the morry it's the first one the day is it s better over the radio Rose Cottage than taking someone to the morry does that happen a lot yeah if it's in a ward they make sure that all the curtains are cooled around all the other patients check all the patients details patient is in a bag make sure they got no jewelry and stuff like that on them they transfer the bag onto the trolley and then put put a blue cover on nobody sees you do it and then they them water placed in a secluded Corner the Mory is one of the most sensitive departments in the hospital the staff receive 1,700 deceased people from the hospital every year Well anyone that comes to our department is still a patient they're still in the care of the hospital and by saying patient it really reinforces the fact that that is still a person that someone has lost and still loves inside this closed off world there are 79 refrigerated spaces concealed from visiting relatives they see their loved ones specially laid out in the viewing room our role is really to look after those people there's a lot of different things that we need to do to make sure that that journey is as smooth as possible for B people just simple things like making sure that their hair shampooed and blow dried so that their relatives can see them again that's what makes our jobs worthwhile hyper aware that even the smallest mistake could be devastating staff double check everything by using very important fridge magnets we first of all will check that we don't have any patients with the same or similar name in the department if we do we'll make sure that there's an alert in place so that we always showing the right patient to the right family we don't get Second Chances we're one of the few areas of medicine where you can't put something right if we make a mistake it's wrong and it'll be wrong for the family for the rest of their lives Advanced Medical technology is used throughout the hospital so the Mory staff must be aware of devices like heart pacemakers or defibrillators these must be removed as batteries explode during cremation and there's an added Danger with the internal defibrillator they will still continue to shock so they're like the big paddles that you'd see in a& E they'll still continue to shock after death so if we were doing a postmortem examination we'd need to know that patient has a defibrillator in and that it's switched off so that we don't get that shock it's enough to start our heart it's enough to stop our [Music] heart [Music] the adults you get used to but the babies you never do you never get over um taking babies to the Mt tree I've been doing it for 25 years and it never gets any easier really yeah it's difficult difficult our hospitals are so familiar to us we think we know them intimately but we don't there are hundreds of Backstage departments and thousands of people working behind the scenes keeping the hospital show on the road every minute of every hour of every day they are living The Secret Life of the [Music] hospital each year over 300 million passengers fly over 6 billion miles on Long Haul flights epic daily Journeys made by some of the world's biggest planes like flying hotels they transport people across the world in in comfort and style but what does it take to keep these Giants in the sky all our team is running to action it's almost like a chore ass dance the key is just keeping moving come with us as we hitch a ride on one of the longest Journeys in the world London to Sydney Australia as with exclusive behind the scenes access we can reveal the confessions of the cabin crew sometimes we do get a few weird requests such as marriage proposals we go below stairs to their secret crew rest and Welcome to our secret sleepover Jo we meet the back office staff who monitor every second of each flight the I is the nerve center to the airine without that's they literally would be fly blind and follow the stories of passengers both animal and human who have their own reason to board flight2 from London today from starting a new life down under it's a big move for both of us we haven't got a clue what to expect to meeting a long lost family for the very first time they've been looking for me for 20 years filmed at 40,000 ft this is the ultimate Insider's Guide to Life in the skies so make sure your seat is in the upright position and your seat belt is fastened as we prepare to uncover The Secret Life Of The Long Haul flight It's Just Before Dawn at London he throw the world's largest passenger plane the Airbus A380 is towed on to stand costing over 280 million it's 73 M long 25 M high and has a tipto tip wingspan of 80 m in Just 2 hours time it will depart on its daily long ha flight to Sydney Australia loaded with up to 484 passengers the 11,000 Mi Journey will take 24 hours but long before the passengers can board a whole Army of service personnel must get her ready to fly in the world of L haul flying there is not a second to lose we don't want any of our planes hanging around the ground the best place for our aircraft is operating within the a so it's all hands on deck and everyone's onto the aircraft straight away to get their jobs done and we can make that turn around within that 2hour time frame now a well-rehearsed ballet swings into action as the refuelers baggage handlers Engineers cleaners and Catering teams all set to work there's certain jobs that have to be done all the wheels have to be inspected the engines have to be checked oiled you have to do a walk around to make sure there's nothing hanging off of the hole of the outside same for the inside it's a very very structured process and it's broken down minute by minute each department and each team have a job to do within a certain amount of time frame it literally does go to the minute um so we need to have the aircraft closed up by 10 minutes before departure with a plane not suffering any serious faults the engineers can crack on with more cosmetic jobs like a sticky TV screen tiny screw someone's just di tightened it can we get something in there to got this yeah to Del it while below the wing the action is in full swing 90 minutes before departure the 21 cabin crew clock in for their pre-flight briefing we all have individual roles like there are business and first class flight attendants on board um economy flight attendants Sarah Kelly has been flying for 5 years for her Aviation is in the blood my father is a cornner captain so yeah I've just grown up with him traveling around and going to different exotic destinations and yeah just the whole thrill of just flying there's somebody amongst the crew who you've not met yet please spend some time having a little chat with him and get to know each other on the tat Second Officer Adam Thompson carries out his visual inspection purpose of the inspection is to make sure that there's no uh ground service vehicle that caused any damage there's nothing leaking from many pipes it's not meant to be in the engine looking to see if there's been any scratches or dents on the fan blade any indication that something's gone through the engine should have if they've had a bird strike perhaps something like that on the previous sector on the tires we're looking to see that there's no gashes or any um any problems at all with the [Music] tires on every Long Haul flight each passenger has a story and we're following four of them we're just a long haul flight for meeting Three Sisters Malcolm and Adelaide are about to board their first long flight to meet the family they never knew they had what just can't wait I've never seen them in real life can't believe it and young parents Daniel and Bethany are heading down under to see if they want to make Sydney their new home Daniel Bethany and how say is oh got a lot planned we've got a list written up of all the places we want to go and visit and different um neighborhoods we kind of want to see and exciting really isn't it back on the tarmac Second Officer Adam Thompson checks the a380s huge Wings which are so large you could park 70 cars up there they only just fit really don't they they do only just fit yeah that's quite common on such a large aircraft to have a ground service vehicle follow us just to check the wing tips to make sure that we're all safe you don't do not want to hit anything how did it look looks very good good to go back in terminal 3 28-year-old Australian sha checks in going home to surprise my mom for her 60th she has no idea I'm coming while fellow Aussie Belinda is leaving fiance Alice behind to return home after almost 4 years we're getting married soon we're getting married soon it's going to be okay I love you although for her the 24-hour flight time is a little overwhelming I've done a lot of Long Haul flights so it's not like I'm new to the game um but I just find them rather horrendous to be honest like long I don't think anyone enjoys a long ha flight I know but I don't know I just dread it and I think that's a part of that stopped me from going back all these years but Belinda's in for a surprise as she's been upgraded it's actually business class and actually I'm flying business class which is crazy because I've never flown any kind of class except e comedy e how do you say economy yeah and I I feel like I'm a little bit emotional actually off to the gate here we go we're babies doing really well baby AR this say hello everyone wave y and it's not just our human passengers that are about to go long haul every day Quantas alone make 4,000 Freight shipments the two huge holes can carry up to 20 tons of freight although anything bigger than a suitcase is handled by the Specialists I would say we a big check in for [Music] fright just a few miles from Heath Ro is D's Bonded Warehouse a high security 24/7 cargo facility where they handle up to 450 tons a day we're open all the time every day of the year uh and it is it's very fast pace it comes in it goes out anything from clothing to cars live animals absolutely anything we had an armored vehicle come in customized and had all leather seats in fridges so that was quite unusual the A380 can even carry its own spare engines although at 10 tons a piece it's a bit of a tight fit they'll go out this afternoon on a special vehicle they direct load onto the aircraft just squeezes in and out but uh yeah that's quite tight today it's not just jet engines and luxury cars that are going long haul as two very important passengers arrive Mitzy and Alfie are being relocated back to Australia and a few days ago it was time to say goodbye to Mom and Dad come on we're going to go quick quick we won't see them for about 12 13 days which is a long time for us and mity here suffers from a little bit of separation anxiety so um hopefully the flight's not too bad for them go on pop good boy good boy good boy go on go on on go on she a little bit uncertain she probably thinks we're going with her she probably she's probably going to get a surprise we're all going to go on a car ride that's right yeah so she's all up for the ride it's just when when she works out we're not going Mitsy and Alfie are traveling with a specialized pet Transport service and they've just realize they're going alone I think they are see freaking out see you soon but they're in safe hands as the animals welfare is top priority for all the airlines even before they fly they get a thorough checkup Australia especially are super paranoid about uh importing infectious diseases so that's parasites and other signs of contagious diseases so I just work from head to toe go through these guys and make sure they're all well everything's healthy lovely clean ear super go through his coat make sure there's no signs of ticks fleas anything like that hanging around make sure his cardiovascular systems up to the trip you are good we'll have a look at your sister but uh I'm very happy with how things look with him you worried to coming on the table as well I'm afraid you are pretty laidback customer nice steady heart rate nice clear chest good you're good you're good and it's not just domestic pets that travel long ho every day of the year you could be sitting there on a plane and Below you don't realize it are l half a dozen animals going from one place to another around the world and it's not just cats and dogs there's Exotics as well on International breeding programs from zutu the largest animal I've moved by a is a Asian one horned greater rhino rhinoceros I dare I say how do you move a rhino in a big box today the dogs are accompanied by a few feline friends so Mick has to be careful about who sits where we try and separate everyone uh there we got some cats on the corner uh we obviously face them away from the dogs uh so they don't upset each other uh but no they all look quite happy to spawn in although the holds on the aircraft are pressurized they are not usually heated but with outside temperatures at 40,000 ft of minus 50° Centigrade today these guys will be well looked after they'll actually warm the compartment so it's comfortable for the animals their main concern is their welfare Mitsy and Alfie are just two of the 65,000 domestic pets carried by Quantas each year a tiny fraction of the 100 million animals flown worldwide back at the airport with just 60 minutes before departure the catering trucks arrive specially built to reach the ples to decks the service team now has to replace 40,000 items including 70 meal carts 2 and 1 12,000 [Music] glasses and 5,000 pieces of Cuttery again we continue to board our first class customers through door C our business class with 45 minutes to go boarding begins but delays on the roads around Heathrow mean getting the flight away on time could be a challenge as a consequence we have late passengers and late crew so we um everything that we did this morning was a little bit [Music] behind a lot more to do as the crew rush to prep the plane now even some of the checked in passengers have gone walk about thank you qu morning oh orange ju thank you 11 passengers missing where do they go um this is the $1 million question but inz is undeterred for her getting the flight away on time is a matter of Pride the flight on time is when I watch those Wheels move right on the dot if that doesn't happen then we fail everyone that has worked very hard to get all the passengers all the crew you know the the aircraft at its destination so yes it would be there would be disappointed in me if I didn't deliver with boarding about to close most of the passengers have been found but there's always one one Premier economy we're just trying to get a phone number okay thank you thank you thank you by so uh we are 20 minutes to departure we're missing one passenger and atus 15 minutes we start looking for their bags next will inz avoid costly delays and get flight2 away on time I sometimes say that waiting for the door to close ages [Music] me and a very good morning to you ladies and gentlemen my name is Jason and I'm your customer service manager at London SE row boarding of flight2 to Sydney is almost complete as The Last Passenger is rounded up we've located him and um it is a him is it yes and um yes so we should be all good to go inz can now make sure the doors are all sealed we're just waiting for engineers to get off and then on Clos I sometimes say that waiting for the door to close ages me that is a very happy moment I know it's a bit sort of obvious because I work here but that is closing the door with the door sealed the arrow Bridges retract and flight2 is pushed back for takeoff on time there she goes and she slides away from us [Music] take off 27 right 220 your clearan is confirmed confirmed takeoff is one of the most critical phases of the flight Captain Rod Duncan and his crew now accelerate the plane to 138 mph we always only use as much thrust as we need that just saves wear and tear on the engine so it never seems to accelerate really quickly as the speed increases the air pressure around the massive Wings changes now air flowing over the wing has a lower pressure than the air flowing under it with enough speed the pressure difference begins to lift the aircraft into the air once you get to that speed if you have an engine failure or a major problem prior to that speed you'll stop on the runway and if you have a engine failure or problem after that speed you'll sort it out in the air as the giant aircraft heads Southeast it's following the kangaroo route a 70-year-old airlink between Australia and the mother country the 11,000 M trip crosses Europe the Middle East and the Indian Ocean before arriving in Australia in just over a day's time one Epic Journey that's a tiny fraction of the 6.28 billion long hle miles flown each year hi so here I am in the business class section I've just been given some champagne um life is pretty good right now unfortunately um baby Isis was sick on Bethany's shoulder so not the greatests but she's now fast asleep so hopefully she can stay like that now for the rest of the flight going so fast in seat 7c 65y old Malcolm has hardly ever flown before this is your first time I've ever flown Long Long Haul oh my gosh ever flown Long Haul wow that's what brings you to Australia oh well what is it was one one Friday night me watching television got a phone call this woman on the phone and she told me all me details and all that she says I'm your sister oh my plus there's another two of us over here oh wow so I've got three Malcolm's parents split up when he was just 3 months old until his sister Allison tracked him down in October 2016 he had no idea he had another family in Australia she said they've been looking for me for 20 years my dad's been looking for me for 40 years well I I just went then I just completely went tears were rolling down my faces both of us at either end and we just it was five five minutes before we started talking and I I just couldn't believe it Malcolm's Father David had joined the thousands of 10 pound poms who immigrated to Australia in the 1950s starting a new life he had remarried and had three daughters I could imagine how you would be feeling after that phone call really thrill and oh yeah we were on the phone for at least an hour and a half that night it was just the nicest thing I found out was he's been looking for me for all these years you don't know how that makes me feel and obviously the first thing is we've got to meet we've got to meet I don't know what's going to happen when I see him at the other end when you get off this play and that's it yeah that's it I'm going to meet them all for the first time Malcolm's dad passed away in 1996 having never been reunited with his son and now Malcolm's got a lifetime of catching up to do with his new family I'm never going to meet midad in real life but the next best thing is my three sisters fabulous oh my got everywhere I'm actually tingling so beautiful that reminds me why this is my dream job as flight2 begins its track across Mainland Europe 11,000 Mi away in Sydney it's just one of a 100 Quantas flights that is being tracked second by second in the integrated operations center or I I the ioc essentially is the nerve center to the airline we provide information to all the aircraft that we have flying anywhere anytime around the world this system gives us a timeline of all the aircraft that we have at any given moment through their phase of flight that information is updated as soon as an aircraft releases it brakes takes off lands or comes back to the terminal yeah that's right we might be diverting to Sydney corus 94 a lot can vary in approximately 18 to 24 hours be that weather information engineering medical assistance security assistance so we're always providing updates to those aircraft throughout the course of their Journey okay let me go and check with maintenance watch and I'll come back to you and this communication isn't just one way as each A380 is equipped with hundreds of sensors which being realtime data about the health of the plane and its engines across the globe have a look at the Telemetry from the airplane at this stage and we'll see if it's carrying any defects which may cause us an issue although flight2 isn't reporting anything serious it does have one or two minor niggles all aircraft carries some minor defect is like a car the array may be full or the window may not wind down properly or something like that if it's a serious fault there's other alerting from the end manufacturers they being monitored also a eles are monitoring our aircraft and if they believe there's a serious issue they can also send us some additional information if the engineers do spot a worrying problem they can pick up the sa phone and talk directly to the pilots we have to be very mindful that we don't bother them during a critical phase flight so if they're just starting their flight we won't call and if they're just towards the end of a flight definitely won't be calling Engineers like David are just one of the many unsung heroes of the Long Haul flight one flight from London to Sydney could have anywhere from approximately 10 3 to 50 people involved so there's a lot of people behind the scenes that are making that aircraft get to where it's going without the the airline wouldn't function you'd have aircraft in the air that wouldn't be able to get real time information be that for mechanical be that for weather be that security or medical related situations and as a result they literally would be fly blind which is exactly what used to happen when the pioneers of LGH haul took to the skies nearly 80 years ago 1938 and qea Quantus Empire Airways operates the short C-Class flying boats in modern luxury and comfort and what's more the trip only takes 9 days which includes 70 hours of flying and 36 stops essentially L haul with a series of short hops none of them longer than 200 maximum 300 miles between each hop you would come down the plane would be refueled you had to be adventurous there was a lot of forc Landings you had to be prepared more or less for [Music] anything there is even a demand for fishing lines at refueling stops where both passengers and crew members can enjoy the relaxation of dropping a line over the side back on board our passengers won't need to be fishing for their dinner as just 30 minutes into the flight it's time to eat sah do you have a fruit please of course you can my fruit out thank you very much there you are my pleasure hello there meal service is the busiest time for the 21 crew and each one has their own specific role depending on where we're seated for take off and Landing uh depends on what we're doing um either in the cabin or in the galley so basically I'm taking uh the opportunity to get things ready for the dessert service now uh while all the other cabin crew are out doing bar service today Aaron is one of the 10 Crew looking after the 64 passengers in business class give the passengers a nice glass of wine with their meal a small side salad where they get a choice of dressings and then we start delivering Entre and main course with food and drink playing a crucial part of the Long Haul experience each year over 1 billion meals are dished up at 40,000 ft Quantas alone serve 7.5 million on their Long Haul flights 400,000 In First Class 2 million in business business and 5 million in economy everywhere in the world at any minute of the day there's a plane up there and we're serving a meal to somebody Neil Perry is one of Australia's best known chefs for 20 years he's been putting the food he serves in his rockpool restaurants into the sky it can be a massive risk putting your name on something you have no control over landline Foods always had a bad rap so when we got involved the most important important thing is we created sort of a number of cornerstones so we said what have the airlines always done well they flowing really bad bread so we have to have great bread they flowing pretty poor cheese let's have beautiful rub cheeses that are ready salad not great let's do great salads and then we roll dishes around that today all the food is prepared in huge catering centers the 105 chefs Alpha LSG in London produced 1,000 meals per day in the premium cabins each of the dishes must be dressed and plated the same way across every flight just got to be calm collected go along at step by step no it's all good there is pressure but hey you can't let the nerves get to you serving restaurant quality food is an idea that harks back to the pioneering days of Aviation feel feeling beckish well here's a sample of our in flight dining anyone care for lust salel trivia you'd have had a seven course meal you'd be served by a steward who' be wearing a white jacket and a white cap like a waiter in a fine restaurant really this was served the 14th of September 1952 they started with lobster Beque roast fillet of beef Fresh Slice peaches with kers fresh double cream Martini cocktails Grand Van de boronia and bisy dush I'm sorry about my friend Jackson but you get the idea creating the tricky dishes is one thing but serving them is quite another as in the air both equipment and space are severely limited this is a real ballet isn't it it is it's a bit of a juggling act yeah it's like yeah a bit of a circus trick this one yeah it's like a wall it's like a dance one moves one way and we move in and backwards and forwards you are all jammed in a small area you have to be very comfortable on the aircraft with people in your personal space you do learn very quickly how to maneuver around it's like we all Almost Have Eyes behind our heads because we sort of just like move away and we all just get out of each other way we can just sort of you know never really Collide anymore we're used to it yeah we come to work knowing that it's going to be full and we're trained to work when it's full and yeah another day at the [Music] office let's go next we'll take a sneaky peek at Life Below stairs as we inspect the crew's secret quarters there we go flight2 out of herro is on its way to Sydney Australia as the world's only fully double decker passenger plane the a380s upper deck is mostly business class while the lower deck is the main economy cabin in row 81 Daniel and Bethany are enjoying a rare moment of Cal I think this is the first meal mommy's had without baby Isis crying saying feed me first so it's actually quite nice to to do that isn't it the routine is whatever she wants so when she's hungry she will cry and she will ask for food yeah and when she's tired she will sleep the young parents are preparing to move away from their families to start a new life in Sydney we've just kind of going to go out there and kind of research the areas look at the neighborhoods at some houses and just kind of look at what we potentially letting ourselves in for in the future we haven't got a clue what to expect we could go there and we could hate it we haven't got anyone nearby to help out it's a big move for both of us but I'm not scared cuz I know we're a good [Music] team 3 hours into the flight and with service over for some of the crew it's a chance to sneak a quick break being we just went to check on all our passengers and our passengers are all good have they absolutely so we thought we we'd reward ourself oh with a cheeky cup of tea we that's what we're doing now beus has been flying for 9 years for her keeping the passengers happy is one of the things that keep in the a thank you I'm a people pleaser to a certain degree and that's what I really like meeting the people and making them leave happy and I think I could be sat in an office 9:00 to 5 looking till it's 4:30 and yeah obviously there are some fights where I'm thinking oh I can't wait to get to the end of this flight but then my reward is that I'm in Dubai for 24 hours or I'm in Australia for 3 days so I don't really know what more what more you could wish for really but all that excitement does come at a price so I'm just starting to get stuck into every C is my favorite job which is as you can see I put my glove Off cleaning the toilets so off I go people tell you it's a glamorous job I think they lied so we just come and do this like every half an hour just to check all everything's well and good in the toilet and that there's some paper in there cuz no one likes go to the toilet with no paper give it a little sprintz beautiful if we have like a friendly family sort of atmosphere on board hello we all go out together I go to the beach clothes really nice I'm going to sit down and have my cup of tea and a biscuit it's the best part of this St a cup of tea and the biscuit like today the kangaroo route has a single stop of 90 minutes in the world's busiest airport Dubai welcome to jaai recruited refueled and reced the plane is ready for the longest leg of the flight 14 hours to Sydney about to hop on the plane not much longer back in the air the crew are preparing for another meal service we have a little trick that we like to call gr you know about Tom Cruz don't you when we talk about Tom Cruz on the aircraft we're not talking about famous movies are we we're certainly not we certainly are not we are talking about tea and coffee how do you put them on the trolley tea then coffee Tom Cruz Tom Cruz there you go fact of the day on the upper deck in business class Belinda settles in for lunch it's won you're joining us for something to eat thank you thank you so much this is her first experience in the premium cabin and she's not yet used to the restaurant like service so I'm serving a side salad with your meal and I have a choice of dressings for you I have H Bic or I have a Vue what's a v oh funny you should ask and it's not just the food jargon she needs some help with aon's just been tell me about the lifestyle of a air hostess FL attendant life sorry half fight attendant fight attendant Australian Belinda left home to pursue her dream as an actress and singer I think I underestimated how hard it would be setting up in London it's not easy to come over with like two suitcases and that's all you have but she might have to get used to the high life as things are on the up so we're getting married um legally married which is a little bit different for um if we were in Australia but in the UK we can get married which is inredible yeah it's very exciting so keep your eyes at the point that you're looking at but just drop your nose down a little bit and she's also landed the role of Judy Garland in a new West End show I can't wait for my mom to see this I don't think she'll quite believe it but I think she'll be really proud of everything that I'm achieving over here Judy really is going to us isn't she really J's going to us she's going back to us yes absolutely and Judy's traveling in style the Quantus A380 has 64 business class seats at up to eight times the cost of an economy seat this premium cabin is vital to the success of the airline what they're selling is exclusivity it's that great sort of social cach a if you turn left at the top of the steps instead of turning right for the airline it's a question of economics if you're a standard econ class traveler they're not making much profit on you in fact they're hardly making anything at all so in a sense those business Travelers who are paying a great deal more are paying for the ordinary passengers like you and me we often see this cabin full on every flight lots of business Travelers or people that have saved up for a little while to take that trip of a lifetime it's very exclusive with the sky beds that go fully flat you can have privacy there's these mid-seat dividers it's all about service tailor to the customer oh business classes is is the business really it's not just the business class passengers who travel in comfort in the forward hole directly below first class are the animals like Mitsy and Alfie while it's not possible for owners to visit their pets and flight if they're in the serenity of first class they occasionally might hear them sometimes you can actually hear the dogs chatting to each other and barking which can be a little bit distracting it's really interesting hearing hearing those noises and thinking that your ears are playing tricks on you cruising at almost 40,000 ft the A380 is one of the most comfortable planes in the sky quiet and stable it travels at more than 500 M an hour almost most effortlessly through the thin frigid atmosphere but it wasn't always this way the early Long Haul passengers had to endure flying much lower in primitive unpressurized planes okay the good news about flying low that's 8 or 9,000 maximum 10,000 ft is you get a good view of of what's down below the pyramids or the Taj Mahal or the Sydney Harbor Bridge the bad news is because you're going through the weather your stomach is being thrown all over the place and up to 50% of people in pre-war flights were nauseous they were queasy and a great many of those were actually vomiting on the floor and it's interesting that when the first stewardesses were introduced they had to be qualified nurses no such problems today as 10 hours into the flight the lights dim for the passengers to get some rest although few of them realize that there is another secret compartment in the belly of the plane and Welcome to our secret sleepover joint one big sum party in here this is where the cabin crew go on their downtime Naomi and Sarah have agreed to show us around so these are the bunk beds there 12 12K crew rest is the best thing on the aircraft hi guys hello welcome welcome we are ready for a nap we might get 3 hours off and then we'll switch and then the next person we'll get the 3 hours off yeah do a demonstration of how we get into the top bunk to B oh crazy crazy and do you normally have a hot water bottle down here normally cuz it's freezing down here it can get quite cold good night NOS good night we get cozy pillows blankets hot water bottles you know lucky you don't see us in our pajamas but uh we saved that for down there yeah it's just like a little cozy compartment underground and where's the Harry Potter bunk har here who gets the Harry Potter bunk yeah we do have one bunk which we call the Harry Potter bunk which is just under the stairs all right let's go to very pretty it's the easiest I've ever done it good job I actually don't mind it cuz it's like someone's actually giving you a hug under there cuz it's like you got a wall That's halfway through and you're kind of just all you know cozy up in there and it's quite warm good night everyone good night nice and cozy it's not just the cabin crew getting some rest even Pilots get a moment or two to enjoy the scenery there's a lot to see and you got your map so you know where you are and you see some great sunrises sunsets good [Music] mountains in the economy cabin is 28-year-old Australian sha living in the UK he's been plotting with Dad to be the surprise guest at his mom's 60th birthday party so mom's going to walk into the restaurant and or her friends are going to be there so that's going to be brilliant and then on top of the cake should be when you walk in yeah my mom's very emotional I think when she sees me she's probably going to scream run and hug me possibly even cry um I think she'll be very entertaining Sean's not the only one with Secrets sometimes I guess we do get a few weird requests such as marriage proposals after they've had a few WI you just make sure that they know that we're just there for their safety and the service we're not you know there for anything else super hello to you next with just 1,000 miles to run in Sydney a whole Army prepare to welcome [Music] flight2 with flight2 now just hours from Sydney the International Airport prepares to open after its overnight curfew are you doing the tour arrival as well I'm not sure yet not sure okay on board the pilots make contact with the air traffic control 2 super hello to you con 2 turn ring 020 020 air traffic andol is pretty much a policeman of the Skies we make sure that the rules and procedures are followed and that separation standards aren't breached keeping the planes apart takes a special kind of skill you need to be able to think fast on your feet you need that spatial awareness u a lot of people think in two-dimensional but we're thinking in threedimensional but we're also thinking four dimensional at times because we've got speed involved as well meanwhile in the daily briefing at the ioc it's the weather that's the worry uh Sydney we are looking at uh storm potential staying quite likely in the next 2 hours at the airport those storm cells hugging the coast whether or not there's going to be a tropical Cyclone um over the flight path of several flights becomes increasingly important to high passenger volume flights such as those that go to China those that go to London we are looking at storm cells to the northwest of port and they are likely to move over you think they're fast moving though they're quite fast moving we have some stuff to the Southwest at the moment but that should stay offshore I'm just concerned that those things that are developing to the Northwest while the worst of the storms are not yet over Sydney the pilots prepared to land in some typically British weatherend up with some rain lat station TR to stand by the W in the cabin as the dawn breaks the crew prepare breakfast so as you can see it's sunrise on the plane I'm just going to go through and check on any passengers that might have woken up just see if we get them any drinks or anything like that the last service was hours ago so I guess they're ready for their their Brey before they land what can I get for you sure gra it for you now my first order of cheeky James B at Sunrise Josh here is loading up the oven doing a great job of being G operator and yeah I've just got the card already ready and it's good to go down in the crew quarters the early morning alarm call is less welcome I've just come downstairs to do the worst job which is waking everyone up from break and everyone's still down here and they're not very happy it can give you a heart attack at the past of times but um and then when that hand does come up you're like okay and then you come up and you feel sorry for any passengers that do come across you in that process between going from the crew door to the toilet one of my favorite things during the flight is to see the crew that are coming back from break and how upset they look after coming back from break here's Edward he's looking really happy morning in the first class Galley Marissa is tackling a tricky dish fresh scrambled eggs cooked in a steam oven we got to keep a close eye on it constantly stir it cuz if I take my eye off them I either burn them or they go a bit dry which we don't want is there extra pressure being in the firsty because of oh yes Platinum passengers little nerves but all good you your watches to Sydney time the time now is just 7:35 a.m. yeah I'm just seeing where we we're just flying over camera now I think so um yeah we I think we touched down in the like 36 minutes which is really exciting Shawn too is excited having traveled 11,000 miles just to be his mother's very special birthday present literally my plan is to get a box that's big enough to fit me wrap it up in paper maybe put a bow on it I think when I leap out of the box I think my mom going a scream Panic a little bit and then once you realize who it is uh she probably give me a big hug probably start crying um I think it would be very entertaining keeping the emotions in check is also going to be a challenge for malcol oh his nerves are we going now a bit emotional a bit a lot and it's not just Malcolm feeling the nerves as at Sydney airport his welcoming party has arrived my two sisters are here with me um my partner my daughter my grandson and my nephew we are so excited nerves have been chattering all the way down here yes really excited can't wait to see call us to turn right heading 125 to join final 16 right and you are cleared the is PRM approach ring 125 join final 16 right clear the PRM with the runway in sight the plane enters its most critical phase landing and the a38 is massive size creates a huge amount of weight turbulence or jet wash W turbance is the unstable air that is produced from the wings and the body of the aircraft as it flies through the air the weight turbance hangs behind the aircraft for a period of time and uh we put like an envelope around the aircraft so we got 1,000 ft below and for a super it's 6 natic miles behind it so we don't want anything in that envelope otherwise it they get buffered around a lot if you're quite close to the the weight turbulance coming off the back of a super or heavy and you're in a light aircraft like a Cessna it could flip the aircraft corus 2 wind 130° 1 knots Runway 16 right PL away while the A380 can land automatically usually this part is handled by the human Pilots visual standard procedures check 1000 in tough conditions they can be challenging cross winds make it harder usually happens just in the last little bit and at that stage near are always flying it manually 500 it's probably the most satisfying part you will try and fly the airplane as efficiently as you can and do a good Landing possible if you do you basically feel satisfied that it was a good job it's landed oh my God it's here he's Landing he we're we're going to see him in a minute oh wow going be so excited how exciting how exciting Malcolm is just moments away from coming fa to face with his [Music] past flight2 from London has just landed into Sydney International Airport where a small army of service Personnel are ready to welcome the plane how many baggage containers you got to take off four more to go you going to use these ones here ramp manager Sam Shannon oversees the offloading it's almost like a carer Dan we've got engineering staff that are overviewing the aircraft and looking for any damage that might have occurred in Flight uh we've got our ground service team that are offloading all the bagage in cargo we'll also have catering come to the aircraft and start offloading all the rubish from the inbound slood refuelers are also coming around to refuel the aircraft with the flight burning through over 300,000 L of fuel the plane has lost half its takeoff weight although a little extra has been added obviously after such a long flight with over 480 passengers there's a lot of toilet waste so this gentleman now is just taking it out of the aircraft and also flushing all the tanks in the aircraft to make sure they're all clean for the next flight so contr to you don't dump it in the air no we don't dump it in the air I can assure you of that Sam's team need to get all the passengers reunited with their 600 bags in less than 45 minutes and for three special ladies that can't happen soon enough it'll take them a little while to get through customs and then get their bags and stuff so I can't wait to tell him just about our dad what he was like growing up it's a little bit Bittersweet sort of we don't want to tell him too much I want to think he's missed out on everything but he just wants to hear about everything that we shared with [Music] Dad great to find them I mean 65 the only one four month ago now I've got three sisters hell lucky you oh lucky me yeah you're here yes with the plane due to be back in the air in just 7 hours there is just enough time for some regular maintenance the tug has now grabbed it closed its jaws and we're elevating the aircraft up so it's pivoting on its landing gear the dead weight of this aircraft at the moment possibly about 300 OD ton we're going to follow the A380 line out just to keep these wing tips clear from all rounding aircrafts all around us it's that big you can have an accident you could hit a wing on something so you must concentrate and handing it onto the center of those lines with the engineering hanger on the opposite side of the airport Lou must tow the 73 M long aircraft across a live Runway and quickly we're going to have to go we've been cleared we got lights illuminated there's an aircraft coming in and it's on its Final Approach so we have to [Music] move that aircraft's pretty close what it's coming in now well done here we go this seven-story hanger was specially converted to accommodate the Giant a38 and even then it only just fits the aircraft is very high and was a great challenge for us a lot of the equipment that we need to do a job at a normal human level has to be elevated to those Heights it's not just getting the people there it's getting some of the specialized tooling there as well one of the regular jobs is to give the giant plane a good scrub you w the aircraft then you'll apply the foam over the aircraft scrub it off rinse it off so how do they get dirty I mean they're flying in the air bugs offs the rubber coming off the tires hitting the back of the aircraft exhaust fumes hydraulic leaks all sorts of various ways they can get dirty and all this effort is not not just for show obviously for our customers to look at a bright and shiny airplane is very nice however there's a hidden agenda there in fuel bur I me a clean airplane the fuel burn is significantly [Music] reduced while our plane is being Reed for its next trip Belinda has finally made it home mrr has a smell this sort of fresh grass kind of smell is just like I can't explain it it's it's quite comforting it's very emotional coming back to an old life that I used to have you know but it's also just so nice to be able to see Mom ivonne's delighted that Belinda's musical theater career is taking off at last very proud of her finally she's going to be considered a professional and getting paid and that's so I've been paid before though for yeah but not not like West End theater Westend is definitely a yes a first for me definitely it's not just Belinda that's happy to be home next the rest of the passengers have their own emotional reunions you found a great spot for him [Music] anyway [Music] so we're in Sydney now and uh we're just off to our first destination kui the kangaroo route is just one of the thousands of Long Hall flights that deliver passengers around the world as each day tens of thousands of Travelers begin their own Journeys got a beautiful view behind us of Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House for Daniel and Bethany their journey is just getting started as they scope out a possible future in Sydney hello hello welcome let have a look around so we got a lovely open plan kitchen Lounge dining bedrooms just to uh your left here the mirror sold straight away and waking up to that every morning oh wow yes fell in love with the apartment to be honest with you it's perfectly located that balcony in the mornings having a cup of coffee or having some breakfast just really settled our nerves kind of coming out here and seeing how beautiful Sydney is we're looking forward to it my nan sumed up she she said it'll break my heart to see you go and but at the same time it's the the best thing for you and if if my grandpy was still alive he'd be proud of us for moving out here cuz this is a big step but she knows that for our future this is the best move for us and this is where our future lies while Daniel and Bethany look to the Future for mity and Alfie after 10 days in quarantine it's a case of home at last I just got off the phone with your parents they're very excited to see you I got them out at the airport in Sydney just to stretch their legs chance to go to the toilet and both of their body languages were fantastic they handle the flight really well they're both happy and obviously glad to be on the ground come on it's momy dad me too while the dogs settl in at home back at the airport the countdown is on to get the next Long Haul flight out on time Che back about minut time start heading toward your doors thanks everyone we have 1 minute before cor and then about 10 minutes before passengers board but the crew aren't the only ones on a countdown it's good to be back in Sydney as shaan and his brother put the final touches to his mom's ultimate birthday surprise this is my brother Mark just picked me up in Manley plan is to cover this box um I'm going to put a couple of eyes on it and a l couple of peees there's already some cutouts on the side so as she goes to open thex box I'm going to pop my arms [Music] out it's not going to be neat but it will do Shawn takes up his position as mommy's due at any moment oh they're coming going to hear some yells any second now he's not the only one under cover we've told Mom that our camera crew are making a promotional film for the the restaurant I love you so much my whole being is just shaking I I it's I'm God smacked I'm it's a dream come true I in my head I'm thinking oh to meet sha wouldn't that be wonderful but it won't happen it happened oh my [Music] God it's all tranquil is it that's think you're supposed to do yeah we're down here now aren't we north of Sydney Malcolm is having a very different family reunion you show me the way I Dad we all here I told you I found your boy yeah 65 years ago yep here we go again thank you it's been totally emotional since I've been here finding you three and my dad's grave you can't explain it fabulous turn me well right around I'm sure he had something to do with it oh oh yeah he's probably SED it out yeah SED it out [Music] yeah in just a few months the first non-stop 19-hour flight from the UK to Australia will begin a technological Leap Forward that will further shrink our world yet while another long haul Milestone will be achieved the spirit and romance of long-distance travel remains as each year L haul flights transport millions of people billions of miles to reconnect those who are half the world away even though we've been doing it now for half a century there's still a certain magic about L haul which you can't equal with a short Hall hop of 90 minutes in a sense Long Haul is what Aviation is really about this is Dad on his journey over here wow I've never seen that one before that's going up up bedroom beside [Music] Elvis [Music] bye bye [Music]
