Inside Heathrow's Air Traffic Control | Britain's Busiest Airport | Spark

[Music] confessions are approved face South London Heathrow Europe's biggest and busiest airport transporting more than 74 million passengers every year this is so big that we feel complex they've got week on steroids with the flights taking off or landing every 45 seconds [Music] Heathrow is operating at full capacity and there's no room for error you know if he first needs us the rest of Europe in the world catches a cold we could have blown some ears out you say even the smallest problem can cause chaos nine one five and nine one nine eleven canceled nothing has landed nothing's taken off and cost the multi-billion pound business of four tune in fines and lost revenues abuser this series goes behind the scenes this is the bit no one seems to follow the hidden army of staff working against the clock to get thousands of planes away on time every second counts the size of a small city a throw has its own police force excuse me sir while she's comin England's paramedics and vets from the baggage handlers and security officers look at that ah you can't take that on the aeroplane Oh No to the air traffic controllers and pilots I'm not gonna say I'm living the dream but I everyone has a vital role to play in keeping Britain's most famous airports flying to land Oh God really [Music] in Heathrow central control room staff are monitoring every inch of the airport from the passengers in terminals to queues and traffic with how busy we are at Heathrow we look at our punctuality scores and our arrivals and departing punctuality is is pretty much where we live and die by because we know that that's absolutely the heart of what our passengers want is to get away on time and trust me we want you to get away on time as much as anyone else does but the one thing he throw can't control is the weather today storm imogen is blowing gale force winds across the airport the 60-knot winds are so severe they're starting to disrupt the flow of arriving planes what high winds and what's more problematic is the gusty across where this weather has ramifications quite a long way down the line this problem isn't just a Heathrow this is for the whole of the South East of England so where are these aircraft are going to land out on the airfield Safety Officer Simon is monitoring the deteriorating conditions you can see in front of me here just how strong the wind is guys trying to do his his coat up there he's really fighting to stand up there at the moment so normally throw would be landing around about 45 planes per hour due to the strong wind today we have got some air traffic delays meaning that we are landing 32 per hour inside the cabin it will probably be a little bit bumpy the pilot would have explained that it's not going to be a smooth landing but I would visualize it as just scary fairground ride you make with a little bit of jolt in your stomach very well done by that pile of work whilst Simon battles the weather outside inside terminal 4 Sunita a passenger experience manager is dealing with a knock-on effect at the store [Music] on days like today it's inevitable that we're going to have canceled flights we have no control over what your weather is so it's really up to the gods at the end of the day it's all hands on deck I just need to get downstairs to arrival see what's going on Sunita has been called to deal with 200 stranded passengers whose connecting flight to Delhi has been cancelled these are the passengers who were all checked in this morning for a flight which has been now diverted to Frank that they're actually waiting for the coaches to take them to the hotels hello yes sir I can't help you building system leave some for hours yeah and we're standing we are treating like ghosts we do not have any clear information do you have any idea when we were late all right that's something the airline are working on as we speak the first coach has arrived but with only 50 seats there's a rush to get on in these situations it should be the airline who deal with the passengers but with nobody around Sunita has to manage the crowds [Music] pushing him you know cuz everybody's gonna get upset there would be another coach coming back roughly how long that's what they were told before when it's taken was about 15 20 minutes of people were standing out and they're told right this coach is going with the bus now full a handful of elderly passengers have been left behind in the terminal sorry [Applause] from Canada we're going to India the airline is stupid they're not Manning when you feel that there's nobody else around and people are a bit lost somebody has to resume control and basically that's what I'm doing outside on the airfield the winds are getting stronger and loose items are being blown onto the runways Simon is on the lookout for foreign objects debris or Fahd certain types of fadh like small items of metal or stone if they were ingested into an aeroplane engine then they could call was quite significant damage or could cause that engine to fail so it's vitally important that we've got all teams out and about patrolling looking to ensure that the taxiways the grass and runways is clear I think I can see light on the foot blowing across the stand now so the trick is is to position the vehicle up wind so that the item of thought comes to me rather than me having to face the prod so it's a bit of goalkeeper going on here [Music] so this is a pillowcase obviously come out of there come out the aeroplanes the size of it would indicate to a pilot there is something significant on the taxiway last year 2400 minutes of delay at Heathrow were attributed to another item of fog that's just about to blow behind that departing aircraft there this thing winds too strong at the moment I have to reposition myself over there there item of frogs just about to blow toward the landing landing runway and yes the fencers caught it for me it's done a job so I'll still take it away because it may bounce over and as you can see the actual landing runway is just a few yards beyond this circle on this face just an item over plastic when not screwed up it looks quite sizable that on a landing runway would be a visual deterrent for a plane he wouldn't know exactly what that is so therefore he could actually start operations will be slowed and our job is to ensure that we run the airfield smoothly and efficiently and safely while Simon struggles to keep the airfield clear back in Terminal four Sunita's stranded passengers are still waiting for their coach blanket taken blanket on each other bunny look at me I'm just trying to look after the passengers well-being nobody's here actually looking after him [Music] finally some good news the cultures arrived both donkey and the jury passengers I get wheelchair the rich on a Nepali I see a putana the papacy please wait hello if you don't mind hit that okay we're put in the wheelchair passengers first so let's just not have this magic please see please bring up the seaweed good oh I know I know I know I'm just a man I knew that for the app this time Sunita is determined to leave none of the older passengers behind have to be at the bottom of the rocket Angie I'm gonna put that pain away how would you feel if that was your on your child your daughter you know it's all to do with that and I think it's more about you putting yourself in their shoes and how would you like to be treated thank you thank you for being so patient the passengers will be back at Heathrow first thing tomorrow for their rearranged flight I feel tired my legs are absolutely aching my back's aching and I've had I think I need to take my next dose at CONICET tomorrow in or just keep me Koki [Music] [Music] and Heathrow Airlines live or die by their turnaround time the speed at which they're able to get an arriving plane ready to depart again in terminal 5 Phil is preparing for one of the airport's shortest turnarounds the flight from Brussels is on approach from its arrival Phil will have just 50 minutes to get the plane back in the sky times critical we need to get them away the customers expect to arrive and depart on time and also some the company's interest in aeroplanes making money when its wine but yeah 50 minutes is tight but we'll do it right the aircraft has now landed I'm gonna now go and make their other lots of walking lots of stairs but it saves on the gym bill with such a tight turnaround phil has no room for delay he needs the arriving passengers off as quickly as possible the countdown begins now hold on here we go as Phil maneuvers the airbridge into position the fuelers and baggage handlers get to work under wing [Music] morning yeah go yourself lovely perfect very much normally take about two anything between seven and ten minutes the passengers to get off beats into your departure time and be sincere turnaround time with the plane cleared Phil now has less than 40 minutes until takeoff cleaners are just turning up they will then start cleaning the aircraft from there we're ready for the passengers in a few moments they go given seven minutes they do a fantastic job in the time allocated [Music] our catering we have catering okay we'll take null catering off and put the new coating on for the new flag reading it takes just six minutes to remove the finished meals and put fresh food on the plate and with twenty minutes to go the pilots arrived to prepare and check the aircraft cleaners are just about finished okay looks good it's all clean [Music] quite well customers on the way with just 15 minutes until departure the ground crew leader anastasiya clears old star from under the plane and does her final safety checks [Music] check [Music] now it's down to air traffic control to give the final clearance to push back you know 3/9 good afternoon after the air Boeing Company 319 pressure started face west [Music] [Music] all right again I may have to come on where we've achieved our objectives we're ready to go 3 minutes 45 time in just 47 minutes the flight to Brussels is ready to depart again and the clock stops on one of the fastest turnarounds of the airport successful mission as they say [Music] it's not just people and bags that need to be offloaded from arriving planes each year 100,000 tons of human waste is sucked out of all planes landing at Heathrow the airport's waste services team must keep this endless deluge of sewage moving today veteran engineer John is training 21 year old apprentice Elliott all plane waste is deposited into one of he throws sewage pits but today one of them is blocked and needs to be cleared see anything to go down the toilet an airplane is also gonna wind up here splashing this could be the one with a bag of diamonds in Eliot yes that's the way they look at it that's always fingers crossed and they are you for each other stay with us we ain't found in a year this is the first time Elliot has been down a sewer pit an essential part of his training I've got a few of your special tool now you're gonna be using okay it's a very high-tech I don't have you done the training course that's what you're gonna be using all right sounds good so we check them all all right never have passed during our restroom all right John switches on the gas monitor which will warn them of any potentially dangerous gas buildup underground right so now we are underneath the vehicle bays okay yeah so basically Whelan's is I make dump just over there liquid comes down this is the traps not very big as you can see inside it was a metal basket okay you know I don't think anyone who flushes the toilet on the plane as a society I mean some people think he literally drops out on the plane that's right but it's certainly not car any passengers ever see and we're likely to see whoa crazy look at that yeah smells horrible notnot smells like toxic the pit has almost completely blocked and Elliot needs to clear it to prevent damage to the machinery nice and easy lift around lovely Bitcoin 50-somethings there you go yeah Australian Australian is it but they do say where this mutton is brass right yes I get your super scooper if you don't clean them out anything that comes off the aircraft or goes in at the pier they'll just block it out yeah yellow mobile phones some of the chaps have found bullets before in some of the other ones of course you do get drugs people drug mules on the plane or panic when they land and just give that stripe there underneath actually yeah instead of actually tightening through customs chucking down the toilet on the plane they'll end up down there it really well really well I'm absolutely hating it I didn't think I had much of a weak stomach I don't even wanna think about food right now okay so okay let's go guests on is just going off dialect at the alarm on Elliot's gas monitor sounds they immediately evacuate much to the relief of Elliot the smell was horrible it's quite nice to breathe fresh air but when I first opened one of those boxes to the lid off throttle yeah so bad glad it's done back to base let's see your medals yeah starving now with the pit cleared it can now start processing aircraft waste again and Elliot's is one step closer to being a fully fledged heathrow engineer Oh glad I did that breakfast because that would have definitely come on [Music] at Heathrow passenger numbers increase every year this month alone two and a half million people will come through arrivals [Music] Catherine and her children are waiting at Terminal 3 waiting for my mom my grandmother who they haven't seen it for a year so we missed that sydney half a planet away it's not an easy flight to do so when they come over it's a real it's a real treat I just wish it was closer huh also in arrivals is lateesha waiting to greet her daughter nattara 'the from honduras latisha left from juris 15 years ago to find work in europe so that she could pay for nath to go to school she's been sending every spare penny home and hasn't seen her daughter for six years yo desi de salir de Laura porque la situación nina moody fishing eternia de acción is also erased a a job pero no tenían oportunidad para poder llegar o mejor future Amiga Oh venir may sacrifical c amor que realmente mo during with the fishing today Nazareth is finally coming to join her mom in London es mi sueño kia puede tener una familia [Music] tombliboo 44 nice Tomatoes [Music] and after a six-year wait latisha finally spots her daughter [Music] [Music] it's 3:00 a.m. at Heathrow and air traffic controller Gavin is beginning his shift hello right I'll take GM c3 in the pit then all right so I'll do the subscription for 3:00 in the pit and I'm 1 and a 5 star please be it's amazing the views you get up there and just being up here and looking out and seeing all the lights is peaceful from our traffic perspective it's completely different day tonight in the day you turn it apart a crafty turn unmanned aircraft at nighttime so completely different Kerala fish the airfield is constantly on the go you know and if there's no aircraft moving on the airfields have a perfect opportunity for airfield operations to go on into this stuff at night the airport's engineers can carry out essential maintenance but Gavin must make sure they're clear before the runways open at 6 a.m. check our Roger they've just given us 9:00 right literally this very second yes sir there's so many things that airfield operations have to get on with and they can't do in the daytime because for us to close attacks we in the daytime we've got so many aircraft trying to move through there is an absolute nightmare out on the airfield temperatures have dropped below zero in ice cold occurs meet Lucas bright rates patty is one of an army of D Isis whose job is to cover every single departing plane with antifreeze before they can take off to stop free one stop they started to appreciate how cold it is but you do get used to it if you've got a 747 and it's smothered in snow and it has been all night and you know you'll be on it you'll be on it a long time you might feel your fingers by the end of it the colder the artificer we are non-stop one to the other get them all out by departure time I said kick down as you are Mike take me into the corner is that it's vital that Patti covers every inch of the plane with a mixture of heated glycol and diluted water lovely long and short of it it could come at the stores as simple as that yeah don't go over the wings as you should do so effect see flow over the surfaces so it can create drag and when you got tre going got the lift I won't go into too much detail but but basically if you have them if you don't do I see it then in mono takeoff if it does take off it might come straight back down so it's important do we do it and do it properly I'll tell the new boys when they Theo I see if I'm training I tell them see if they treat every DI sock is their first device and also if they imagine all their families on the aircraft if imagine all of them's on there they're not going to be complacent they're going to do it properly and understand the by the importance of it the antifreeze lasts as little as 35 minutes so paddy must ensure the planes are ready for their departure slot if they miss it they'll have to come back and do them again all clear on the step Mike we have like 190 aircraft today so on a busy day yeah you be going one to the other to the other to the other you've got to keep the customer happy and we're good at it hi I am anyway [Music] yeah I can smell the bacon at the restaurant so it's making me hungry here a contamination why is it good the runways will be opening in five minutes with 42 planes already circling in the skies above Heathrow Gabon has to guide in as many as possible as quickly as he can [Music] once the first dingdong comes in that's it you know your air traffic head is back on 100% are terribly that's what he fires open spirit seven eight good morning romizi remind left cleared land surface wind zero eight zero degrees 5 knots he line Delta Lima contact channel 9 it's both runways a k-map and at 6:00 a.m. sharp Heathrow is open for business [Music] one two three four five six 600 I have to [Music] so this one's going down my left 109 rights currently two miles it's real and left right left right and then which I can get two pouches in between as well online the 365 days a year we're running whether it's one of them wheel to release [Music] 1,400 movements they over the end of the day [Music] [Music] as heathrow wakes up inside Terminal two passenger experience manager sue is getting ready for busy day ahead [Music] then at the airport of 22 years it's really busy always something happening and I probably would work anywhere else always you haven't checked in of you come here I'm going to slap the back of your legs honestly sir these youngsters gonna get checked in in the next week the airport expects one and a half million passengers but not everybody passing through has a smooth ride morning my darling morning hello my love how are you now a bit concerned because I saw you here yesterday and you're here again today though you're trying to get home oh yeah I need a ticket before right and you haven't bought tickets you have the ticket for duty okay so if we've been upstairs to see whether they'll change it for you Oh they've tried to change it and it's not doing because it was a lot cheaper price how much do they need to change the tickets and how long have you been here one week that's not good now is there and you've got no family no brothers and those sisters that can pave you the church [Music] can I see your ticket and let me see whether I can do anything for you Maria that's a lovely name isn't it the team like Bettina is visiting from Germany she says that her London accommodation fell through so she is planning to live in a terminal for two weeks until her flight home okay and they can't change it because they won't change it and because of the charge is that correct right okay let me just go upstairs and see if I can get anything done about this and and I'll come back down okay I'm gonna take this with me because I need it I'm so sure so yes all right my job in after you I'll be back all right you just relax thank you thank you something's not right and I haven't put my finger on it yet I'm a little bit concerned her face is swollen she'll probably end up getting more confused do you hydrate it then it'll be a hospital job unless sue can help but Tina will be stuck at Heathrow for the next 14 days oh good one I'm so sorry to trouble you and this lady she and she flew in I think as you probably know on the 22nd and she has been sleeping rough on the floor for since she's arrived she's a single elderly woman and and that is it she doesn't have any other means and that means she'll be sleeping on the floor the ticket is not changeable and so the airline is not obliged to do anything but sue is determined to get Bettina home is there nothing that you can do you can't override those [Music] thank you bye-bye bye-bye so they want an email to ask me to actually ask the question whether they can she can override it but obviously they don't like to because it's a cost to them I'm a little bit sad about London because they wanted to sting you I wants to go to the Hyde Park to talk and because of the I saw it in the computer and my travel agency that the hotel is nearby or in front of the Hyde Park I go back to justify and to try to get my money back you seem he's trying to write when they scrape with fingers and these little phones it takes me forever right send I mustn't accent oh it's cotton oh god it's gone it's gone I'm a bit perturbed said that she's been here five days and nothing has been done she sort of one of these people that slip under the under the neck while Sue does her best to help Bettina over in Terminal three the crowds are starting to arrive Charlie assistant Angela must ensure that every one of the days 30,000 passengers has access to some wheels I love it when it gets busy because when it's busy it's rush rush rush all over and the time just goes like that really quickly you've got to do it a bit of swerving here it's like a moving snake [Music] if you were to clock the mileage up it's about nine miles that you'll do in a shift all of these people have got trolleys and as soon as they start piling enough people can't even get into check-in and you'll get annoyed it's a havoc on Charlie oh my god what am I gonna do I can't find you charlie mind your backs now please the will go away and they're all family people you know they're visiting oh that's so lovely airport is about reuniting families isn't it because how else they can see each other if they're miles and miles away they may not see us but we're here busying away I mean the whole airport would come just a stand if we wasn't doing this it never stops shut the door and send it to rolls [Music] back in terminal 2 sue is still trying to help patina the German tourist who has been living at Heathrow for the past five days hello how are we getting on lovely yes yes I can I can sort out that's absolutely wonderful of you thank you so so much bye bye bye bye bye I'm very very happy that she's not going to be here for another two weeks I'm extremely happy and I'm gonna go down and get a now so that's absolutely wonderful I should just tell the lady darling we're getting around the 12:40 I'm gonna bring her up thank you Oh what result look at you now you've got your face on she looked at beautiful she's got a face on she's got a lip is on and you're going home in two hours oh yeah come on let's take you up let's get you home I'm very pleased you've anymore room liquors in your bag thanks to sue Latinos should be home by dinnertime all right here we go in lovely meeting you well done take care now take care thank you I do the best I can when I can and then move on because you have to wish you would take it home with you [Music] [Music] every week thousands of animals land at the airport from all over the world the tiny each animal is collected by an officer from the animal reception center today Karen is meeting a flight from Calgary in Canada with some VIP animals in the hunt just to make my house it's just no informal you need to be kept to a reasonably cold temperature and making sure they don't get to dab on every on ice a rather large crates [Music] [Applause] you guys looking really good it's very good no travel very well all the way [Music] these Gentoo penguins are destined for sea life Birmingham but first they need to go to the animal reception center to be checked I just don't need to be here for too long we try and clear them as best as we can quickly and I need to get back into but in the condom [Music] lovely quite chilled until we take the lid off maybe every animal that passes through must comply with strict importation rules Karen's team need to read the microchips of every penny this record of them all the Ellen we're coming through but those who catch the chips large words of tips but the jet-lagged Canadians aren't very keen on having their belly scan [Applause] [Music] all done with all penguins successfully accounted for they can begin their journey at the m12 their new hunter Midlands definitely a cup of tea with flights leaving round-the-clock to over 185 destinations Heathrow is home to Britain's plane enthusiastic community Heathrow is on the priority list you know it's either number one or two of what to do at the weekend and the other things you know we fit in around it Graham and Sandra have been coming to this car park on the perimeter of Heathrow for the last 44 years my wife is the one that suggests that we come to Heathrow it's probably not my first choice of one so I always enjoy okay ever since we've been married I never get tired of it I just love it dreamworld could be going this one come just Emirates 380 is just growing up over there I do like jumbo jets but the new 380s I love watching ours the bigger the plane the better I like it actually just gives me personally about if I'm feeling a bit down and I come up here I just feel all you know although we may not have even booked holiday it just makes me feel where we could go just brightens you up on a dull day there are more than 30 plane spotters visiting today but Sandra is unique I'll just yeah I think he does secretly like it but I shall always be interested oh yeah yeah yeah we will always be found here [Music] in Terminal three passenger experience manager mark has been called to manage a large group that have appeared in arrivals we've got a current coming in today who is a religious leader it's going to have his own entourage with him and he's gonna have his own followers here to welcome their their leader mark needs to ensure the group don't block the walkways or overwhelm the terminal boss go free do you have any staff free sir we've got a guru coming through but we're expecting about couple hundred followers and I'm just thinking a couple of security officers might be useful for crowd control everything about an airport is about flow there's about 20,000 people or so coming through here today I have to maintain that flood and now if we've got a large group of followers here that they could potentially impact the flow so we have to manage that air side shake Makeba or Ackman has just arrived and Mark's colleague Matt is there to escort him through the terminal as quickly as possible they need to move fast as back at arrivals the large crowd is spilling out of the cordon guys can I just get you back inside yeah just inside the barrier guys he's on his way he won't be long now do we have an ETA for being at the arrivals area so because we've got a bit of a crowd building now all we see thank you very much Oscar Freire we've got potentially a 20-minute delay now which is not ideal because we've given quite a large number of followers arriving please so I can't have get you know the crowded people getting blocked ladies I know you want to give him the flowers but can I ask you to go back over there because I've just got to maintain the security cordon [Music] cold here at the moment ladies and gents can I get its move back a bit he's coming now Oscar free receiving I still receive thank you very much [Music] the Sheikh who practices an aspect of Islam called Sufism stops for some impromptu blessings in the middle of arrivals we are here and we travel throughout the world to give the message of peace love love and tolerance which the essence of Islam is and what did you think of the greeting you got today yeah it's great you can see smiling faces meeting each other and just spreading love as he heads off to start his UK tour the shake stopped to thank Matt and give him a special farewell I could a kiss on either cheek and convert anyone else when I asked apparently that's a good son I hope so Denise anyway what more could you ask for a day at Ypres but there's no let-up for Matt and the rest of he throws hidden army of workers as evening draws near thousands more passengers are turning up and preparing to fly through Britain's busiest inland [Music]

Channel: Spark

Views: 1,561,061

Rating: 4.8638439 out of 5

Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, Heathrow: Britain's busiest airport, Heathrow: Britain's busiest airport full episodes, Heathrow: Britain's busiest airport spark, plane documentary, wrong flight, Heathrow spark, spark Heathrow, Heathrow, Heathrow documentary, how Heathrow operates, spark Heathrow doc, Britain's busiest airport, Britain's busiest airport full documentary, Heathrow airport documentary, spark Heathrow airport

Id: KochOIbRgIk

Length: 45min 29sec (2729 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 14 2018