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This is the story of a city. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
A city with over a million residents - | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
but you won't find it on any map. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
A city that few could have even imagined a generation ago. | 0:00:11 | 0:00:15 | |
It's a city...in the sky. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:18 | |
There are a million people airborne | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
somewhere in the world at any one time. | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
A city's worth of passengers, | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
straddling not just countries... | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
..but continents. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:36 | |
It's built out of the 100,000 flights | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
that crisscross the globe every day. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
'I'm Dallas Campbell, a science broadcaster. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
'Aviation's a big part of my family's story.' | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
I actually think I might be in love. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
This is engineering at the limit. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
I'm Dr Hannah Fry, a lecturer in the mathematics of cities. | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
So these are all of the planes across America, right now. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
-Right now. -Wow. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
We'll be travelling the world, | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
uncovering the hidden global networks and complex logistics | 0:01:09 | 0:01:14 | |
that keep us safely in flight. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:15 | |
-COMPUTER VOICE: -Pull up. Pull up. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
'We'll head to the very busiest | 0:01:17 | 0:01:19 | |
'and biggest nerve centres of global aviation... | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
I absolutely love this place, it's complete mayhem! | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
'..to discover how flight is connecting the world | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
'like never before.' | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
We'll be meeting the people who make it all possible. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
From the army of specialists who take care of us in flight... | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
He is now having trouble breathing, | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
and the repeat pulse is 240, is that correct? Over. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
..to the experts that keep aircraft safe. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
This city in the sky | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
is predicted to double in size in the next two decades, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
and keeping it airborne | 0:02:03 | 0:02:04 | |
is testing our ingenuity to its absolute limits. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
Whenever we're in flight, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
most of us take it for granted that we'll stay airborne. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
But that depends on a handful of fundamental laws of physics, | 0:02:28 | 0:02:32 | |
and it's these laws that keep all aircraft in the sky - | 0:02:32 | 0:02:37 | |
from the largest jets | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
to the smallest. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
These two men had to register as aircraft in the United States... | 0:02:47 | 0:02:52 | |
even though their wingspan is only two metres across. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:57 | |
Their bodies act like an aircraft's fuselage. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
And just like a large passenger plane, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
they're powered by four jet engines. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Although they had to apply for a special exemption | 0:03:14 | 0:03:16 | |
for flying without a seatbelt. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
The jet men are former fighter pilot Yves Rossy | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
and three-times world champion skydiver Vince Reffet. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
I mean, this is the closest thing to a human being flying, solo. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:35 | |
I think, yeah. Really it is just beautiful, you can play with clouds. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:40 | |
We are getting closer to | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
this dream, to one of the oldest dream of human, you know, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
like the flying, you know - | 0:03:45 | 0:03:46 | |
flying like a bird, you know, when you see a bird flying around. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
And it's really powerful - | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
we can go up to about 160 miles per hour. It's fast. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:57 | |
Every kid in the world wants to be you two. | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
-And actually most adults, I think! -I wish them, | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
they will take something like that in 20 years | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
-to go to the office. -Yeah. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
So you have to shake... | 0:04:09 | 0:04:11 | |
Flying like a bird may SOUND appealing... | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
..but the thought of hurtling through the sky | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
at 160 miles an hour strapped to this thing | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
is frankly terrifying. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:23 | |
Erm... I mean, this is... I could pretend that this was easy, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
but actually that is... I don't even think I can take a single step. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
Oh, my God. How do you DO this?! | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
It takes years of training to fly like Yves and Vince. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
But fortunately, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:42 | |
there's a much easier way of getting up alongside them | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
to see just how they control their flight. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
In order to fly, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:50 | |
they have to completely master those fundamental principles of aviation. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:55 | |
Though their launch is unlike any normal takeoff. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:02 | |
To begin with, these guys | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
are plummeting towards the ground with their jet packs on, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
propelling them at hundreds of kilometres per hour. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:20 | |
Even the tiniest mistake could cause them to lose control. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:25 | |
They're diving towards the ground to pick up speed, | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
and it's only when they reach around 100 miles per hour | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
that they can level out. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:36 | |
The wing shape creates lower pressure above it than below it, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:45 | |
and that causes lift. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:47 | |
But the key to controlling the flight of any jet craft | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
is the angle of the wing. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
When Vince arches his back, his wing tilts upwards - | 0:05:54 | 0:05:58 | |
just enough that the lift counteracts the pull of gravity. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:01 | |
This is what makes controlled, level flight possible. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
The shape of the wing is the same as you get in an aeroplane. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
The shape creates a pressure difference | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
above and below the wing | 0:06:18 | 0:06:19 | |
which literally sucks it up into the air. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
Where airliners use a rudder and ailerons to steer, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
the jet men use their hands and bodies. | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
If they want to pitch upwards, they arch their backs - | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
if they want to roll from side to side | 0:06:41 | 0:06:43 | |
they do it all with their shoulders. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
Oh, my God... | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:50 | |
That's ridiculous! | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
The forces keeping the jet men in flight | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
are the very same that allow every passenger plane to stay airborne. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:08 | |
But for most of us mere mortals, | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
the in-flight experience is rather less extreme. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:16 | |
We've become so used to jetting around the globe, | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
we just take it for granted. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
Flying seems so ordinary these days, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
with every flight more or less the same. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
You know the drill... | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
Welcome on board. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:36 | |
You board the plane... | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
..find your seat. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:40 | |
make yourself comfy... | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
and prepare for takeoff. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
Then, you're in the air. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:47 | |
The hours roll on by, | 0:07:48 | 0:07:50 | |
punctuated by welcome distractions. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
Try to get some sleep, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
and hope that when you wake up, you'll be there. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
But while you're enjoying your nap, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
there's a whole host of hidden processes at work, | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
making sure you get to your destination. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
Not least, navigation. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
Somehow, in the vast open spaces of the sky, | 0:08:16 | 0:08:20 | |
the pilot has to figure out how to get from A to B. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
Tonight, Lufthansa senior pilot Captain Jo Schwarzenberg | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
is flying the biggest passenger jet in the world, | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
an A380 with 480 passengers on board, | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
from Frankfurt to Delhi. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
The problem is, for most of the 4,000 mile journey | 0:08:41 | 0:08:45 | |
he can't see a thing out the window. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
It's the middle of the night, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
and Joe's invited me to join him up in the cockpit. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
We're somewhere over Afghanistan now, | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
we're about an hour and a half until landing. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:03 | |
It's absolutely pitch-black outside, we can't see any city lights, | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
anything like that, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:07 | |
which begs the question of course - how do pilots navigate, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
how do they know where to point the plane, | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
how do they know where other planes are? | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
The answer lies with one of the city in the sky's | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
most important hidden global networks - | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
a web of markers dotted across the planet, known as waypoints. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
To fly from A to B, | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
we have to have an idea how we would like to fly | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
so we file a flight plan, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
which goes from landmark to landmark in earlier times - | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
nowadays we are flying from waypoint to waypoint. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:41 | |
So most of these waypoints aren't physical beacons, | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
they are virtual points? | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
They used to be physical objects in earlier days, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
but nowadays with the use of GPS it's all coordinates. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
We define points in the air | 0:09:54 | 0:09:56 | |
somewhere over the Earth, give them a name - | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
that's a five-letter name - | 0:09:59 | 0:10:00 | |
and then we fly from waypoint to waypoint. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
Waypoints are virtual landmarks. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:08 | |
They allow the plane's navigation system | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
to know exactly where it is and which way it's heading. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
To a pilot, | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
they're almost like imaginary signposts, | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
reaching up into the sky, | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
giving them a trail to follow through the night. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
And on a familiar route, | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
their strange names get burnt into a pilot's memory. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
Our next waypoint is NEVIV, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
and we are flying further on to PATAX, MESRA and PAVLO. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
PAVLO is the entry point to India, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
and is also the exit point of Afghanistan. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
It's like a trail of breadcrumbs. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
-More or less, yes, like Hansel and Gretel. -DALLAS LAUGHS | 0:10:44 | 0:10:47 | |
How many waypoints from Frankfurt to Delhi? | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
How many breadcrumbs? | 0:10:50 | 0:10:52 | |
Er... I think it's a big loaf of bread, actually...! | 0:10:52 | 0:10:55 | |
We have about 5,000, 6,000 miles, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
and sometimes the spacing of these waypoints | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
is just 20, 40 miles so it's quite a lot. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
Erm, that is a call from behind. ..Yeah, hello? | 0:11:06 | 0:11:08 | |
Erm... We have to interrupt for a short while | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
because our coffee's arrived. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:17 | |
-Oh, that's very kind. -Yeah... | 0:11:17 | 0:11:19 | |
Well, hang on, there's only two cups... | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
Robin...? | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
Each one of these lines | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
represents the path of a real plane based on radar and transponder data. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
Over 24 hours, | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
air traffic reaches into every corner of the globe... | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
..adding up to over 100,000 flights | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
crisscrossing our planet every day. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:49 | |
And with the population of the city in the sky | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
set to double in the next 20 years, | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
it's not enough for every pilot | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
to know just where their OWN plane's going - | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
they also need to avoid all the others. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
By 2034, | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
it's predicted there will be over 44,000 passenger jets | 0:12:09 | 0:12:13 | |
crowding out our skies. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
And the more planes, | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
the more opportunities for near misses or collisions. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
Bringing order to the potential chaos of the skies | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
is down to a secret global army of air traffic controllers. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
One of their most crucial nerve centres | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
is just outside Atlanta, Georgia. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
And today, they are busier than normal, | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
because it's the build-up to Thanksgiving, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
America's biggest holiday. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
Now, you might not think it to look at it, | 0:13:12 | 0:13:14 | |
but this is an incredibly important room - | 0:13:14 | 0:13:19 | |
probably the most important in North American aviation. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:23 | |
Just beyond me, | 0:13:23 | 0:13:24 | |
the air traffic controllers are managing | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
the busiest airspace in the world. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
80% of the American population | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
lives within three hours' flying time of Atlanta, | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
and transatlantic flights | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
continually cross the area. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:44 | |
So it's critical | 0:13:46 | 0:13:47 | |
that these 130,000 square miles of airspace | 0:13:47 | 0:13:52 | |
run smoothly. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:53 | |
It's the job of the controllers here | 0:13:55 | 0:13:56 | |
to keep track of the vast number of planes | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
and make sure they never collide, by fine-tuning their routes. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:04 | |
Shaun Sanders has ultimate responsibility | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
for making sure this vital system works without a hitch. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
So Shaun, tell me what we're looking at here. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:15 | |
So what you're looking at right now | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
is every single aircraft | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
that we're tracking via radar over the United States, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
and up here is Canada. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
So these are all of the planes across America, right now. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
Right now. As we speak. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
What you're looking at is over 5,500 planes right now. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
Wow. This looks like a swarm of bees - | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
how do you even go about organising this chaos? | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
Looking at it like this, | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
it looks like a lot and it IS a lot, but it's extremely organised. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
We have invisible highways in the skies, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:51 | |
and these planes fly those highways | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
to get from point A to point B. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:56 | |
And each segment along the way, | 0:14:56 | 0:14:58 | |
they make a left turn or right turn or go straight | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
until they get to their destination. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
But is it almost as though | 0:15:03 | 0:15:04 | |
you're looking at all of the cars in a city | 0:15:04 | 0:15:06 | |
moving around, but you just can't see the roads? | 0:15:06 | 0:15:08 | |
Correct. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:09 | |
Ordinarily it's busy enough, but over Thanksgiving | 0:15:10 | 0:15:13 | |
the controllers handle up to 9,000 flights in a day. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
That's on average one every ten seconds. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
Preventing aviation gridlock | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
takes total focus and concentration. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:34 | |
Next Wednesday is the busiest travel day of the year, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
the day before Thanksgiving here in the United States. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
Are you really on edge on that day? | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
-No...(!) -SHE LAUGHS | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
Do you have anxiety dreams about this map? | 0:15:45 | 0:15:47 | |
Never. This is just what we do. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
We don't think about the number of people on the planes | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
or how many planes - | 0:15:53 | 0:15:55 | |
we know we have hundreds of thousands | 0:15:55 | 0:15:57 | |
of people's lives in our hand, | 0:15:57 | 0:15:58 | |
but that's not what's running through your mind | 0:15:58 | 0:16:00 | |
when you're controlling these planes. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:02 | |
Air traffic controllers across the world | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
share a system designed to stop planes colliding. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:11 | |
It's called "standard separation". | 0:16:11 | 0:16:14 | |
Aircraft are first herded | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
into predetermined nine-mile-wide highways. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
Within these slices of the Earth's atmosphere, | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
controllers then regulate the speed and spacing of the planes | 0:16:23 | 0:16:27 | |
to prevent them ever getting closer than five miles horizontally. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
But they also have a THIRD dimension to work with - | 0:16:32 | 0:16:36 | |
so they can stack the planes one on top of the other, | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
never closer than 1,000 vertical feet apart. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
The safety of a million airborne passengers | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
depends on the precision of this system. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:55 | |
These highways in the sky | 0:16:55 | 0:16:56 | |
are what make the sheer scale of international air travel possible. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:01 | |
But flying so many people around the world | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
comes at a price. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
The largest passenger jets can burn their way through | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
over 50 million litres of fuel every year. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:22 | |
That fuel is the single biggest cost to getting planes in the air - | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
and in the face of climate change, | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
the city in the sky's thirst for the stuff | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
can't be sustained indefinitely. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
But a new generation of aircraft | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
is now promising to reduce | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
aviation's impact on the environment. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
This is Boeing's aircraft assembly plant in Everett, Seattle. | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
It's the largest indoor space in the world, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
with a floor area so vast, | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
you could fit the Houses of Parliament in it 12 times over. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:09 | |
And the most cutting-edge plane they build here | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
is the Boeing 787. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:19 | |
The Dreamliner. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:20 | |
This is a cross-section of the Dreamliner - | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
you get a fantastic sense of scale. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:27 | |
But this particular aircraft | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
it's not about the size, it's all about the weight. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:32 | |
The Dreamliner's built out of a revolutionary material - | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
one that's transforming the way all new planes are being made. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
'It's the biggest change in aviation design | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
'since aluminium replaced wooden planes back in the 1920s.' | 0:18:48 | 0:18:52 | |
-It looks beautiful. -It does, it does looks sensational. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:57 | |
The material is a composite of carbon fibre and plastic. | 0:18:57 | 0:18:59 | |
-Cos everything's been made of aluminium up to this point... -Right. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
-..and suddenly you're moving into a new material. -Right. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
I mean, why do that, what's the point? | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
-I mean, aluminium, we know it works. -Right, right. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
Well, one of the easiest things, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
if you just compare the materials, aluminium versus composite, | 0:19:13 | 0:19:16 | |
you can feel the weight difference between the materials... | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
Oh. Considerably lighter. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
We can design a airplane out of composites, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
and have the structure be lighter | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
than it would if it was made out of aluminium. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
So this composite material, this is a real game changer. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
It is, absolutely. The airplane fundamentally | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
will use 20% less fuel | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
than an existing airplane of the previous generation | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
of the similar size. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
It's estimated that if the entire aviation industry | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
shifts to using composites, | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
it could save over 6,000 million tonnes in CO2 emissions | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
over the next 30 years. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
But this wonder material isn't just light. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
By weaving carbon fibres together and embedding them in plastic, | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
engineers have created a material that doesn't stretch, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
even under enormous pressures. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
And that in turn | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
has a direct impact on the flying experience for us passengers. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:13 | |
And this is what the interior of a finished plane looks like. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:21 | |
Soon as you step on board, you notice the difference. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
It does feel very, very spacious, very, very light. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
You've got this lovely curved high ceiling. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
Design's one thing, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
but there's something else that has a bigger impact on us. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
The unpleasant feeling we loosely refer to as "jet lag". | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
Some of the sensations we associate with it could be due | 0:20:40 | 0:20:44 | |
to not having quite enough oxygen when we're in flight. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
On the other side of that window, at 35,000 feet, the air is so thin, | 0:20:47 | 0:20:52 | |
if you were exposed to it, you would be unconscious in seconds. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
So to stop us dying from a lack of oxygen, | 0:20:57 | 0:21:00 | |
cabins are pumped full of air. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
It's considerably less air than at ground level. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
But there's a very good reason why more air can't just be pumped in. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
It is a little bit like blowing air into a balloon. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
I put air into that and the balloon is under pressure | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
and the skin, stretches as a result, and as soon as I... | 0:21:27 | 0:21:31 | |
let the air out and it's deflated the skin snaps back. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
And although it's not as dramatic as that, in a metal aircraft, | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
exactly the same thing is happening. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
You are going to get a tiny fraction of movement, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
from the increase in pressure to the decrease in pressure, | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
and that in turn will have an effect | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
on the structural integrity of the fuselage. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
So on every single flight, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:55 | |
the aluminium hull of a traditional plane stretches a tiny bit, | 0:21:55 | 0:22:01 | |
pulling against rivets and joints. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
Those constant changes in pressure over an aircraft's lifetime | 0:22:03 | 0:22:07 | |
need to be continuously checked, and made sure they're OK | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
because what you don't want to happen, obviously, is this. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:14 | |
To reduce strain on the fuselage, most planes are pumped up | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
with the minimum amount of air needed to keep us comfortable. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
But aircraft made with the new composite materials don't stretch, | 0:22:27 | 0:22:31 | |
so you can pump in more air without damaging them. | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
Higher air pressure means more oxygen for us to breathe | 0:22:36 | 0:22:40 | |
and Boeing's own studies suggest this helps reduce the side effects | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
of long-haul flights, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
including some of the symptoms we associate with jet lag. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:49 | |
So all that means when you arrive at your destination, | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
you feel a little bit more yourself. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
More and more of us now fly routinely. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
Since 1991, the volume of passengers at British airports | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
has more than doubled. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
But there are still a huge number of potential passengers, | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
who have never flown, for one very good reason... | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
..fear. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:37 | |
Around 15% of the UK population is afraid of flying, | 0:23:37 | 0:23:42 | |
many of them so anxious that it stops them | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
from ever boarding a plane. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
Humans are only really built to be a land-based animal, | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
and so a fear of flying is just a natural reaction | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
to being at such extreme heights, and in some ways | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
the more extraordinary thing is that any of us have managed | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
to train our minds to be comfortable up there at 35,000 feet, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:08 | |
but as we become much more of an airborne species, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
not getting over it really is no longer an option. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
Globally, fear of flying, or aviophobia, | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
deprives the airlines of millions of potential passengers. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
So no surprise they're interested in helping us get over it. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:31 | |
'I've come to the two-day Fearless Flyer course which, | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
'if all goes to plan, will culminate with these phobics taking a flight. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:41 | |
'And to help me understand aviophobia a little better, | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
'I'll be following one of them, | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
'Gordon Smith, over the next two days.' | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
When was the last time you got on a plane? | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
Probably about ten years ago. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
So what is it in particular that worries you when you're in the air? | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
I think it's the lack of control. | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
You know, if something happens, | 0:24:58 | 0:24:59 | |
there's nothing I can do about that. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
Just a feeling of impending doom. You know, just absolute trepidation. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
All my family went on holiday together last year. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
I had to miss out on that, so I thought I'd better | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
do something about it. I haven't even told my wife that I'm here. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
-Oh, really, she doesn't know? -Not a clue that I'm here, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
so that if I don't go through with it, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
you know, she won't be booking a holiday tomorrow night or anything. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:21 | |
So for the session this afternoon, and for the flight tomorrow, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
both Gordon and I, we're going to be wearing these heart-rate monitors. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
Now how quickly your heart beats | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
can be used as a measure of your anxiety levels. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
And the idea is that we're going to try to get to the bottom | 0:25:38 | 0:25:42 | |
of what is causing Gordon's fear of flying. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
Please welcome to the stage, Captain Pete West! | 0:25:44 | 0:25:48 | |
If you're a bit anxious, | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
even the sound of a soft chime... SINGLE CHIME | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
..may be alarming, | 0:25:56 | 0:25:57 | |
or even several... ANOTHER CHIME | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
..in rapid succession. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
To help the phobics overcome their fear, | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
a pilot first explains those mysterious in-flight noises. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:08 | |
I think this next sound sounds rather like | 0:26:08 | 0:26:10 | |
a dog barking underneath the floor. ROUGH SCRAPING | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
Has anybody heard that and thought, | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
"Carrying a dog in the cargo hold?" | 0:26:15 | 0:26:17 | |
or even, "A man with a saw?" | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
Who wants to ask their first question? | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
Who's got the first question here? | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
What safety do you have in place if the wheels fail to drop? | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
What other bad weather can affect flying like wind and rain? | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
What if anything happened to the pilots? | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
In my mind, a Canada goose has just flown into the left engine, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
it's all burst into flames... | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
HEARTBEATS PULSE | 0:26:38 | 0:26:39 | |
Just hearing people talk about flying | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
has almost doubled Gordon's normal heart rate. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
Next the phobics are taught psychological coping techniques | 0:26:45 | 0:26:50 | |
to try to control their fight or flight response... | 0:26:50 | 0:26:53 | |
Breathe in... | 0:26:53 | 0:26:56 | |
and push out. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:57 | |
..which should help them handle tomorrow's exposure therapy - | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
the flight itself. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
The next tapping point, and from here we work down the body, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
it's the top of the head... | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
..underneath the eyes, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:14 | |
wrist on wrist. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
OK, we've got to be tapping whilst tuned into the fear. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:20 | |
But for coach Lawrence Leyton, addressing the cause | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
of each individual's aviophobia is far from straightforward. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
Well, fear of flying is not just a fear of crashing. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
It's actually made up of multiple different aspects | 0:27:31 | 0:27:33 | |
so, for some, the fear of flying is actually the fear of heights. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
For some people, it's the fear of enclosed spaces or claustrophobia. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
And for some, and a lot of them, it's a fear of being out of control. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
The triggers, and there are multiple triggers, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
could be different in every single person. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
Tomorrow morning they'll be flying for real, | 0:27:51 | 0:27:54 | |
and Gordon will find out whether he's learned to control his fear. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:58 | |
10.30am. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
45 minutes until departure | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
and Gordon still hasn't told his wife he's here. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
How are you feeling this morning? | 0:28:15 | 0:28:16 | |
I'm pretty scared. I'm not looking forward to it. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
Just want to get it over and done with. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
Yesterday I felt great afterwards, right up to about ten o'clock | 0:28:21 | 0:28:24 | |
last night and then, you know, the apprehension kicked back in again. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
For one phobic in the group, it's all proving too much. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:32 | |
You imagine those feelings, cos you've got the fear | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
of having the panic attack, it's the fear of the fear. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
Right now, Daniel, what you're doing is you're trying to suppress | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
that panic attack. You're trying to push it down. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
So we're just about to board the flight. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:45 | |
We checked in a few moments ago. | 0:28:45 | 0:28:47 | |
The tension here among these people is really... | 0:28:49 | 0:28:52 | |
Well, it's quite intense, | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
to be honest, I think, looking round their faces, it's very obvious | 0:28:54 | 0:28:58 | |
just how much these people have had to make themselves come here. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:02 | |
Just hope it goes well on the flight. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:04 | |
It's their last chance to back out. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:08 | |
Good morning. How are you? | 0:29:09 | 0:29:11 | |
Er, very nervous. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:12 | |
That's fine. Well, you can sit anywhere after row five, all right? | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
This will be the first time Gordon has flown in ten years | 0:29:15 | 0:29:20 | |
and his heart rate monitor will be running throughout. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:24 | |
At the moment he's too stressed | 0:29:24 | 0:29:27 | |
to even talk to me. | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
Captain West explains what the plane is doing | 0:29:29 | 0:29:32 | |
at every stage of the flight. | 0:29:32 | 0:29:34 | |
CLICK | 0:29:34 | 0:29:35 | |
That click is the change over from the ground power unit to the APU, | 0:29:35 | 0:29:39 | |
the auxiliary power unit - remember the little jet engine in the tail? | 0:29:39 | 0:29:42 | |
-RECORDED MESSAGE: -'Please be aware that your nearest exit | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
'may be behind you. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
'If we land on water, take the life jacket from under your seat. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:50 | |
'Put it over your head.' | 0:29:50 | 0:29:52 | |
So here comes the power coming on now. Speed increasing now. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:56 | |
It's the moment of truth. Takeoff. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
Wings effortlessly lifting us into the air. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
Give yourselves all a massive great cheer. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
Here we are. We're flying. Very well done, everybody. Fantastic! | 0:30:04 | 0:30:08 | |
'We're up. But, for Gordon, it's not over yet. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:13 | |
'His heart rate is already higher than normal... | 0:30:14 | 0:30:17 | |
'..but it's when the plane levels out, | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
'that it seems to suddenly spike. | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
'This moment appears to be the specific trigger point | 0:30:24 | 0:30:29 | |
'for Gordon's fear. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:30 | |
'But, using the relaxation techniques | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
'he was taught yesterday, | 0:30:35 | 0:30:36 | |
'he gets over it in moments.' | 0:30:36 | 0:30:39 | |
Remember to breathe. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
It looked like you completely stopped breathing there! | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
'Gordon then does something he never thought possible. | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
'10,000 feet above the ground, he stands up.' | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
Ah, dude, I'm so pleased for you. | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
'For Gordon, it's as effective a cure | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
'as he could ever have hoped for.' | 0:31:02 | 0:31:05 | |
Now I'm feeling fantastic. I feel absolutely fine. | 0:31:07 | 0:31:09 | |
Already I've stood up and haven't walked far, | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
but I've been up, seatbelt's off and more relaxed. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
When was the last time that you stood up on a plane? | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
25 years ago. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:18 | |
It's just... It is really extraordinary. | 0:31:20 | 0:31:22 | |
It's really extraordinary and I'm so, so pleased for you. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
-CAPTAIN: -'Give yourselves one massive round of applause, | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
'for becoming fearless flyers. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:30 | |
'Well done to everybody.' | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
-That's us down. -You've literally just done a flight. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
You've literally just done a flight. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:37 | |
'Give yourselves another round of applause. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
'You've done it. Well done.' | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
-Well done. Congratulations! -Thank you very much. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:47 | |
-Brilliant. Well done. -Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
Thank you. Bye. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
This is genuinely a life-changing thing for you. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:54 | |
Absolutely. Absolutely. | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
And I'm 48 years old this year, you know, | 0:31:56 | 0:31:59 | |
I've been terrified of flying for the past 20, 25, | 0:31:59 | 0:32:03 | |
haven't flown for ten and just... I'm missing out, | 0:32:03 | 0:32:07 | |
so I need to stop missing out and get back out there. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
PHONE DIALS | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
'Gordon can't wait to give his wife the news.' | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
Connecting. Hi there. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
'Hi. What are you doing?' | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
With my camera crew up in Glasgow Airport. | 0:32:23 | 0:32:25 | |
'Gordon.' | 0:32:25 | 0:32:26 | |
-Say hi. -'I don't want to say hi.' -I've just been in an aeroplane. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:34 | |
You get to go on holiday now. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:39 | |
'I don't know what to say.' | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
Now Gordon can join the other million citizens of the sky | 0:32:42 | 0:32:47 | |
whenever he wants. | 0:32:47 | 0:32:48 | |
It is perhaps surprising that so many of us | 0:33:05 | 0:33:08 | |
are still afraid of flying, at a time when international air travel | 0:33:08 | 0:33:12 | |
has become safer than ever before. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
In fact, only one in every five million flights involves | 0:33:20 | 0:33:24 | |
a fatal accident. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:25 | |
But what happens if a passenger, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
rather than the plane, has an emergency at 35,000 feet? | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
SIREN WAILS | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
Banner University Medical Centre deals with a steady stream | 0:33:45 | 0:33:49 | |
of emergency patients from the city of Phoenix. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
But many of the medical dramas they deal with here | 0:33:54 | 0:33:57 | |
actually take place thousands of miles away. | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
If you're flying on a major airline and you do get sick, | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
the chances are the cabin crew will talk to the medics | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
in this very room to find out what to do | 0:34:06 | 0:34:09 | |
wherever you are in the world. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:11 | |
Thank you for calling Medlink. | 0:34:15 | 0:34:17 | |
Please go ahead with the passenger age, gender... | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
OK, so you'll go ahead and make the medical arrangements for the child? | 0:34:20 | 0:34:23 | |
And how much longer do you have remaining in flight? Over. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:27 | |
Dr Bhow at Medlink - how do you copy? Over. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:31 | |
ER doctor Moneesh Bhow has been on duty since 7am | 0:34:32 | 0:34:36 | |
and he's just responding to his first in-flight emergency... | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
..a call from an aircraft travelling from the Middle East to Bangkok, | 0:34:41 | 0:34:45 | |
it's 8,000 miles away, somewhere over the Indian ocean. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:49 | |
I understand an 82-year-old male with a possible stroke. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
What was the condition that brought him to your attention? Over. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
For Dr Bhow, the pressure's now on to make a quick diagnosis. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:04 | |
OK, copy that, so the passenger was standing, he passed out, | 0:35:04 | 0:35:08 | |
is currently on the floor. Is he able to answer any questions? Over. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:12 | |
OK, is he... is he breathing on his own? | 0:35:12 | 0:35:16 | |
Dr Bhow's depending on the captain | 0:35:16 | 0:35:19 | |
and cabin crew to accurately relay the patient's symptoms. | 0:35:19 | 0:35:23 | |
OK, copy that, so what we need to find out | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
if he's still not responding, but he is breathing, I need to know what | 0:35:27 | 0:35:31 | |
his vital signs are and is there any spontaneous movement to his arms | 0:35:31 | 0:35:36 | |
or legs or is there a part of his body that he's not moving? Over. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
I'm sorry, that last transmission cut out. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
Could you please repeat? Over. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
Captain, are you still on the line? Over. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:47 | |
They've lost communication. | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
Do we know where this flight is right now? | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
Yeah, they're just coming up on the coast of western India. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:59 | |
Western India. They're coming up on the coast, OK. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:02 | |
The situation is not looking good. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:04 | |
-What is it, stroke? -Stroke. | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
From Dubai to Lagos. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:07 | |
I'll check Karachi to see if they have a neuro... | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
-Yeah, neuro and a CAT scanner. -OK. I'll see. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:12 | |
If it does turn out to be a stroke, | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
they'll need to get the patient on the ground as soon as possible. | 0:36:14 | 0:36:19 | |
So we've got options, our probably last good option is Calcutta. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:23 | |
-After that... -If we're going to go down, we're going to land... | 0:36:23 | 0:36:26 | |
We're going to say over here, yes. | 0:36:26 | 0:36:28 | |
First, the team needs to quickly work out from their database | 0:36:29 | 0:36:33 | |
which airports have the right medical facilities close by. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:37 | |
How long is this flight? | 0:36:37 | 0:36:38 | |
They identify several airports within range, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
but only two have the necessary medical facilities | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
to treat a stroke. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
Neither are en route. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:49 | |
Option one is Delhi, 600 miles out of their way. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:54 | |
Option two is behind them, but closer - Muscat. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:59 | |
And they're 400 miles away from there. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
400 miles, we're looking at an hour. | 0:37:02 | 0:37:07 | |
They just check to make sure they have things like imaging, | 0:37:08 | 0:37:12 | |
so something like a CAT scan, and they're just trying to make | 0:37:12 | 0:37:16 | |
that decision now, so it's quite a fine balance between the needs, | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
the medical needs, and also the captain needs to make sure... | 0:37:19 | 0:37:23 | |
We're just getting them back now. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:25 | |
Is the passenger awake now? | 0:37:25 | 0:37:27 | |
Can he speak at all? Is he able to speak normally to his son? Over. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:31 | |
OK, so he started choking and that's what caused him to faint, | 0:37:33 | 0:37:37 | |
is that what I'm understanding? | 0:37:37 | 0:37:39 | |
It seems the passenger collapsed not because of a stroke, | 0:37:39 | 0:37:42 | |
but because he'd choked on food, unnoticed by the cabin crew. | 0:37:42 | 0:37:46 | |
OK, but we would still like an update in 30 minutes | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
as to his condition. Over. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:53 | |
MedAire handles 38,000 emergency calls a year, | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
and because they deal with flights across the globe, | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
those calls can come in at any time of day or night. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:06 | |
An hour later, Dr Bhow checks in with his patient, | 0:38:12 | 0:38:15 | |
and there's been an unexpected development. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
He is now having trouble breathing | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
and the repeat pulse is 240, is that correct? Over. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:24 | |
The passenger had seemed to be recovering. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
Let's continue the oxygen, | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
and let's plan to land at the closes possible option. | 0:38:35 | 0:38:40 | |
Let's plan to divert into Mumbai. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:42 | |
We will have medical personnel meet you on arrival. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
They are turning already, yeah. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
Dr Bhow suspects these symptoms | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
may be due to an underlying heart condition, | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
so he's advising the captain to divert to Mumbai. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
A diversion like this can cost an airline | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
hundreds of thousands of dollars. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
It's a huge decision. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:06 | |
How common is having to make that call to divert an aircraft? | 0:39:07 | 0:39:11 | |
I would say probably in a 24-hour period, | 0:39:11 | 0:39:13 | |
we're probably diverting once or twice. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
Our ultimate priority is to take care of the passenger, | 0:39:16 | 0:39:20 | |
so if we feel that the passenger is in critical need of getting | 0:39:20 | 0:39:24 | |
on the ground, then, you know, cost is a secondary consideration. | 0:39:24 | 0:39:28 | |
But it is probably the most stressful call that we take | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
when we make a decision for a diversion. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
As soon as the flight lands, the patient will be rushed | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
to hospital where local doctors will take over. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:40 | |
As with most of MedAire's cases, Dr Bhow may never find out | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
whether his patient lives or dies. | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
It may be possible to look after sick passengers in the air, | 0:39:52 | 0:39:57 | |
but with 100,000 flights crossing our skies every day, | 0:39:57 | 0:40:01 | |
ensuring the physical wellbeing of the aircraft themselves | 0:40:01 | 0:40:05 | |
is a huge challenge as well... | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
..especially when flying takes us | 0:40:11 | 0:40:14 | |
into some of the most extreme conditions on the planet. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:18 | |
Right now, it's about minus 40 degrees and it's staggeringly cold. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:26 | |
It's actually really difficult to breathe because the bits of moisture | 0:40:26 | 0:40:30 | |
freeze inside your nose and it feels like you're inhaling dust almost. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:35 | |
Any exposed skin too is really prone to frostbite within a few minutes | 0:40:35 | 0:40:39 | |
and if I didn't have my jacket on, I'd get hypothermia pretty quickly. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:43 | |
But the extraordinary thing is that these conditions are what | 0:40:43 | 0:40:47 | |
the average plane is flying through once it gets to cruising altitude. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:51 | |
So, when you're sitting there with your G&T and you're watching | 0:40:51 | 0:40:55 | |
your in-flight movie just a few centimetres from the outside, | 0:40:55 | 0:40:58 | |
remember that the plane and all of its equipment | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
has to function perfectly at these temperatures | 0:41:01 | 0:41:04 | |
for hours and hours on end. | 0:41:04 | 0:41:06 | |
Every day planes enter the most hostile environment imaginable. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:13 | |
Flying higher than Mount Everest, | 0:41:13 | 0:41:16 | |
battered by winds of hundreds of miles an hour, | 0:41:16 | 0:41:19 | |
we just expect them to function perfectly, flight after flight. | 0:41:19 | 0:41:23 | |
But as planes clock up the air miles, there's an extreme hazard | 0:41:24 | 0:41:29 | |
they'll eventually run into... | 0:41:29 | 0:41:31 | |
..lightning... | 0:41:34 | 0:41:36 | |
..by far the most dangerous powerful force of nature | 0:41:37 | 0:41:41 | |
your plane is ever likely to encounter. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:45 | |
Down on the ground, getting struck by lightning is a rare event - | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
not so up in the air. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:52 | |
Every plane gets struck by lightning on average once a year. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:59 | |
That means across a typical jet's lifetime, | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
it will get zapped an astonishing 25 times. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:08 | |
So why aren't passengers regularly electrocuted in flight? | 0:42:17 | 0:42:22 | |
To find out, I've come to Germany. | 0:42:22 | 0:42:24 | |
Lightning is dramatic, it's unpredictable, | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
it's extremely dangerous, a bolt of lightning is hotter than | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
the surface of the sun. You really, really don't want to get hit by it. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:37 | |
Kann losgehen? | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
OK. | 0:42:41 | 0:42:42 | |
Here at Darmstadt University's high voltage lab, | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
they study lightning protection. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
A car gives you much the same protection as a plane. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:56 | |
They're both metal boxes with people inside. | 0:42:56 | 0:42:59 | |
So what happens if whichever metal box you're in | 0:43:00 | 0:43:03 | |
is struck by lightning? | 0:43:03 | 0:43:05 | |
I'm about to find out. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:06 | |
I can feel something. Can I feel static? | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
Oh, God, I can feel something in the air. | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
No, it's just fear, I think. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:14 | |
CLICK | 0:43:14 | 0:43:15 | |
I heard something go click and suddenly I feel really nervous. | 0:43:15 | 0:43:19 | |
Oh, God, I feel... OK. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
Funf, vier, drei, zwei, eins... | 0:43:22 | 0:43:26 | |
I know it's safe, it's safe. It's safe. | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
As long as I don't open the door, cos he told me | 0:43:29 | 0:43:31 | |
not to open the door or touch anything. | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
HUGE BANG! | 0:43:34 | 0:43:35 | |
BLEEP! BLEEP! | 0:43:37 | 0:43:39 | |
Oh, my God. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
Oh, my God. | 0:43:45 | 0:43:46 | |
Schuss. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:49 | |
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. | 0:43:54 | 0:43:58 | |
-Schuss. -BANG | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
He is still alive. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
A single bolt is too quick to see in detail, | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
but the lab can generate a slower electrical pulse to help show | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
what happens when lightning hits a metal box. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:17 | |
And what is happening to this car on the ground | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
is exactly the same as what happens to aircraft in the sky. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:27 | |
The car is acting as what's known as a Faraday cage, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:35 | |
named after the scientist Michael Faraday. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:37 | |
That huge charge hitting the car flows around the outside | 0:44:37 | 0:44:42 | |
of the metal skin of the vehicle to the ground, | 0:44:42 | 0:44:45 | |
rather than coming straight through it, keeping me completely safe. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
It's thanks to the Faraday effect that we're safe | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
when a metal plane gets struck by lightning. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
That's all very well for the passenger planes still made | 0:44:59 | 0:45:03 | |
of metal, but it poses a problem for the new breed of composite aircraft. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:08 | |
Composite doesn't disperse electricity in the same way | 0:45:10 | 0:45:13 | |
that metal does and so without protection, these planes | 0:45:13 | 0:45:17 | |
and their passengers would be in real danger. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:20 | |
I've come to Cardiff | 0:45:22 | 0:45:23 | |
to find out how engineers protect composite aircraft. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:27 | |
'Professor Manu Haddad's job is to make them lightning-proof.' | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
Well, obviously, if there was no lightning-protection design, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
you would have a very disastrous effect due to a lightning strike. | 0:45:37 | 0:45:44 | |
Manu's going to show me what happens to unprotected composite | 0:45:49 | 0:45:52 | |
when it's zapped by an artificial lightning bolt. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:55 | |
OK, ear defenders on, please. | 0:45:57 | 0:45:59 | |
So when you're ready, press the green button. You want a countdown? | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
-Yeah. -Three, two, one. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
BANG! | 0:46:06 | 0:46:07 | |
Oh, can even hear it through the ear defenders. Quite loud. | 0:46:08 | 0:46:12 | |
With the ultra high-speed camera, | 0:46:16 | 0:46:19 | |
strips of carbon fibre can be seen being blasted off the surface. | 0:46:19 | 0:46:24 | |
Manu, it smells... it almost smells like burnt hair. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
Oh, gosh, look at that, that's incredible. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
The fibres are sticking up out of the surface. | 0:46:32 | 0:46:36 | |
Yes, because, in aluminium, | 0:46:36 | 0:46:38 | |
the current is able to spread itself in all directions. | 0:46:38 | 0:46:43 | |
Here the current is only flowing along the direction of the fibre. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
It has generated a lot of heat and big forces. | 0:46:47 | 0:46:51 | |
This is really quite damaged... | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
the structural integrity of this board, though. | 0:46:53 | 0:46:56 | |
You definitely would not want this to happen to your aircraft. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:59 | |
Avoiding this kind of damage was a real challenge | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
for the new generation of composite planes. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:06 | |
After decades with no large jets lost to lightning strikes, | 0:47:08 | 0:47:13 | |
nobody wanted to see this threat re-emerge. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:16 | |
Fortunately, we have a very good solution | 0:47:17 | 0:47:19 | |
and this is using a copper mesh, a very thin copper mesh, | 0:47:19 | 0:47:23 | |
which will allow us to distribute the lightning current | 0:47:23 | 0:47:27 | |
uniformly on the surface and avoid the damage that you see here. | 0:47:27 | 0:47:31 | |
'That delicate layer of copper webbing should be enough | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
'to protect a composite plane.' | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
And this is the protected side, which has the mesh. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:43 | |
BANG! | 0:47:47 | 0:47:48 | |
Well, there's definitely a lot less of a smell this time, Manu. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
-Oh, wow! -Yes, because, er, you can see the result there. | 0:47:53 | 0:47:57 | |
You see how the protection works. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
It actually conducted all the current safely away. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:02 | |
That is very impressive, though. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
I mean, there's almost no significant damage whatsoever. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:07 | |
It's a very clear demonstration | 0:48:07 | 0:48:09 | |
that the lightning protection works very effectively. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:14 | |
BANG! | 0:48:14 | 0:48:15 | |
Despite everything the skies throw at us, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
flying in complete safety has become the norm... | 0:48:26 | 0:48:28 | |
..and that reliability has allowed aviation | 0:48:31 | 0:48:33 | |
to transform another aspect of our lives. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:36 | |
As well as moving three billion passengers, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
over six trillion dollars' worth of cargo | 0:48:40 | 0:48:43 | |
jets its way around the globe every year. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:45 | |
Just about anything that can fit on a plane | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
is today sent as air freight. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
We send a bewildering array of stuff all around the world by air | 0:48:55 | 0:48:59 | |
these days and obviously the bigger the thing that you want to send, | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
the more expensive it becomes, the more problematic it becomes, | 0:49:02 | 0:49:06 | |
especially if that thing is fragile and an awkward shape, I don't know, | 0:49:06 | 0:49:10 | |
something like a horse, for example. | 0:49:10 | 0:49:12 | |
Now this is my new friend Chardonnay, who is off for an event. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:16 | |
Now, that event just happens to be 6,000 miles away | 0:49:16 | 0:49:21 | |
in Hong Kong on the other side of the world. | 0:49:21 | 0:49:23 | |
Chardonnay and the team are destined | 0:49:26 | 0:49:29 | |
for the prestigious Longines Masters show-jumping event. | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
And they're due in Hong Kong by 5pm tomorrow. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:36 | |
First job for equine vet Gordon Sidlow is to make sure | 0:49:39 | 0:49:42 | |
all the horses are disease-free before they board their flight. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:46 | |
Who's next, Dave? | 0:49:49 | 0:49:50 | |
'And the temperature check is particularly invasive.' | 0:49:50 | 0:49:54 | |
-Are we dealing with the rear end here? -Yeah. | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
-The back end? -We are. -OK. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:00 | |
-Bring his tail up like that... -Yeah. | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
-..pop it in... -Yeah. -..and press the button. -OK. -OK? | 0:50:03 | 0:50:09 | |
He seems pretty relaxed about the whole procedure. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:13 | |
There you go. | 0:50:13 | 0:50:14 | |
'Thankfully we don't have that at check-in yet.' | 0:50:14 | 0:50:16 | |
The loading team have just seven hours to get all 64 horses | 0:50:19 | 0:50:23 | |
health checked and boarded onto their own specially chartered plane. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:27 | |
'Easier said than done.' | 0:50:29 | 0:50:30 | |
-HORSE WHINNIES -Come here! | 0:50:30 | 0:50:32 | |
In twos and threes, they're loaded into specially-designed | 0:50:35 | 0:50:38 | |
aviation horseboxes, the same size as a standard cargo container. | 0:50:38 | 0:50:42 | |
But the seating plan needs special attention. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:49 | |
There are a few rules. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:50 | |
-All the horses have to travel facing forwards. -Right. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
We generally try...or they generally try and put the stallions | 0:50:53 | 0:50:56 | |
at the front because you don't want stallions behind mares. | 0:50:56 | 0:50:59 | |
Is that actually a problem | 0:50:59 | 0:51:01 | |
with horses getting a little bit frisky on board? | 0:51:01 | 0:51:03 | |
They can be, certainly if the mare is thinking about coming in season. | 0:51:03 | 0:51:07 | |
Stallions are designed to react to that and they will react to that | 0:51:07 | 0:51:10 | |
and there's a few tricks for... | 0:51:10 | 0:51:11 | |
little bit of grease up the nose and what have you | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
to make the stallions less likely to sniff the mares. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:17 | |
-No in-flight movie? -Absolutely not. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:19 | |
I've just got visions of them watching Black Beauty for nine hours | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
-on a loop. -On a loop, yes. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:24 | |
In total, they'll have around 32 tonnes' worth of horses | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
on the flight. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:31 | |
So it's vital the cargo handlers load up the boxes evenly | 0:51:35 | 0:51:38 | |
throughout the plane to make sure it isn't unbalanced. | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
There you go, here's a little pre-flight snack. | 0:51:43 | 0:51:46 | |
If they upgrade you, | 0:51:46 | 0:51:47 | |
they might give you a carrot or an apple or something. | 0:51:47 | 0:51:50 | |
So I'm actually going to have to say cheerio to Chardonnay for now | 0:51:51 | 0:51:54 | |
because to make their flight as stress-free as possible, | 0:51:54 | 0:51:57 | |
only the grooms and the vets and the owners are actually allowed | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
on the flight, so I'm going to take a different flight | 0:52:00 | 0:52:05 | |
and I'm going to meet them on the other side of the world | 0:52:05 | 0:52:08 | |
in Hong Kong tomorrow. | 0:52:08 | 0:52:10 | |
By the time they've finished loading, | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
I'm already well on my way to Hong Kong. | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
Five hours after mine, their flight leaves Liege, | 0:52:15 | 0:52:19 | |
setting off on its 6,000-mile journey through the night. | 0:52:19 | 0:52:23 | |
Its destination? | 0:52:29 | 0:52:30 | |
The city known as the gateway to China | 0:52:32 | 0:52:35 | |
and its 1.4 billion citizens. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:38 | |
Hong Kong imports and exports more cargo | 0:52:42 | 0:52:45 | |
than any other airport in the world. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:47 | |
To keep this vast flow of goods moving through the skies, | 0:52:50 | 0:52:53 | |
Hong Kong's built the biggest cargo hub on the planet. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:57 | |
It's here that the horses will be arriving from Belgium | 0:53:00 | 0:53:03 | |
in just a few hours' time. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:05 | |
Cargo super terminal one is at the epicentre. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
It's a hangar the size of Wembley Stadium... | 0:53:12 | 0:53:15 | |
..handling up to three and a half million tonnes of cargo a year | 0:53:17 | 0:53:21 | |
from every corner of the world. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:23 | |
Most air freight that arrives here is sorted | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
and stored in a vast automated filing system | 0:53:31 | 0:53:35 | |
until it's ready to be spat out again and sent on its way. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:38 | |
If you just think about that tiny little movement that you make | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
with your index finger | 0:53:44 | 0:53:45 | |
when you click on the buy button on your phone or your computer, | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
whatever it is, far from it just having ramifications | 0:53:48 | 0:53:52 | |
in a virtual world, | 0:53:52 | 0:53:53 | |
it actually sets in motion huge cargo centres just like this. | 0:53:53 | 0:53:58 | |
'But not all cargo goes into storage.' | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
-25. -25, OK, got it. | 0:54:07 | 0:54:09 | |
'Some goods have to reach their destination without delay. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:14 | |
'Everything arriving in the perishables area must get | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
'to the clients within an hour and a half of landing.' | 0:54:18 | 0:54:22 | |
-Can we open and have a look and see what we've got here? -Yes. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:25 | |
Right, what do we have in here? | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
Oh, my God, look at these beautiful crab. | 0:54:33 | 0:54:36 | |
Wow, look at that. Whereabouts have these come from? | 0:54:36 | 0:54:39 | |
Korea. | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
OK, one, two, three. | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
Snails from Taipei. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:46 | |
Taipei. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:47 | |
I absolutely love this place. | 0:54:50 | 0:54:52 | |
It's complete mayhem cos the whole thing about it | 0:54:52 | 0:54:54 | |
is about speed so there's no waiting about - | 0:54:54 | 0:54:56 | |
things just come in and they go out straightaway again. | 0:54:56 | 0:55:00 | |
It's all about getting these expensive delicacies | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
from here to the restaurants in double quick time. | 0:55:02 | 0:55:06 | |
-These have come all the way from Colombia. -Colombia. | 0:55:11 | 0:55:15 | |
I'm just trying to work out what they are, actually. | 0:55:15 | 0:55:17 | |
I can tell you that they are exotic, and that they come from Colombia. | 0:55:17 | 0:55:21 | |
-I like it. -You like to eat it? Nice. What does it taste like? | 0:55:21 | 0:55:25 | |
-Sweet. -Very sweet. -Very sweet. Very sweet. | 0:55:25 | 0:55:28 | |
Air cargo has completely transformed our lives | 0:55:28 | 0:55:32 | |
in the most extraordinarily short amount of time. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:35 | |
We just expect exotic fruit like this | 0:55:35 | 0:55:38 | |
to be on our supermarket shelves, | 0:55:38 | 0:55:40 | |
irrespective of the season, irrespective of where we live. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:44 | |
And it's because of aircraft, the fact that this can travel | 0:55:44 | 0:55:47 | |
all the way round the world and get to you fresh before it rots. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:51 | |
But there's another category of cargo they deal with here. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
Just landed right on schedule, | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
the 64 show-jumping horses from Belgium. | 0:56:02 | 0:56:05 | |
They've been in the air for 16 hours, | 0:56:05 | 0:56:07 | |
and travelled 6,000 miles. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
And with only two days to go before the event, | 0:56:10 | 0:56:13 | |
it's crucial the horses now reach their stables as quickly as possible | 0:56:13 | 0:56:17 | |
for some much needed rest. | 0:56:17 | 0:56:18 | |
'Vet Gordon Sidlow made the journey along with them | 0:56:23 | 0:56:26 | |
'and has to make sure they're match fit.' | 0:56:26 | 0:56:29 | |
Horses do get jet-lagged, some more so than others, | 0:56:29 | 0:56:31 | |
but it's relatively poorly understood | 0:56:31 | 0:56:34 | |
because it's more difficult | 0:56:34 | 0:56:35 | |
to tell if a horse is jet-lagged or just simply tired. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:38 | |
Within two hours flat, every horse has been whisked away. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:42 | |
'The next morning and 6,000 miles since we last met, | 0:56:58 | 0:57:02 | |
'I've come to see how Chardonnay's flight went.' | 0:57:02 | 0:57:05 | |
Oh, hi. | 0:57:05 | 0:57:07 | |
Hi. | 0:57:07 | 0:57:09 | |
Look at you. Look at you, hey. | 0:57:09 | 0:57:12 | |
The annoying thing is Chardonnay looks a lot fresher | 0:57:13 | 0:57:17 | |
and in a lot better shape after his long-haul flight than I do. | 0:57:17 | 0:57:20 | |
There we go, look. Look at that. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:23 | |
Keeping a million passengers constantly in the air | 0:57:26 | 0:57:30 | |
alongside a parallel world of flying cargo is an astonishing feat | 0:57:30 | 0:57:34 | |
which the vast majority of us take completely for granted. | 0:57:34 | 0:57:37 | |
And it's only possible | 0:57:39 | 0:57:41 | |
because modern aviation is a truly global system, | 0:57:41 | 0:57:44 | |
linking the world as never before. | 0:57:44 | 0:57:47 | |
But what goes up must eventually come down. | 0:57:50 | 0:57:53 | |
Next time, we prepare for the final | 0:57:56 | 0:57:58 | |
and most challenging part of any flight... | 0:57:58 | 0:58:00 | |
..touchdown. | 0:58:02 | 0:58:04 | |
From landing at one of the most dangerous airports in the world... | 0:58:04 | 0:58:07 | |
That is crazy. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:09 | |
-ELECTRONIC VOICE: -'Pull up. Avoid terrain. | 0:58:09 | 0:58:12 | |
..to keeping the busiest runways open... | 0:58:12 | 0:58:15 | |
It could have a catastrophic effect. | 0:58:15 | 0:58:17 | |
It's hundreds of lives that are at stake. | 0:58:17 | 0:58:19 | |
..to witnessing a plane's final moments. | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
Oh! It's like watching an animal being torn apart by another animal. | 0:58:22 | 0:58:28 | |
If you'd like to find out more about the design | 0:58:28 | 0:58:30 | |
and engineering of this most incredible City In The Sky, then | 0:58:30 | 0:58:34 | |
go to the website below and follow the links to the Open University. | 0:58:34 | 0:58:37 |