Episode 1 Airport Live

live from the Air Traffic Control tower right in the heart of Heathrow

Airport. We are going to be giving you unprecedented access to behind

the scenes operations that make Heathrow one of the most important

trt hubs in the -- transport hubs in the world. You will never have seen

this stuff before. So doors to been expecting Dan Snow to be here.

Well due to family reasons, Dan can't host the show. So it is down

to me to be your guide to this astonishing airport. The biggest and

busiest in the country. One of the most important in the world. Now,

first let me tell you where I am. We have a camera at the fire station

and if we cut to them. You can see I'm about 60 metres up on the Air

Traffic Control tower, with the most a I stoppishing view over the whole

of Heathrow Airport's site. It is such a vast area, almost five square

miles. Holding five different terminals, terminal Two is not in

operation at the moment. But it sees a staggering number of people coming

through here every day and every year. 70 million passengers. And to

look after those 70 million passengers and get them off the

ground and into the air takes 76,000 people. So I am up here on the

tower, looking out over this extraordinary view. Really feeling

very much above it all. But Anita is right in the thick of it down there

in Terminal 3. Terminal 3, peer 6 to be precise. While we are normally

kicking back in the departure lounge, this is where it is

happening. Behind me is a departure gate, it is twice the size of a

normal gate. It is designed to cope with that beast, the Airbus A380. It

can take 753 passengers and it has just come in and is being

off-loaded. Over there, you have an empty stand. That is waiting for a

Qantas flight that will depart at 9. 30. It should be getting toed

somewhere over there and I think Dan is on board. I'm having a go.

Welcome to the cockpit of the A380. It was taken to a stand where it has

been sitting all day and it is about to make its journey for its flight

tonight. We are heading to the gate now. We are not actually moving

under our own steam, we are being toed by -- towed by a tug. Because

it is such a huge aircraft, you can't see what is going on. Like the

cameras you have in your car, that is the tug that is showing it is

attached to the landing gear. You have sat-nav so you know where to

go. They haven't left me up here on my own. I'm with John Campbell, who

is a brake rider. We will find out more about him in a moment. Now,

back to you Kate, in the tower. is amazing that I'm watching his

progress going past me. We will be joining him later. But Heathrow is

the busiest airport in the country and one of the busiest in the world.

It goes on 24 hours a day. Over the next four nights we will be

introducing you the people who keep this ever-shifting picture on the

move. First let's introduce you to the star of the programme -

Heathrow! Heathrow is a familiar landmark. A place we think we know.

70 million of us travel through here each year. Jetting off to 184

destinations. In 80 different countries. Contact ground. Hold

November 2. Love it or hate it, as a passengers you only see a fraction

of what makes Heathrow tick. Behind the scenes the airport's 76,000

workers are at the sharp end of a relentless global relay race. The

turn around managers make sure you and your bags make the flight.

have to get passengers on board, cargo on. It doesn't always go to

plan. That passenger has failed to show. His bags have been removed.

Missing passengers, missing bags and even the weather can threaten to

throw a spanner in the works. The four terminals are small cities in

themselves. Heathrow has its own firefighters. Weather forecasters.

And even painters. Engineers work around-the-clock. This aircraft has

just arrived from America. We are going to give it a check. Because

planes on the ground aren't earning any money. Clear for take off.

Sitting calmly above this organisational jigsaw are the Air

Traffic Controllers. Moving 200,000 of us on our way every day. It is

challenging, because it is so complex. There is very little time

to think. They orchestrate takeoffs and landings and manage the traffic

on the ground. I'm surrounded by computers. But the core

decision-making is still done by the human. With the plane landing or

take gt off every -- or taking off every 45 seconds, this is the

never-ending daily dance that goes on day after day. If you thought

Strictly Come Dancing was complicated, you should be standing

on this balcony. Just looking at the extraordinary dance as we have said

is going on. Dave Marshall we met in the film. You are an Air Traffic

Controller, my new hue row -- hero and you train Air Traffic

Controllers for NATS? Yes.Is it right that you and all your

colleagues above up control every single movement of every plane that

we are witnessing here? Yes, it is complex and the complexity is on the

ground more than in the air. We have a group of guys up stairs who are

like a big jigsaw. This plane that is really making a noise, that will

be your guys, saying go along, hang a right, turn left. Yes they will

give it instrubss -- instructions so we get it safely to its stand on the

runway. We will find out more about Air Traffic Control and we have been

fifen -- given incredible access, the first time ever, into the visual

Croall room. That is -- visual control room. But how is Dallas

getting on? I hope he hasn't crashed. I had never even heard of a

brake rider. What do they do? many people don't know about us. We

work as part of a three-man team. We have two down stairs and I'm the

brake rider on the aircraft. It is my job to insbebgt and -- inspect

the aircraft before the tow. And most importantly, I have got my feet

here on the brake pedals. Now, I hopefully don't have to use those.

But if the tow bar that we are using were to break, I have to apply these

brakes to bring the aircraft to a stop. Is it likely that the tow bar

will break? What is the crucial moment where it could break?

most critical times are when we are making a tight turn. This is our

stand and we are going to be turning here. This, we should be able to

feel it. Has it ever broken with you in charge? Are you responsible for a

tow bar destruction? On two occasions I have had one break. Not

on an A380. But two occasions and it is scary. To give you an idea of why

you don't want to see an A380 loose. We have got, this is the gear weight

and what we are talking about 315,000 kilograms. Imagine that

loose. That would do some serious damage? Yes it would.We are coming

into the gate now. How does the tug driver know where to stop? In front

of us we have a safe dock system. This what is all the pilots use. It

is telling us where we need to be in relation to the centre of the stand

and when to stop. You're brilliant, thank you for getting us here safe.

That all went smoothly, they're now parked up. Once an air plane is

parked, do you relinquish control? Once it is safely on the stand it is

under the jurisdiction of the airline. What is interesting, you

have got these planes that are able to move by itself, so why have a

tow? Adding to to complexity on the ground, we have 200 towing movements

a day. We tow them, because you need a pilot to drive the plane and you

would lose a lot of fuel and we are concerned about noise pollution. So

the safest thing is to tow them. would like to find out more about

what you guys do. And Air Traffic Control I think it is fair to say is

a complicated matter. Let's give you metres tall. High enough to see the

end of both run ways. At the top is the visual control room. This is the

visual control room. It is a glass cab on top of a pole and it has been

likened to the world's biggest patio heater. Running an airport requires

skill and focus. The demands are such that controllers here by law

are not allowed to work more than 90 minutes at a time. They're

considered to be the best in the world. Air Traffic Control is split

into key sections. Today Stef is on arrivals, Davies on departures and

Ade on ground control. Just turn right around the corner. Controllers

give pilots permission to push back and start their engines. Then they

direct them safely to the runway. Push 533. Push, I'll call you back.

With up to 1500 ground movements a day, and with planes not designed to

reverse, a ground controller can't afford to make any mistakes. We're

absolutely surrounded by compute computers and IT to help us, to

assist us to do our jobs. But the core decision making is still done

by the human, because every single situation is different and you've

got to be able to look at the whole picture and make decisions based on

all those things. With 18 miles of taxiways, Ade can't look after all

the ground traffic on his own. position is looking after Terminal

5. That entire area is being controlled by these two guys.

team of ground controllers shepherd the planes to holding points just

short of the runway. They then hand them over to Davies, who is on

departures today. Davies will clear planes to take off as efficiently as

possible. To do that he needs to organise them. It's about maximising

that runway usage during the times that we're allowed to operate moving

aircraft as safely, but as exe dishsly as we can. Departures isn't

about first come, first served. Gaps have to be left between take-offs to

allow air turbulence to clear behind the departing plane. Smaller

aircraft must leave a bigger gap behind larger aircraft. So Davies

organising planes by size, weight and departure route to allow them to

take off much closer together. all about looking at the traffic you

have already and trying to anticipate the traffic that might be

coming your way. As a passenger it might feel like other planes are

queue jumping, but in fact, the controller is actually trying to

minimise delays. On a good day, Davies can get planes off the ground

just Just A Minute apart. Sitting behind the departures

controller, Stef is on arrivals. It's her job to safely manage the

steady stream of planes coming in to land. Planes begin their final

approach into Heathrow about 12 approach into Heathrow about 12

miles out. They are guided in by the instrument landing system or ILS.

This is a collection of radio signals beamed out from the airport,

a bit like a highly sophisticated sat nav for the runway. It means

planes can land in any kind of visibility. We obviously can't talk

to Stef while she's on duty, but Davies, now on a break, explains --

Dave, now on a break, explains how it works. The arrivals controller is

trying to maximise the use of the runway. If you're busy in arrivals,

it's challenging. If you've got less than three miles space in between

each aircraft, which we do here at Heathrow, then it can gets a bit

tight. You do give safe, but late landing clearances. The aircraft is

rolling out on the runway now. The next aircraft is at one mile. It

tails off the runway. She issues the landing clearance. If it's too tight

or too fast, she will coordinate with the radar control to slow it

down. But if you slow that one down, have you to slow the next one and

the next one down. This the conveyor belt of aeroplanes that we get daily

at Heathrow, every hour of every day. Finally, Stef hands the plane

back to the ground controller, who will guide it safely to its stand.

The new stand for you is 551. end of a day, Heathrow air traffic

control will have safe live handled nearly 1400 take-offs and landings.

No-one else in the world squeezes as many aircraft through two strips of

Tarmac. When you meet people for the first time and say, I'm an air

traffic controller, the first thing they say is" I bet that's really

stressful." In fact, because of the level of training that you get, it

means that you're so able to deal with the pressures and challenges

that this airport presents. There is very little stress. After someone

takes over and you unplug and you walk down stairs with a sense of

satisfaction because actually you've just moved 9,000 or 10,000 people

because we are the first ever live camera team to be allowed up here.

This is VCR, the visual control room. This is Dave's domain, this is

like your palace. Yes.A operational area. That means if you tell us to

get out, we can't argue. This is safety critical. If I say go, we go.

We'll do that. What would be great would be to have a look around, if

we can. Yeah.How high up are we here? We're 86 metres up in the

tower now. It gives us a great view. It does. Not so great on a cloudy

day. Presumably air traffic controllers can't have vertigo.

we're not allowed. Let's meet the team. If you could pan down to that

table, there were donuts on that earlier. They were, the boss has

eaten them all. They're gone. But just introduce us to some of your

team. Yes, today our supervisor is here. He's overseeing the operation,

the flow rates inbound and outbound, looking after staff, ensuring they

don't sit in the seat too long because we have regulated hours.

Presumably this is a very high pressure job. So how long can

somebody of on a shift? We do eight-hour shifts. We would only

ever control for a maximum of 90 minutes in one control position,

then we must legally have a 30 minute break. The guys standing

here, what are they doing? We have got Graham and Gavin. Graham is the

ground controller. He's looking after a certain bit. We divide the

ground area into bits because, to make it more manageable. Graham is

responsible for the north and east section of the airfield at the

moment. Gavin, his trusty assistant, is his second eyes and ears. , the

plane that we saw Dallas on would be controlled by one of your ground

controllers, they would give the instructions to that plane?

Certainly, yes. All the people down here are ground controllers?

this chap is Matt. He's doing ground movement planner at the moment.

That's regulating the amount of traffic that's going out to the

holding point. If he starts too much, we're burning unnecessary fuel

which costs the airline and CO 2 emissions. He's regulating the

amount of traffic that's out there. You are sitting as a passenger in

your plane at stand going, why aren't we leaving? It's because he's

saying, if you do, you're just going to be sitting in a queue burning

fuel and not doing the environment any good. We are really aware of the

environmental issues these days. We're working to minimise the amount

of CO 2 emissions and the cost to the airlines. We have two familiar

faces. We saw them in the film. Sitting up above everybody else

here. What makes these two so special? We like to call this our

nut club podium. We elevate these guys so they can see over the top of

everyone else and onto the runway. Ade is looking out to the north

doing arrivals. And he has the lovely Stef looking at the southern

runway doing departures. She's shuffling the departures to make

sure she gets the maximum use out of the runway. People paid to do one

particular job? Ade was doing ground control in the film. When you're

training up here, you train in every position, so the one license

qualifies you for all these positions. Be finding out a lot more

about air traffic control throughout the series. But now let's go back to

Anita on the ground. Yes the magnificent A380. It's still

being loaded up behind me. Heathrow has had to adapt to these huge

passenger planes. It's one of the first airports in the world to have

done. So that's because they need extra long runways for departure and

take-off. They need departure gates twice the size as normal gates.

Heathrow is constantly evolving. Cow describe it as a perm nents -- you

could describe it as a permanent building site. But it's a far cry,

all these MoD everyone -- modern terminals, it's a far cry from where

it all began. Ti, was April 1944 that history came

to these country fields. An airport was required to finish off the

Japanese. The landscape was changed and the past obliterated. The

airport started life as a private aerodrome to the west of London.

Requisitioned for a war before construction was even -- that was

over before construction was even complete. The planning ect

transformed into the capital's newest civil airport. It took its

name from the village it replaced, Heathrow. These wartime foundations

are still the basis of the airport today. You just have to know where

to look. A hotel now stands on the site of the original check-in. Keith

worked here when the airport opened in 1946. This would have been the

north side parking area, the Tarmac area where the aircraft were parked.

'46 initially we only had a very primitive accommodation. They were

very basic. Service tents, duck boards everywhere. It was so wet and

muddy everywhere. It was extremely basic, but there was... That had a

WH Smith in it. Indeed. Quite nice upholstery on the chairs, plenty of

decorations. They did their best in the circumstances. But it was very,

very difficult indeed. First day of the new year, this flight starts off

from Heathrow, which will be the future civil airport of London.

only had converted Lancasters, because the country was lobing at

the time of course. -- broke at the time of course. At midday on that

cold morning off he went to bans ires. -- Bu -- Buenos Aries. Did you

think it would be so big? No, we thought it would grow pretty fast,

but nothing on the scale of these days, we had no idea at all.

modern airport still lives in the footprint of the old one. Tents have

been replaced with terminals. Lancastrians with a myriad of shiny

newspaper aircraft. But this one very important piece of

infrastructure that remains, something no airport could ever be

without. Taking to me see it is Simon. He's worked in airfield

operations for over 20 years. It's a riskive place for

sightseeing. We're going to cross now one of the original runways, in

fact the first runway. Heathrow's northern runway dates back to the

very first days as a military airfield, a piece of history used

all day every day. Holding short north of Alpha seven, permission to

cross runway 27 right. Leader eight plus one crossing 27 right now.

Here we go, original concrete in front of us underneath. Vacating

original concrete, modern runway, landing aircraft there. Presumably

that was one runway. In the war time they used to have triangles so

planes could take off in three directions. Correct. That's the base

of the triangle. The next two legs pointed out towards the south.

demand for air travel grew, so did Heathrow. But the 1950s, three

runways had been turned into six, a distinctive star Star of David

layout. The prevailing westerly wind ments only two of these saw regular

use, the two that remain today. Are the other runways been eating

up? Swallowed up with the development and constant building

that Heathrow has had over the past 50 years. 63,000 people used the

airport in the first year. Ten years later, numbers had soared to a

later, numbers had soared to a later, numbers had soared to a

million. Britain's giant air terminal at London Airport is

rapidly being developed into the finest in the world. Heathrow came

to epitomise the glamour of air travel, enjoyed by a privileged few.

The airport felt like it was part of a bright new future. For those who

aspired to join the jet set, it aspired to join the jet set, it

aspired to join the jet set, it aspired to join the jet set, it

became ape destination in itself. From the age of ten myself and my

friends would cycle into the terminal area and go on to the

viewing deck. And they laid it on. You could eat and have all sorts of

activities? Yes the roof guardens had a -- gardens had a small

playground a paddling pool, there were shops. The Queens building has

a cinema and a theatre. The idea was to come for recreation. There is a

famous shot of the Beatles arriving back from America and the roof

gardens at the time being mobbed with thousands of people that

arrived just to see the show unfolding. Cheaper tickets opened

air travel to the masses and Heathrow evolved to keep pace with

more aircraft and more buildings. But the foundations remain the same.

In terms of infrastructure, the buildings have needed to make room

for bigger, better and improved facilities. They were not designed

for the amount of passengers, or the operation. Yet, those early

decisions that were made by the plan verse defined character of the

airport? Yes, it is still reassuring that that base foundation of a

runway is still there, a plane was cleared to take off in 46, planes

are still being cleared to take off on that same runway. It provided a

framework for the rest of the infrastructure. It is incredible how

far we have come in 67 years, from a tent to this. And to give you a

sense of where we are now, we are in the apex of that triangle you saw.

As you know, this huge Airbus will be taking off at 5 past 10. They are

loading the luggage and this is the man who does the engineering checks.

We will start off the walk around check from the nose. We will work

back down under the wing, to the tail. You do it visually?Yes.

you doing it, you walk around. You start at the front. We are looking

at the probes here. So we have probes measuring air temperature and

airspeed and that is sent up to the flight deck. That is sent to the

crew and the Air Traffic Control tower. What happens if there is

something that doesn't look right. If there is any damage, we will

evaluate that and repair it as necessary. So let's have a look at

these things, the wheels, what happens if you see a fault? It is

just like a car tyre, they can wear. So we will change that, that is

considered routine work. You change it while it is here? Yes.How big is

the jack? About 160 tonnes. It is hydraulically activated. Are these

the light Wes see? Yes -- the lights we see. Yes. I'm very excited to be

walking under this huge plane. Back here it is noisy. You have got this,

what I am intrigued by this. What is that? That is the drain mast. So we

eject the water out of the aircraft into the atmosphere at altitude. Why

is it hot? Because we don't want the water to freeze, it is minus 56

degrees. It is no toilet water?No it is sink water. It is coffee. I

never knew water was ejected from a plane. This is the business end.

Here where the engines are. What is happening? We service the engine

with oil. That is routine. We do a visual inspection, but we pay

attention to the fan blades, and the condition of the cowlings and skin.

How is it looking? It is looking perfect. Then the pilots will have a

check? Yes, they will do what they have done. So it is checked twice.

You have one hour and 34 minutes before it has to set off and you

have some more work to do. I will leave you to it. Kate, back to you.

Thank you. I am gazing over the balcony and I have a confession to

make, that is that I never like coming to airports. I just find them

a bit of a chore. But actually standing here and seeing it all

unfold in front of my eyes is amazing. We have the sky full of

planes coming in. A beautiful evening and just over there we have

the queue of planes taking off to who knows what corners of the world.

If I can ask the camera to look around. There is a big plane there

with a fat nose. That is a 747. That can weigh 363 tonnes. The A380 that

Anita was walk under, that can be 556 tonnes. How do they get off the

ground and stay in the sky? Well, it is a question that is difficult to

explain. But Dallas will give it a go. Look at that. It is amazing

being this close to the action. You get a sense of scale and a feeling

of that raw power. It doesn't matter how many times you see it, there is

something just counter intuitive about something that enormous

getting off the ground. The basics of how a plane takes off are simple.

It relies on four forces. First is the weight of the plane. Then there

is the thrust from the engines. Acting against this is drag,

friction from the air. And then there is lift. Which acts against

the weight and makes the plane take off. Really understanding how that

gets off the ground lice in understanding the force lift. In

work out what is happening to the air around the wing that allows such

huge aircraft to defy gravity. Lift is a force that pilots like Dave

rely on. Do you need to know how a plane flies? You need to have a good

understanding. You don't need to have the formula on the back of your

mind. But you do need to understand the principles of lift and of

handling a big jet. The weight will determine how much lift you need to

get off the ground. That is the stem working out what speed you need. You

need to get to the right speed where you're generating a enough lift so

you can rotate and unstick from the runway. You don't think about lift

as unsticking. I guess that is what it is? Yes as you overcome the force

of gravity you are unsticking. pilots, unsticking comes from speed

and what they call rotation, the moment the plane's nose rises. But

to find out more, I need to get closer to the wings than I can do

here. This is the wind tunnel at Kingston University. I have come to

meet an engineer. Inside the tunnel, there is a model wing that has been

modified so we can see the effects of the air around it. We have an air

foil and there are holes connected to tubes, connected to the top.

tubes measure air pressure and work lieshg straws, if -- like straws, if

the pressure drops, the liquid is sucked up. Wen you suck, you're

creating low pressure. The stream rises and pressure and it goes down.

The machine shows the difference in air pressure above and below the

wing. Turn the tunnel on.Air starts to move through tunnel, just as if

the plane was accelerating. And as the airspeeds up, the pressure

around the wing begins to change. This is the leading edge on the

upper surface. This area is low pressure. So that would be the top

of the wing and this would be the under side, higher pressure. So the

plane is being sucked up. Almost as if you were sucking through a straw.

It is pushed from beneath, but the low pressure keeps the plane up.

we increase the speed, the difference in pressure gets greater.

To make the most of this, planes face into the wind when take off to

maximise the airspeed over the wing surface. You see it moving it up. If

you get to a high enough speed, the aircraft would leave the ground once

the lift generated equalled the weight of the aircraft. At Heathrow

Airport, if you did want to do that, you would be in Edinburgh by the

time you took off? Yes.What we have to do is change the angle of the

airflow, that is another way to increase the lift. The angle of

attack is created by what pilots refer to as rotation, the point at

which the plane tilts up. It is the angle between the wing and the air

coming towards it. When we are passengers and feel that moment

where we are leaning back, is that when the angle of attack changes?

Yes what that does is increases the angle of attack of the wings and

that generates more lift at the lower speed. Increasing the angle of

the wing makes the pressure on the top drop further. We are at the

angle of attack where we can lift off. You can see high suction and

pressure at the bottom at the same speed. That is enough lift for us to

leave the runway. But there is a limit to the angle of attack.

Increase it too far and the plane can stall and drop. Here you see the

angle of attack is still increasing. Up to here we are OK. Then we have

continued to increase the angle of attack and the pressure's dropping

off. So the pressure almost equalises. You don't have that

pressure difference. There is not enough pressure difference. And you

don't generate enough lift. It is about getting the balance of

pressure above and below the wing. From a model wing in a wind tunnel

to a 747, this balance gives planes the lift they need to fly. Something

that happens at Heathrow hundreds of time each day. Fascinating stuff.

I'm with Dave, who is the chief pilot of BA. One thing I wanted to

ask, about these sort of the tweaking of the angles to change

that pressure and the movement of the air I over and -- over and under

the wings. Is that something the pilot has control of? Yes we have

high lift devices that we can use, depending on the conditions and how

heavy the aircraft is. We do that by working out the performance of the

aircraft before we leave the stand. And then we set those high lift

devices ready to go. Pilots do a lot of work? We thought everything was

automated? You press the button.Yes and go and read a magazine! As we

stand here on the tower, have you ever been to Air Traffic Control?

not this one. You communicate with the people up here all of the time?

Yes we talk to them continuously, but very rarely see them. When

you're down there, we are looking at these planes queueing up to take

off, can you talk us through what is happening and what these people are

saying to you? So we are getting controlled as we go to the runway

and we are being told when our slot is to take off. And then what we are

doing when we start to think about coming on to the runway is start

thinking about getting on there quickly. The less time we spend on

the runway, the greater number of aircraft we can get out in any hour.

We are trying to keep things safe but quick. It sounds ridiculous to

say to a chief pilot, do you ever feel nervous? It is a big moment,

takeoff is one of the most risky parts of any flight isn't that

right? Takeoff is one of those heightened moments where you have

got to think ahead and we spend a lot of time training pilots to think

ahead as to what could go wrong. And it is a moment where you might have

to make a quick decision. We train our people, they go into the

simulator four days a year at least and they get trained into any

possibility and we get that into our motor memory so if anything happens

we can deal with it quickly. Things do happen, about a month ago both

run ways had to be close when there was a problem on takeoff and the

plane did take off but flafs problem with the engine and they made the

emergency landing. Got the passengers off safely, but this a

something you have had to deal with and had that moment where you think,

oh, something's gone wrong? I have been luck y. Would you like to touch

that, it is sort of wood! We train for it and we have procedures that

we know the pilots follow in the vent of a mall function. That plane

was flying on un-Wen gin. -- on one engine. All of the aircraft designed

if they lose an engine they can work on one engine. It be is astonishing.

I feel less nervous about flying the more I speak to you. But there are,

there is one big thing that is a massive factor of how well Heathrow

functions and it has nothing to do with Air Traffic Control or the

pilots or the planes, but it has everything to do with the weather.

The weather forecast is an essential part of daily life at Heathrow.

Weather doesn't need to be dramatic to have dramatic effects here.

bad weather gives you more to think about. Sometimes you look at it and

think, please don't come my way. You just hope that it goes slightly to

the north or to the west or slight tloi whichever direction it needs to

go to avoid sitting on your airport and having any impact. Paula Abbot

is on the early shift as the duty manager airside. It's her job to

make sure today's forecast doesn't disturb the smooth running of the

airport. At the end of the day, there isn't much you can do about

the weather. It's just what you do in response to it or in preparation

for it. Your wriggle room is really, really, really minimal. So compare

that to other airports, who might have capacity avail available to

catch up on issues on delays, we don't have that luxury at Heathrow.

Paula isn't reliant on a standard weather forecast. On-sight

forecasters generate a special forecast every 30 minutes, with up

to date information about wind speed and direction, temperature and

visibility around the airport. It's not just severe weather that's

important. We talk about the wind constantly, really, that's one of

the main features that we deal with and manage all of the time. Wind

direction is fundamental to how the airport operates. You can see the

wind strengthening. The wind sleeves are blowing nicely. Zblt wind

dictates which direction planes take off and land. At Heathrow we tend to

have what we call a westerly preference. The wind tends to come

from a westerly direction. Aircraft always have to take off into wind.

If the wind turns around to a different direction, the direction

of departure and approach will change. First thing this morning,

the wind is coming from the west, so planes are flying in from the west

over the City of London and taking off to the west over Slough and

Windsor. This is known as flying on westerlies. But things are about to

change. In the base of the air traffic control tower, Met Office

forecasters James Shapland has noticed that wind direction

isalitiering. During the course of this morning, we are looking at a

more predominant easterly or south-easterly wind direction and

also the strength picking up. Because the wind is changing

direction the whole airport has to swap around. It looks like the wind

is going to start picking up around 9 GMT, so we will have to change the

runway direction. That the wind has shifted to the east, planes must

come in to land from the west and take off over London. This effects

every pilot and aircraft at the airport and they need to know

quickly. Welcome to the 9am call. I have James in the Met Met Office.

Hosts a conference call to brief the airlines on the forecast. This

happens four times a day, every day. The surface winds are tricky to

start off with. We have light and variable. By 0900 we should be at

1502 knots and picking up to 1706 knots at 1500. Because the decision

has been taken to change runway direction, the pressing issue is how

to do it without causing delays to flights and passengers. We are due a

runway end change onto easterly operations at 0830, for minimal

disruption we are scheduling this with the runway inspections as well.

At 0830 we will do the end change. The runway direction while they

carry out a routine inspection, means there's no impact on the rate

of take-offs and landings. So the state is -- status is green, thank

you very much everybody. The immediate problem's solved and

the airport is running smoothly. But Paula knows that could change as

quickly as the weather. Today is a perfect flying day, great

visibility, good head winds. If we're not careful, we might lose

Dallas, who is on a Singapore Airlines aeroplane as I speak.

That's exactly where I am. I'm on a Singapore Airlines A380. I really do

have to be very, very quick. They're going -- there are going to be

passengers on board here in less than half an hour, in about 27

minutes. If I'm not off the plane, I will end up in Singapore. The A380

in theory could take 853 passengers. But every airline will configure

their plane differently. This one has 409 seats. You can see the

economy seats behind me. Above me are the business class seats. And a

bit further forward, I'm going to meet Daniel, you're the chief

steward here. Good evening. I know time is of the essence here like

everything at Heathrow. Could you explain to me what it is that you

have to do in this time. It is stressful. It is, well, we have to

check that all the meals are catered for on board. For tonight we have

817 meals for both dinner and breakfast. That includes 44 special

meals. That includes religious meals, children's meals and for

today's flights a bit special, we have a special honeymoon cake.

looking at this. This is their honeymoon cake. If somebody's

getting married, they can call you and you will provide a cake for

them. Will. Any time.Will you cut that into 409 slices? We always try

to. This is where it gets exciting. They don't have first class. They

have suites. Forget about seats that turn into beds, they have entire

rooms on board here. Sharon, you're the most senior cabin staff member

here. Yes, I'm the in-flight supervisor. I have to ask you, the

bed is comfortable, how much would this set me back? Just above �6,000.

And how many of you guys here are actually working look looking after

the first-class passengers. Three of us. Do you break it up? Do you have

crews resting while others work? Yes, we do, absolutely. Very

comfortable. I'm a bit Karened -- concerned because I suddenly realise

there could be people in the first class lounge watching this. Are you

fully booked tonight? Pretty much. I'm probably lying in somebody's

seat pts Yes. If you're in seat 3D and you're

flying to Singapore, Sharon will change the sheets. Thank you very

much. I'd rather just stay here but I'm going to hand you back to Kate

in the tower. Thank you very much. If that

airlines flight is late tonight, you know whose -- whose fault it is.

There must be so many factors that do effect your job and how

efficiently you can get planes in and out of the airport, including

passengers not behaving and that whole turn around thing. Yes.

There's a schedule every day, but unfortunately, aeroplanes don't like

run like trains, because there are so many variables that will change

and every day will be different for us. Your kind of, worst case

scenario? What's the thing when you hear it makes you just want to

scream? Driving into work we always note the weather. No amount of

technology will do it. Bad weather is king. Is bad weather when you're

an air traffic controller? Anything from really strong head winds, which

makes us land less aeroplanes. But the fog, this wouldn't be a fishual

control room. It is to you -- visual control room. It is how people

behavion the ground as well. That term "turn around", well, get it

right, and it's an art and it make's Dave's life a lot easier.

Planes can only make money when they're in the air, from the moment

they land, the clock starts ticking. 141 passengers, no infants. Lovely.

Every hour of every day, every plane is met by armilies of workers. It's

their job to unload, refuel, clean and resupply each aircraft. We have

40 minutes to turn this aircraft round. Is that long enough?It's all

you get! The turn around is an elaborate dance precisely

choreographed. First thing we have to do is put the guidance system on.

This helps the pilot guide the aircraft to the right parking

position. Leading this dance is a turn around manager or dispatcher.

It's Michael Joseph's job to get BA planes away on time. Good morning.

How are you? Virgin dispatcher Graham Cornish is also on a

deadline. This is our Virgin nine going to JFK airport. Departing at

5. 35 local. Before we can go anywhere, we need to make sure the

aircraft is cleaned and catered. We're going to get passengers on

board, the cargo on board. We have got to ensure the right fuel

quantity goes on. Turn-around managers oversee the fuelling

process, how much they need is determined bit weight of the plane,

passengers and cargo. These aircraft are fairly sophisticated, we can

check with the fueler, but we can also check from the panel how much

fuel we're putting on any way. arounds work to a tight schedule to

keep the relay race going. Got to make sure that the people I need for

this flight are all here. My check-in team are here. They've

signed in. The cleaners have arrived. So once the passengers are

off, the cleaners will start their task. That's the crew that brought

this aircraft in. They've finished. We have a fresh crew for the

departure. What's happening in the cabin of a plane is only part of the

story in a turn around. What we do up here is check for any damage. We

make sure none of this is damaged down, anything, any of these panels

are not beaten up. Here is where we keep our crew bags. When we get to

the other end, we need, we carry you'll the provisions for the return

journeys, all the blankets, all the head sets. Clean is complete. It's

now five to the hour. So we have 18 minutes. Once the cleaners are off,

we can start our passenger boarding. Passengers may be surprised at some

of the cargo that's loaded beneath them. Everything that goes on the

flight is on this plan. In the back, this is salmon. That pallet weighs

over four tons. Four tons of fish on there.

Unbelievable.off, people don't realise when -- unbelievable. Yeah,

people don't realise when they're up there they're on top of four tons of

fish. Departing catering is being loaded on now. Just check the water.

It's below 50% so we'll get it topped up.

A pallet number. The art of a turn around is to get everything done

without passengers even noticing. Hi, we are ready for boarding

9526789 141, thank you very much. Cheers. We are still good for time.

We have about eight minutes to go. 141 passengers are on board.

Everyone's been through. We know they're on there. That's everybody

gone through the gate that we're The push-back crew is here. The

holds are closed. We have fuelling, cleaning, catering has to have been

done. These are the main things we check. Let's make our way to the

gate. We'll get this plane out of here.

The plane can't take off before the captain receives a list of all the

passengers and cargo on board. You're all ready to go. Yeah, 141

passengers on board. Lovely. We are all good. Take care, guys.

Signed, sealed and delivered, thank you very much. Have a good one. Have

a good flight. Bye. Take care.

Take care. plane is pushed back onto the taxi

way, freeing the stand for the next turn around coming in off the

conveyor belt. It's full on. It's conveyor belt. It's full on. It's

busy. Welcome to Heathrow. Welcome to Heathrow indeed. Well,

we're nearly at the end of the programme. If you have any questions

for us, that you'd like us to answer over the next couple of nights, do

e-mail them in to [email protected]. Tomorrow,

Anita is going to be over there in Terminal 5, witnessing a turn

around, as we're live on air. Dallas will be on the runway with a couple

of baseball bats directing traffic. If you hear about an incident at

Heathrow, it's his fault. Now if you want to find out more, do that

through the open University. Go to bbc.co.uk/airportlive and follow the