Episode 2 Airport Live

here live and we're going to give you unprecedented access to the

behind the scenes operation that keeps this the world's busiest

International Airport on the move, every second of every day. Fasten

your seat belts. This is Airport Good evening. I'm standing on that

tower right up there on the balcony. This is the air traffic control

tower. It is right in the centre of the vast expanse that is hearth. I'm

going to give you -- Heathrow Airport. I'm going to give you a

geography lesson. Behind me is Terminal 5 and you can just see, it

is a misty evening this evening, but you can just see the very

distinctive outline of Windsor Castle on the skyline there. Let's

move down here. This is the southern runway. Now, we are on Westerlyies.

That means the planes are landing and taking a off to the west. This

is our landing runway for this evening. Now, if we swing around to

this great massive building. That's terminals one, two and three. And

behind again, in the haze, you can just make out looking rather

romantic this evening, the skyline romantic this evening, the skyline

of the City of London. And then the northern runway where the planes are

taking a off. Now, the one thing that really

strikes you when you stand up here is that no part of the airport is

ever still. Everything is always o on the move and right at the end of

the southern runway, we have got a plane coming in as I speak, Dallas

is there right in the thick of it. Yes, thanks Kate. I hope you're OK

in the tower. I'm right here at the end of the southern runway. It is

noisy when the planes go over head. If you are a plane spotter, however,

be very, very jealous indeed. Now, if you look over there, you can

probably see this great queue of traffic coming in. You might be able

to make out the het lights of a plane coming in -- headlights of a

plane coming in now. Those planes are coming in to land. While they

are in the air, they will be in constant communication with the

tower which you might be able to see through this landing system

equipment over there. I'm going to give you a wave. The planes and the

tower will be in constant communication with each other making

sure that the convey conveyior belt which is Heathrow Airport runs

smoothly. When whaen plane lands it will be doing 140 knots or something

like that. It is vital it can get out of the way so another plane can

land. There was a plane still on the runway. Once it gets off the runway,

it lass to make its way to one of 186 stands. I think Anita is at one

of them now. I'm at Terminal 5 and for you plane

spotters. Behind heed is an Airbus -- me is an Airbus A 320. This plane

landed from Hamburg. The BA staff are at action stations doing a turn

around. That's getting the passengers off. Getting the luggage

off. Cleaning the plane and doing the checks and getting more luggage

and more passengers and when it becomes the flight BA 236 due to

depart at 8. 35pm. Tonight, we will be discovering the art of a short

haul turn around, it is up against the clock. There is lots to do.

Kate, back to you. Thank you, Anita. She is going to be

busy. But the busiest people at the airport are the people in this tower

above me. They are the air traffic controllers and they monitor and

control every single plane that comes in here and leaves the airport

and indeed, moves around on the ground. But who monitors those

planes before they get here? And once they've gone? How do we know

where those planes are at any given time?

Controllers in the Heathrow tower handle nearly 1400 flights a day.

But they are just part of a vast global network that controls

everything in the sky. In just one year, close to three

billion people will travel by plane on over 37 million flights. Every

single one of those planes has to be managed over every single part of

its journey. I've come to the air Traffic Control Centre to find out

how it is done. What happens in here? It is huge. This is our area

control centre. The controllers are looking after the motorways in the

sky. The traffic over England and Wales.

Paul is responsible for getting flights safely into and out of

London airports. So motorways in the sky. You try and get the planes to

to go down certain routes? We share the airspace with the military.

Across international boundaries and we will keep the commercial aircraft

in the boundaries allowing members of the public, light aircraft to use

the other airspace. So I suppose an airport like

Heathrow, it is in charge of its area and once the plane is out of

there, it is on to you guys and you guys juggle it around the rest of

the UK and the rest of Europe? That's a great example there.

Controllers handle every aircraft arriving in the South East. Are any

of these planes heading for Heathrow? Yes, American 136 has gone

over the top of the Isle of Man and he is at 33,000 feet now. He come

from Los Angeles across the Atlantic Ocean. We need to keep the aircraft

minimum 1,000 feet. We have the Qatar. The American is 1,000 feet

above at 33,000 feet and they will pass over the top of each other

safely. Planes are handed from controller to

controller and from room to room. Heathrow is just one of five major

international airports in London. And flights for all of them are

dealt with by the team here in terminal control. Why do we have to

pass the American over from one room to the next? The airspace is

complicated and complex and with multiple airports, Heathrow,

Gatwick, London City, Luton, the airspace and the motorway system

doesn't work at that stage. It is like driving in Central London. It

is a different type of driving. It is a different skill. We have moved

away from the M6 and we are trying to get around Elephant & Castle?

Correct. Where's our American now? He has

gone past around about junction 10 on the M40. He is at 14,000 feet.

Descending to 11,000 feet and he will be entering the top of the hold

for about 15 miles from now. Holds are part of managing busy

airports. They are fixed hold points where planes can circle.

Heathrow has four stacks. Within the stacks, the aircraft are kept 1,000

vertical feet apart, and at least 8,000 feet above the ground. New

planes enter at the top and are directed to move down the rungs of

the stack as other planes exit. It is a kind of aerial waiting room

that allows controllers to organise planes as efficiently as possible

for landing. So the American 136, he is just turning on to final

approach. He will be lowering the gear. He is just descending to 4,000

feet and he is landing on the southerly runway today.

And then he disappears from our screen and we tracked him from

Belfast. Swanwick controllers hand over to Heathrow tower for the last

leg of a global relay race. A race that happens tens of thousands of

times every day. There are a bewildering number of

planes there? Anything up to 100, 150 aircraft just over London at any

given time and 3,500 flights a day fly through the South East of

England, just under 1400 flights using Heathrow. So a busy, complex

Well, I've moved inside the tower now. I'm here with Dave Marshall,

head of training here. It is like a motorway, well, it is more like a 3

D motorway. We are that big massive service station at the end of the

motorways, with queuing traffic waiting to get in to be serviced and

waiting to go back home. Is the airspace around London and

around the South East one of the busiest air spaces in the world?

Because Heath rose isn't the only airport, you have Luton, Stansted

and Gatwick? They feed into the one bit of airspace which is complex and

come licated. As an air traffic controller, is

Heathrow really the sort of ultimate place to work? For me, yes. That is

the pinnacle of my career to work here. But we have got controllers

that perform a great job at Gatwick and Stansted and they are happy to

stay there, but you know, if you have got a bit of drive and you want

to get to the top of your tree... This is the most challenge, are

would it? Yeah, everywhere has got its own complications, but Heathrow,

by the sheer volume of traffic is very complicated.

Does it take a certain amount of specialist training or is the

strange the same wherever you go? No, it is very specific. It is again

airic and airport specific so I am proof that you don't have to be

clever and intelligent to be an air traffic controller, you need to have

a knack. And good at ironing? You are looking

smart this evening! A little bit earlier you saw Anita standing by a

plane. Well, we were here in the tower with our cameras and we saw

aidy Dolan talk that plane in. Let's look at that now.

967 to London. Aidy there talking your extraordinary language. The

plane coming in. I heard an extraordinary fact about this plane.

It has only been in service for five days so it is a brand-new plane.

Coming in to land. It always looks incredibly fast when they come into

land. I think Darrel mentioned 150 knots,

but it is probably less, 120 knots or 130 knots.

All wheels are down so that looks like a good, save landing. Air

traffic control will be happy? are happy. Your mission to get it

off the runway as quickly as possible and it is off the runway

and Anita is right beside it. I am, this brand spanking new plane

that landed 33 minutes ago with 106 passengers from Hamburg. The turn

around is in full swing in order to get it off on time to depart to

Paris. Here is the moment it arrived.

And here comes the plane. It has arrived on time!

The first thing I want to know is how does that plane to know and come

and stop there? Michael would have armed the stand guidance. He entered

the aircraft registration into the system and that counts down in

meters to the captain and it would tell him where to stop.

And he has done it on the point it is supposed to. It has an electronic

guidance system. What is a turn around? It is an arrival, turning

into a departure. It is a complete process of off loading the arrival,

cleaning it, recatering and getting ready for departure.

What is happening now? The load, are going to stock the aircraft from --

stop the aircraft from rolling back and they are going to attach the

ground power unit because the engines are going to be shut down.

Why do you need power? To open the aircraft doors, for lighting, to

keep it cool on board. Those three boys have gone for it.

Now many people are going to attack this to turn it around? About 20 in

total. OK, so that's the ground bow going

in now and 20 people will be coming towards it. What's happening over

there? That's the air bridge. He is going to touch the air bridge. He

will let the crew know it is safe to open the door and the passengers can

disembark. How long before the aircraft has to

leave the stand? We have got 50 minutes.

Right. We better keep an eye on them are off the aircraft. We have taken

three bins of baggage. Cleaned the aircraft. It has been refuelled.

They are loading the out going bags. That happened in half an hour?

Absolutely. The captain is doing his checks. Is the captain behind me?He

is checking the aircraft's tyres and engines. He will walk around

himself. Will anybody else check it? The pushback guy will check it at

the end. We saw the fuel go in. How much has gone in? Five-and-a-half

tonnes. Do they know to put in?The captain will know the weight of the

aircraft, what is expected from passengers and bags. We have a

question that says - how long does it take to fuel a plane? It takes

him four minutes to put 60 litres? About 15 to 20 minutes. Really

quick. There is quite a bit to do yet? The crew are doing their safety

checks as well now. The boarding is on process as we speak.

passengers will come into the plane? They will will be. Before this

flight takes off? 20 minutes.Still lots to do? There is.OK. We are up

against it. Good luck. We have all done, it I'm sure. We have been

sitting in a plane, waiting to takeoff when it appears that a plane

is queue jumping, moving ahead of us. You would think the planes

queueing on runways like this one to take off in a first come, first

served basis. That is not the case. What Air Traffic Control do is group

planes in accordance with something called "wake turbulence" what is

that? Dan explains. This is the staff car park at Heathrow. Not the

most glamorous of locations. It has to be a great place to get close to

planes. Heathrow, the planes land about 90 seconds apart. That sounds

fairly close together. In fact, that distance is carefully calculated.

That is because there is something trailing behind the planes.

Something inindividualible, but powerful. Each one of these planes

passing over head is creating two invisible spirals,s like tornadoes

of air trailing off the tip of each wing. Each spiral is known as a Wake

Vortex. This isn't the exhaust from the jet edge wince are talking

about, they are at the ends of the wings. When a plane flies the

pressure below the wing is higher pressure below the wing is higher

than the pressure above the wing this is what keeps the plane in the

air. At the wing tips this pressure difference tries to balloons out,

the high pressure air curls up towards the low pressure creating

spirals which trail behind the aircraft. They disrupt the air

behind, it like a boat churns up the water as it passes through. The

bigger and heavier a plane, the stronger the Vortex. Planes have to

avoid each other's wakes. It's difficult to avoid something you

can't see. I'm taking a plane of my own to Germany to try and catch a

glimpse of this inindividualible aerospace centre, scientists are

preparing for a rare experiment. Frank is in charge of today's

research. How are you? Nice to meet you, wonderful. This is exciting for

you? Absolutely exciting. We have been waiting so long for this

situation here. Have you been planning this day? Over the year.

Really? The early development was much earlier, but this trial was

planned for over a year. Typically, the weather isn't exactly perfect.

You can't plan everything. The plane is taxiing out, it will takeoff and

do a series of low level flights. The scientists have laid out

instruments to measure the strength of the vortses that the plane

creates. As the plane circles over us the researchers lay-down a wall

of smoke. For the first time I will see the effect of that plane as it

flies through the air. Wow, you can flies through the air. Wow, you can

see it. Look at that bit there. It's quite a long delay. The plane goes

past. You think nothing is going to happen, suddenly they go up in these

spirals. Look at that one there, it's brilliant! What I didn't

realise is just how long that footprint stays in the air. This is

about 90 seconds after the plane has passed. The plane circles overhead,

whilst the researchers measures its vortses. The air within a strong

Wake Vortex can reach speed of up to 200mph. This makes them especially

dangerous, something our test pilot knows first-hand. Good to meet you.

He has flown into them deliberately. What is it like? Well, it feels,

first, the first time it feel as little bit terrifying because the

aeroplane rolls up to 90 degrees. It then falls out of the sky. Rolls

tonnes side and goes into free-fall? Yes. It's not a free-fall. It feels

like that you are, basically, losing control of the aeroplane. The smoke

reveals the scale of the problem. This is fascinating here. We are

starting to see something. We get a sense of how big this Vortex is

here? I would guess, to the top of the Vortex we have more than 30m to

35m. Does everything that fly produce a Vortex, if a bird through

that cloud would you see a vortex, would you? Anything that flies or

generates lift produces vortexes, yes. This is what makes it a problem

for busy airports like Heathrow. They have to leave a safe gap. The

distance between two heavy planes is four miles. If a smaller plane is

following a larger one, the separation has to be increased. If

it is following the super heavy A380 the gap lengthens to seven miles,

extra time that a busy airport can ill afford. The dimensions of the

vortexes with the wing span. planes get bigger and airports get

buzzer wake vortsess are put putting on (inaudible) they are searching

for a solution like the equipment they are testing today. Until then

these inveriesible force also rule the airport and every flight you

take. As you can probably gather I'm back outside on the tower. It's

noisy, isn't it? It is.This is the perfect place really to see how that

effect affects you in Air Traffic Control. Looking at the planes

grouping here on the takeoff runway. I can see that you have grouped a

couple of those smaller planes together. You then have the big fat

747 behind. When those smaller planes take off, what gap will you

leave between them and the 747? Depending on the routing, because

they are the same size of aircraft, we can take off within a minute. It

is not a problem for us. The smaller plane that is behind the 747, how

much of a gap will you need to leave there? We have to give them a full

120 seconds, a full two minutes, so that vortex dispurses and they don't

get the turbulence. Constantly calculating all the time what affect

a plane has on the next plane and adjusting things accordly? It's

about maximising the use of the runway. Every minute and every

second counts. Are not contrails. A contrail is something quite

different? Yeah. When you look up in the sky you see those while

contrails, they are n condensation trail. It's like you blowing out

breath on a cold day, warm air meet meeting cold air. It's not exhaust

fumes, as people think, it's water vapour. Weight turbulence isn't

exhaust fumes either. It's simply the movement of the air as this

large machine travelling at high-speed is pushing through it?

Yeah. The larger it is, the more dangerous it is. The more violent

those invisible bits of wind, bits of air turbulence are. We found out

how weight turbulence aff air Air Traffic Control. Dallas is down at

the end of that runway with a pilot. We can find out how it affects them.

Thank you. I am we with the chief British Airways pilot, captain Dave

Thomas. We can feel those as we stand here when the big planes, when

they go over head. You can feel it standing here. We heard in Dan's

film, we saw a test pilot talking about the flight characteristics. As

a commercial pilot is it something you worry about? We don't worry

about it other than the fact we have processes to keep the aircraft

spaced apart. We keep it safe in that way. What flight

characteristics change for you you have a weight turbulence

encounter you will feel a bump. Most commonly here at Heathrow it will be

up in the holding pattern going round in circles and going through

the air that another aircraft is going through. We should make a

difference between clear turbulence, which is what you feel at cruising

attitude and weight Vortex? Yes, it's caused by weather. (Inaudible)

It's a little bit noisy here. We asked you to email your questions to

Airport Live. This is from Colin. He wants to know, what are those pointy

bits at the ends of wings? It's a way of dispersing the vortses?

the negative side of lift. They disperse a little bit of that drag.

That wouldn't change how far you would have aircraft apart in takeoff

and landing? They are designed to be effective in the cruise where you

get better fuel efficiency and range. That is where they are at

their most effective. OK. Back to you Kate in the tower. Thank you

very much, Dallas. If you have any other questions for us, you can

other questions for us, you can email us: Now, let us find out how

the high pressure world of Anita is getting on over there in Terminal 5.

We are under so much pressure here. She is as cool as a cucumber,

Joanna. You are not over seeing this turnover. Is it going to time?

is. We are closed up and ready to go. What can delay this plane at

this stage? We had a passenger missing. If that passenger had a bag

loaded that could cause a delay because we have to off-load the bag?

You have to take it off? Yes.Have you to physically take their bag

off? Yes.That bag could be anywhere? It could be in the first

bin loaded on the aircraft. often does that happen Quite often.

How annoying? Very annoying. This is a crucial stage. He will do his walk

around and make sure that everything is OK. Unless he spots anything.

Once he is ready he will inform the captain all ground checks are made.

The captain will speak to LTC and tell him when po pushback. Everybody

is connected. He is safe now. They can move the chops. I should have

said "chops away." All the passengers are on, how many? 83. 23

were transferring from eight different destinations. Potentially

we could have had a lot of missing passengers. They are all on board?

Yes. It's working to planIndeed. Where have they come from when

transferring? Moscow...All over the world. The tug driver is getting on

board He will inform the captain that his checks are done. When will

the captain give permission. We are waiting for Air Traffic Control to

talk to our captain who will talk to this tug driver who will reverse

this plane so he can takeoff. The system works? It does.Thank you

very much. This plane was guided to this position by an electronic

system. Sometimes it's done the old school way with table tennis bats.

Locally old Dallas had a go at it. This is Glenn Palmer he has been

marshalling aircraft at Heathrow for over 25 years. He is 50 people

qualified to bring these huge planes on to a stand. Is it safe to talk to

you? Yes, it is.Good to meet you. I'm impressed with that. Watching

you, it's not just the movements and the speed? The signals need to be

clear. You marshal normally, pretty fast and the aircraft is moving.

When you need to slow the aeroplane down you slow your signals down.

Need to get it spot on, front wheel on the middle line? On the centre

line. If you would like to try yourself. Really?

I am hoping if I imfres Glenn he will let me have a go on the real

thing. First up, what do the signals mean? Right, there we go. Your first

lesson in aircraft mg marshal marshals at Heathrow. When you have

got his attention, we will marshal the aircraft straight. He will come

around to our left, I will drop my left arm keeping the bat level.

Straighten the other plane up. As he gets near the stop mark come over.

It is quite a lot to take in. So to get the p plane to move to the left,

you need to drop your left arm down and wave your right arm beconing the

plane round. You don't learn the art of marshalling with a �200 million

jumbo, I'm starting with something a little bit cheaper!

Pick the vehicle up. That's it. Marshal straight. Now, bring them

back. Straight. Oh...This way around. Straight. It is obvious I'm

in need of a bit more practise. is drifting a bit, but don't worry

about that. Right arm down. Left-hand wave. Other way. That's

it. That's good. That's good. That's why you use a vehicle to get the

effect of an aeroplane coming towards you. So that's good.

Several hours later though, and I'm consistently bringing the car to a

halt on the mark. Now, excellent. Excellent. Glenn feels I have

improved enough to entrust me with marshalling this. This plane is from

Bulgaria. It is around a three hour flight and the passengers will be

looking off to getting off soon so I looking off to getting off soon so I

better not mess this up. There is your line here.

The nerchs are getting to me and -- the nerves are getting to me and I'm

finding it hard to take in what Glenn is saying. It is just crossing

the runway now. Pick him up now. That's good. Right,

marshal the aircraft straight. think I have got it sussed. That's

it. Keep on that turn. Hang on though, I've directed him

too far over. Keep turning. I need to drop my left arm and wave

him in with my right. Left. Left. With the plane going off centre, it

is imperative I bring it back on course so the air bridge can line up

with the door. That's good. We'll start moving backwards.

Now I have to bring it to a stop on the exact markings for the aircraft,

these huge machines aren't designed to reverse, so I mustn't let it run

too far. Yes, that's what I was after. I've

thumbs-up from the plane. That was so good for your first attempt, I

would like to present these bats to you. They are yours. They are yours.

That's very kind. You're going to have to sign them for me. Is that

good enough? That's the stop mark there. There is a job here for you

if you need one. That's excellent. Well done.

Cut engines! I'm with Simon Newbold. Your job is

to train these aircraft marshalers. I feel honoured that Glenn gave me

his bats. Are we OK having these here? I'm not going to suddenly

bring an aircraft down. There is no problem doing your bit here.

Marout of ten, how did I do? I would give you a four. Four, there was no

pizzazz, no personality in your moments. Now, the signals that you

performed earlier were international standard signals which are fine, but

a little bit car bold. He was probably being nice because

now you have reached stage one, we need to stake you to stage two, so

the pilots have confidence in what you are doing with your signals.

When I watch Glenn do it, he becomes a different person. He has this back

band and this interesting wrist flex. It is amazing to watch.

he is doing, he is giving the assurance to the pilot by looking at

the both the wing tips, the bigger pictures rather than staring at that

nose. Why do we need marshals? Why can't

planes drive themselves to their gates? It is important that a plane

parks accurately on the stand at the correct stop mark. It is so the air

bridge can dock and the servicing vehicles can meet the aircraft so it

is in off the taxi way and safe. So it is important to be accurate.

90% of the area that arrive park on automated guidance systems. 2%, we

need the marshalling bats out, that's because of technical fail

our, adverse weather or obstructions.

I have my bats, I shall keep practising, back to Kate in the

practising, back to Kate in the tower.

I caught Dallas in the corridor earlier practising with his

ping-pong bats! Now, safety is a word that we have

heard a lot since we have been here. It is the main priority, top of the

list of every working part of this aircraft. Particularly when it comes

to the planes themselves. Now, that big building right at the back of

the airport is the BA maintenance building and it is there that their

planes go for servicing. Every aircraft in BA's fleet has to

have regular service checks. Today the man in charge is

engineering manager, Derek Cogswell. This plane has arrived from

Washington DC this morning. It has been towed into the hangar for a

check and these are carried out every three months, but we are going

to give it a service. It is similar to what you do on your car. It will

take 50 engineers that will crawl over the aircraft and inspect

various parts of it to make sure it is up to standard.

The plane is due to fly to New York in less than 55 hours. Before that,

Derek and the team need to check everything from the engines and

hydraulics to the reading lights and entertainment systems.

Some of the old older aircraft, has small faults. If you are a paying

passenger, you want to be happy with them.

This plane is 17 years old. Some of the 747s are older and some are

younger. This is the middle of the fleet.

Engineers must examine it thoroughly. Parts of the plane may

need to be replaced so everything is checked. You see up there, that

line, that is a crack on that support bracket. That means this

whole reservoir has to come out and be replaced.

be replaced. We are 67 feet off the ground. The

general condition of the structure, making sure that the static wicks

which are these devices are in place. They are used to discharge

static electricity that is generated during the flight and if the plane

is struck by lightening, they will dissipate back into the a the moss

fear. If -- atmosphere. If the plane was hit by lightening, the

passengers would not know anything about it and the crew would. Some of

these maybe charred and we would replace them.

One of the most items to be inspected is the engine. A remote

camera is inserted into the turbine which let's Derek examine each blade

individually. The tests are rigorous so any sign of damage to the blades

can be spotted early before it becomes a problem.

Jake, can you put the probe in the combustion chamber now? Thank you,

mate. Engine two is in perfect condition, but there is an issue

with engine three. Numerous blades have been struck by

something. I am not sure what it it could be. It could be freezing fog

and we can get a build up of ice that breaks off and dislodges and

gets drawn into the engine and when it hits the blades, that's what it

can do. That one there, that's quite a critical one because it is at the

base of the blade. That's where it is most critical, the G-force

because it has material there. ??FORCEDW The The decision has been

made we will take the engine off and replace it with a new one.

The checks continue inside. The electrical systems on board are

connected via 170 miles of wiring and everything from the electric

first class seats to the complex systems that help fly the plane have

to be tested and signed off before it can go into service.

The engineering teams keeps a number of spare engines and replacement

parts on site a are you Rolls-Royce engine has been prepared and now

Derek oversees the procedure of removing the old one.

I get a little bit nervous because it is aing huge amount of weight.

This engine weighs eight tonnes and it is only supported on those thin

cables, it is designed to take that weight, but you have a bit of

tension when you do it. Every part is expensive. An engine

costs over more than �8 million. Each bolt that holds it in place,

costs �500. It is held on by eight bolts and that's it. This engine

produces 30,000 horsepower so the With the new engine securely in

place, it is time for the final part of the TA check, the high-speed

engine run tests, India Victor Hotel is towed into a blast shield. The

front is protected by metal cages to prevent anything being sucked in.

Then each engine is put to full With up to 30,000 horsepower of

thrust being exerted on one side of the blaen, Derek has to run an

engine on the opposite side to stop the aircraft from trying to twist

around. He monitors the on board computers for errors, while

engineers on the ground checks the engines for leaks. Once Derek is

satisfied that all four engines including the newly fitted engine

three are running smoothly, he can sign off the plane and send it back

into service. We have completed end runs. That was

copied. Thank you. I have signed it off at 2. 30pm and

it will be flying to JFK New York. We don't hang about. The next 747 is

coming into the hangar for its 2 A check. As you can see, it all starts

again. Now, I am right at the top of the

fou we are. This is what is called -- tower, this is what is called the

visual control room. It is an operational area. I am talking

quietly because everybody in here is controlling every single movement of

every plane that we can see through the windows. Now, I am with Aidy

Spas dola -- Dolan. You are now on a break. Yes. You are fine.That's

good. I heard that yesterday whilst the busiest -- yesterday was the

bids busiest day of the airport so far. Do you notice when it is

particularly busy? You notice the days. Just 1 percent or 2% busier

than others. That can make such a difference to an airport like

Heathrow. I checked the figures and already 1200 aircraft landed or

taken off today. Today? Right now. In the last hour,

89 flights have arrived or departed. That's incredible. And that's

presumably why, we found this out yesterday, but you guys do have to

have very regular breaks because you are dealing with so much air traffic

control? That's right, yeah. The reason we do that is so you stay

focussed in your position and remain concentrated oen that task and then

go away and have a responsibility-free break to come

back fresh. Apart from when I'm here when you

have to talk to me! Apart from that. Something I noticed is you speak in

a different language. You use strange words. You give aeroplanes

countries using the airport and a Welsh girl and a Scottish guy in the

tower you need way of communicating or it falls apart. Many airlines

have unique call signs, British Airways use Speed Bird. You don't

use British Airways at all? No.We have Steph on departures. She will

be in control of the departure of Anita's plane. Can we find out where

Anita's plane is at the moment? at the supervisor's desk. Hello.It

has made its way to the holding point. Just in the neck. OK.Virgin

on the runway is about to roll. Speed Bird will take the runway for

takeoff. We can see that on your screen? Absolutely. There are the

flight details there. This is the ground movement radar which shows

the Speed Bird 326 lining up now. Everything on time. You have don

your job properly. Anita, you must be delighted and exhausted? I feel

proud. Speed Bird 326 is ready, not only on time, but five minutes

early. It must happen quite a bit? try. There is nothing behind us it

has been taxied off. Earlier it was pushed back. Here is what happened.

You can see there is another plane that is doing it at the minute. That

tug that is pushing it back they look short and squat, they are

tough? Yes.They weigh tonnes. do. At what point would the engine

be switched on when it's being push pushedback? Both engines will be put

on. That will go off on it is way and get ready to takeoff. Is your

job done? Unfortunately not. As one goes we have another to arrive. We

have the flight from Milan with 96 passengers on board. Off-load?

Off-load, cleaned, decatered. time will your first team be in

30 am. Thank you very much. It has been fascinating. Over to Dallas who

is hanging out at the end of a runway, as you do. The I'm with the

airside training manager, Simon Newbold. This guy is amazing. Not

only is he an aircraft marshalling expert, but you can recognise, not

just aircraft coming in, but aircraft from about five miles away?

Yes. It's very important, it's part of my role, that I teach the guys

all the information about the aircraft types. It's pafrt part of

their jobs. It's not just me who can do that, my team can identify

aircraft. See two lights. What is that? OK. I'm looking at the colour,

a British Airways aircraft. It's not big. It is small. That is an Airbus

A320. How do you do that. I can just about make out that is an aeroplane.

You redefine plane spotting? I have spent many years out here looking at

the aircraft, learning about how to teach my pupils the different types

of aircraft. We have been standing here we have spotted 36 aircraft

landing in the hour we have been here. It's an extraordinary fact...

Even more extraordinary is that Simon can tell you the name of the

pilot in every one of them? Yeah, that one is Fred. Show what is a

busy place Heathrow Airport is. Kate, back to you from the tower,

goodbye from the runway. Thank you very much, indeed, Dallas.

Regulations state that scheduled flights are not allowed to land or

takeoff from Heathrow between 11. 30pm and 4. 4.30 am in the morning,

you would think that at night-time this place would be a rather

tranquil spot? Couldn't be further tranquil spot? Couldn't be further

sleeps. It is 10. 00pm, but for thousands of airport staff the day

is just beginning. Air Traffic Controller Aidy is one of them.

Tonight, I'm the tower supervisor. I'm looking after the night shift

operation. We are here from 10. 00pm to 7. 00 am. What we have here is

Turkish Airlines, Airbus 320. This will be the last landing aircraft

for tonight. Across the airport another team of workers have just

started their shift. Certain here now. Are waiting for access to a

very important piece of tarmac. weather, minimum temperature 14

degrees. This is the runway resurfacing team. A job that can

only be done at night. Full length. OK. Anybody got anything else to

add? Over six months, they are replacing the southern runway bit by

bit. They need it to themselves. last inbound aircraft has landed for

tonight. That runway can go over to the airport to commence their

specialist battalion of 100 vehicles swarm onto the runway in a matter of

minutes. The first task is to remove the old asphalt which will be

recycled for use in motorways and car parks. As you can see from the

ground radar, all of these little yellow dots on here are the contract

vehicles which have started to go on to begin that resurfacing work.

Tonight, the team will relay an area the size of a football pitch with

quick drying tarmac. They have six hours until the first plane lands

on just one runway. The last plane of the night is running a little

later than usual. It's now midnight. Heathrow Airport is being controlled

by one person. So Dave is looking after all of the traffic. He is just

cleared for takeoff the last departure of the day. That is a

Singapore Airlines flight. An Airbus 380. He will be the last flight of

the day right through until about 4. 30 am tomorrow morning. The plane's

might have stopped, but air traffic still has work to do. You might

think that, well, work goes out at Heathrow at that time? A great deal.

The aeroplanes are in the wrong place. They have to be towed to the

correct gate to start the whole thing off again in the morning.

Suddenly, Dave's emphasis has changed from dealing with passengers

and airlines that are taking off to deal with towing movements. He has

two that called him up to go from Terminal 5 back to the maintenance

base. As you can hear in the control tower, it is very quiet. It is very

calm at night-time. We still have controllers working here. They

rotate throughout the night to make sure that obviously they are quite

rightly and correctly rested. When they come to work their particular

part of the shift that they are fully alert and able to provide a

very safe service. It's peaceful in the terminals too. Night is the

perfect time for essential cleaning and maintenance. Ahead for heights

is needed for some jobs. Staff don't have the terminal to themselves for

long. The first passengers of the day are already arriving. Just as

well that out on the tarmac the resurfacing team is finishing ahead

of schedule. Before the runway can be put back into use, duty manager

airside, Paula, has to check the new surface is safe for landing

aircraft. It's her last job of the night. The grip test run allows us

to measure the surface friction of the runway which tells us whether or

not it will be slippery when wet. Therefore we can determine whether

or not it's going to be within safe perimeters for aircraft to operate.

We have done the run. We can do a quick view on the laptop. We have

been able to determine that everything was good and we can

commence the super walk. After that we will go to veil indicate

everybody off the runway and hand it back to Air Traffic Control.

that is left to do is to tidy up. No debris can be left on the runway. 20

sweepers move along the tarmac in formation, wiping clean every last

trace. Then, it's time to hand the runway back to Air Traffic Control.

So, it's 0600 runway is back in action. Aidy has his first arrival.

I cleared him to land. The first plane touches down on to the freshly

laid tarmac. It's business as usual at Heathrow. So,s as you can see,

this really is a place that never sleeps. Nothing waits for anything

while that film was on air Steph in the control tower above me gave

Anita's plane clearance to takeoff. We caught it on camera. Cleared for

takeoff. So, all ready to go. We had our cameras lined up on the takeoff

runway. We can see the moment that it was - you call this on the roll,

is that right? Yes, once they are cleared for takeoff. Puts the power

on he is on the roll. Up he goes for Paris. Yes.All being well, when

should that plane land in Paris? much traffic around about 45

minutes. Will the plane stay there for the rest of the night or has it

another flight to do? That is the lest sector of the day. Crew gets a

nice night in the Paris hotel. They will be back in the morning. Plane

will be back here tomorrow morning? Very possibly. I have questions from

our viewers. This is centre Stephen Lewis. How aircraft stacks work when

there is a great deal of traffic around. Do you pile them up? We fly

the right amount of planes in, if we lose the runway they will stack up

to a search level. We will have further outer stacks where we will

hold traffic. You will move people out, you will say, you stay in that

stack, you move to this one... get nearer the airport. What happens

if a seriously ill passenger or there is a mechanical fault and you

have something in a stack, what do you do? Hundreds of thousands of

people come through the airport, you get ill passengers. The pilot in the

stack tells us that. He will get priority. He will be taken straight

out straight into the pattern. We will give him priority to the ground

and get him to the gate with medical assistance as well. You will call

medical assistance to be there? Make sure it is there and the

airline checks. That is great to know. You can keep your questions

coming in. You can email us at: what have we got for you tomorrow? Anita

is going to be looking into the bowels of the plane, what travels

beneath our feet. Some very cute little things. As for Dallas, he

will be stripping, planes that is, obviously. If you would like to find