Ultimate Airport Dubai (2013) s02e07 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: In this episode, customs
officers find some unusually crisp laundry.
Smoke in a simulator
cockpit causes stress levels to rocket.
DAVID: We can't do any
more with that checklist
until we get to 10,000 feet.
NARRATOR: And passengers are going nowhere
because of a jammed cargo container.
GEORG: That could probably even go to the
point that we are saying we offload the
passengers and prepare a new aircraft.
NARRATOR:
Dubai International Airport,
the busiest global hub on the planet
and aiming to stay there.
MAN: Clear for takeoff.
NARRATOR: But
perfection is never easy.
JUMAH: It's not finished!
It's supposed to be finished!
NARRATOR: More
planes to service.
ANDY: Can we open the
number three engine?
NARRATOR: More
situations to deal with.
MEL: What do you
mean live snakes? Where?
NARRATOR: More
smugglers to stop.
HASSAN: This
is the heroin here.
NARRATOR: And massive
engineering projects to complete on time.
It's non-stop, 24/7.
It's the job of 90,000 staff
from all over the world to make
this the Ultimate Airport.
Aiming to be the busiest and
best airport in the world requires
constant attention to detail.
One slip could threaten
performance or even safety.
Customs is under constant pressure,
especially during the
night time rush-hour.
It's 11:00 PM.
One of the busiest times of night
for incoming passengers to Dubai.
They bring with them millions
of items in millions of bags.
MUSTAFA: Got it.
I will do that.
NARRATOR: Customs officers Mustafa
Ahmed Naqeeb and his team must find the
devil in the detail.
MUSTAFA: Tonight,
we was having long night.
17,000 passengers.
133 flights.
And we will see what we are going to find.
NARRATOR: Customs have received intel
from plain clothes officers about a man
flying in from Pakistan and he
appears to be traveling with an associate.
MUSTAFA: We are waiting for
this guy to come through.
He has his friend with him also.
He's standing there, waiting for his bag.
He wear black trouser and grey shirt.
He's watching customs people.
And he is waiting for
the right time to pass.
I feel excited, a little bit.
He make himself normal. But he
don't know that we are watching him.
See, he didn't talk to his friend.
They are not coming
very close to each other.
Since he arrived nearby our
inspection area he's talking on the phone.
It's not normal.
All the bags on the
belt but what he's waiting I don't know.
NARRATOR: Mustafa
decides it's time to strike.
First stop, the x-ray machine.
On first glance, there's no
suspicious items in the bags.
MUSTAFA: You are
travelling alone?
MAN: Yes, I came by myself,
I came with some goods.
MUSTAFA: Who is this person?
MAN: He is the one
who gave me the goods.
MUSTAFA: He is your friend?
MAN: I have come by myself. He gives
me goods in Karachi and I bring them here.
NARRATOR: The passenger's conflicting
statements raise a red flag to the customs
officers, so they
decide to re-scan the bags.
MUSTAFA: We will scan
the bag without anything.
It's clear.
NARRATOR: But the bag comes out clear
again, so the passenger seems innocent.
MAN: I am businessman. Dubai to
mobile, laptop, bring to Pakistan sell.
NARRATOR: But Mustafa
still isn't satisfied.
MUSTAFA: We'll try one more. I
want to check the thickness of the bag.
NARRATOR: He knows this passenger is not
new to Dubai customs and was stopped coming
through only last week.
MUSTAFA: They opened this part
because there is hidden place.
Our inspector they open it before,
they were suspecting that place.
Have one sheet
two three.
NARRATOR: Mustafa calls in
the mobile drug testing unit.
The sophisticated scanner can
detect less than a billionth of a gram of
narcotics from a swab.
Any tiny trace of drugs found and
this passenger could be facing jail time.
Terminal Three, the biggest
air terminal in the world.
Also home to the largest baggage
handling system on the planet,
capable of processing 15,000
items of luggage an hour
across 55 miles of conveyor belts.
It's a high-octane,
automated rollercoaster.
But when the baggage hits the runway, this
high-tech machine hands over to the low-tech
manual baggage handlers; one part of
the incredibly complex system that gets
planes into the air.
Ensuring all bags, fuel and passengers make
this flight bound for Afghanistan is the
job of ground dispatcher Carl.
CARL: We try to time it so that the
passengers are not spending unnecessary
time on the coach.
As soon as they reach here
they can get straight off.
We try to time everything so it
all works in an unbroken fashion.
NARRATOR: Carl has to be a master of
detail to keep everything running smoothly.
CARL: Right now we're still
waiting for the crew to arrive.
NARRATOR: But the first problem
is the departure gates are all full,
so the plane has been parked at
the most extreme edge of the airport.
CARL (off-screen): Normally,
this flight would be parked only
a ten minute ride from the terminal.
To be parked right over
here is, is somewhat unusual.
NARRATOR: The scheduled
departure time is in just one hour.
Carl is already up against it,
but now it's an extra three miles for bags
and passengers to travel.
CARL: It's gonna take
25, maybe 30 minutes even, to get the
passengers to the aircraft.
It's gonna be a real challenge to
try and get this flight away on time.
NARRATOR: When the crew arrives,
Carl briefs Captain Jamaluddin Ridi
on the situation.
CARL (off-screen): Hi Captain.
Morning. I'm dispatcher, Carl.
It's gonna take the passengers
forever to reach here.
JAMALUDDIN: Yeah.
CARL: So we need to start the
boarding once the fuel truck arrives.
JAMALUDDIN: Fuelling will
take around fifteen minutes.
CARL: 15 minutes, okay.
Soon as I see the fuel truck.
JAMALUDDIN (off-screen): Yeah.
CARL (off-screen): We'll start
the boarding, is that okay, yeah?
JAMALUDDIN: That's fine.
NARRATOR: But the fuel truck, known
as a bowser, is nowhere to be seen.
CARL: Calling Osama.
Could you find out who's
fueling on echo two seven?
We need the fuel bowser.
NARRATOR: After some
chasing, the fuel truck finally arrives.
Aware of how long it will
take the passengers to reach the plane,
Carl calls the gate.
CARL: I've just got the fuel bowser
here at the aircraft so you can go ahead
and start the boarding.
MAN (over radio): How
many people are there?
CARL: Two zero five plus three
infants all economy class, yeah.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: It looks like,
despite the inconvenient parking space,
Carl has done it, until
he hits a baggage issue.
CARL: One small concern I have right now for
the departure of this flight is whether or not
we can actually accommodate all the baggage
on the flight, because the airline only has
seven containers on station.
Those are all presently full.
NARRATOR: Bags can only be loaded
onto this plane securely using the special
containers, but not enough have arrived.
CARL: We can't just throw
the bags anywhere in the hold.
This particular aircraft, even though
there's a great big hold with lots of space,
that's for container loading, it's not for
loose loading, so that space is just unusable.
NARRATOR: Unsecured bags could shift in
flight and affect the handling of the plane.
The only hope is a small compartment
at the back that can take loose bags.
CARL: The very aft compartment, compartment
five, so far we've got over 100 bags
to try and get in there and
check in is still going on.
NARRATOR: How many bags they can
load depends on how much space there is
in the bulk hold.
CARL: I'm just gonna go and have a
look in the bulk because right now are
estimated 137 bags to go in there.
We cannot load that.
We will maybe get 80, 85.
NARRATOR: Carl has to be satisfied that
any loose bags that go are loaded safely.
CARL: Gee, look at this.
NARRATOR: Some of the netting
that holds the bags in place is missing.
CARL: No lashing,
compartment five.
The lashing is all missing.
No, we're not happy with this at all.
This is not fit for loading.
NARRATOR: If he doesn't find the netting,
Carl will be personally responsible for not
allowing half the
passengers' bags to travel.
But he's a stickler for detail,
and when safety's at stake there's
no room for compromise.
KENNEDY: We can't
put baggage there!
CARL: No, no, no, no, no we're not. I'm
not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do that.
The net is all missing.
NARRATOR: Back in customs, Mustafa
is testing a passenger's bags for drugs.
MUSTAFA: It's
not showing anything.
Not this time.
NARRATOR: This time, Mustafa's instincts have
proved wrong, but this constant vigilance
means drug smugglers know
Dubai is no soft touch.
With 7,500 passengers flooding
into the airport every hour,
it's only a matter of time before the
game of cat and mouse starts again.
MUSTAFA: I hope we will
catch something tonight.
A big one!
NARRATOR: Mustafa is alerted to
a man acting suspiciously in arrivals,
so the officers lie in wait.
MUSTAFA: The first checking
point they suspect this guy
and just now, the CCTV,
they are following this guy.
It's the body language,
they suspect his body language.
We are waiting, we will see.
MAN: Can I see
your passport please?
(radio chatter)
MAN: Arriving from where?
MAN: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
MAN: Do you
have anything to declare? MAN: No.
MAN: Come.
MUSTAFA: Sir, you are
coming from Buenos Aires?
MAN: Yes.
MUSTAFA: By yourself?
MAN: Yes.
MUSTAFA: You are alone?
MAN: Yes.
MUSTAFA: How long are
you going to stay in Dubai?
MAN: One month.
MUSTAFA: You are from where? MAN:
Australia. Brisbane. MUSTAFA: From Brisbane?
MAN: Can I check
your bag please?
NARRATOR: There are a lot
of white shirts in the bag.
MAN: This one your clothes?
MAN: No, someone
gave them to me.
MUSTAFA: What did you find?
NARRATOR: And they appear to
be unusually crisp and well starched.
MUSTAFA: You have dry clothes.
This is cotton or what?
You don't know?
NARRATOR: On a hunch, Mustafa
again calls in the mobile testing unit.
MUSTAFA: Our car, it's coming now and
we will see what we are going to find out.
(radio chatter)
MUSTAFA: This will take
a few seconds to test
this thing.
Congratulations!
We've got cocaine.
Sixty four percent of cocaine.
NARRATOR: The clothes
have been soaked with liquid cocaine.
MUSTAFA: OK sir, it's showing on
the machine that you have cocaine.
NARRATOR: In the UAE, the
penalty for bringing in drugs is severe.
MUSTAFA: We have to
take you inside the office.
We find out you carry something illegal
that is not allowed to come into the UAE.
OK sir?
It's very common to hide
the cocaine in the clothes.
NARRATOR: Dubai Police later
confirm the clothing is impregnated with
seven pounds of cocaine.
But the man is acquitted of all charges.
MUSTAFA: I'm happy, he tried to
bring something bad to my country.
The message to all the smugglers.
Don't play with us.
We are trained very well.
NARRATOR: Outside, ground dispatcher
Carl Knight is struggling to get a flight
bound for Afghanistan to make its
departure time in less than an hour.
Carl has more than 100 loose bags to
load, but he fears the netting to secure
loose luggage safely is missing.
CARL: The net is all missing, unless
the one on the right-hand side can
be moved to the left.
There should be a net here.
NARRATOR: Loose bags can
destabilize a plane and block doorways.
Safety is paramount to Carl, but he also
needs to get the plane away as soon as
possible, so he consults the engineer.
CARL: What I'm concerned about is
all the bags falling in front of the door.
MAN (off-screen): Mmm, yeah.
MAN: This will be lowered
and no bags will fall.
CARL: Yeah, okay. All right.
Okay, well we'll be careful.
We'll be careful with it anyway.
We'll have a look.
Just tighten them up, yeah.
NARRATOR: The airline's
engineer shows Carl that the door will act
as a second barrier.
This airline is flying a
non-standard configuration.
But Carl is finally satisfied it's safe.
CARL: We're just making sure
that that net is fully tightened up.
NARRATOR: But even with
the go ahead to load behind the netting,
there's still not enough
room for the 137 bags that can't fit into
the luggage containers.
CARL: We can load behind two nets and
we'll get about 60 to 70 bags in there.
At the moment, 'round about
60 to 70 pieces may not go.
NARRATOR: Having a bag left behind is a
situation no passenger wants to face when
they arrive at the baggage carousel.
CARL (off-screen):
They won't be very happy.
It doesn't create a professional
image of the airline when this happens.
We're trying to help the
airline as much as we can.
If we don't have any
containers what can we do?
NARRATOR: For now, the
problem is still theoretical.
The countdown clock tells the team it's
minus 21 minutes until departure and there's
still no sign of the bags.
CARL: So far, we didn't receive
any bulk baggage for this flight,
zero pieces of bulk baggage received.
It's now minus 20 to departure and not
a single piece of bulk baggage received.
There's very little hope of the flight
going on schedule, very little hope.
Parked so far away.
If we get away within 30 minutes
of the schedule we'll be doing well.
NARRATOR: Before flights can depart,
dispatch handlers often need to complete a
Last Minute Change form,
or LMC, for the Captain.
It's vital to note any changes to the total
weight of fuel, passengers and baggage that
could make the aircraft
dangerously overloaded.
MENIR (over radio):
What do you want?
CARL: Menir, the figures
are all in pounds, yeah?
The block is 65,000 pounds,
six five decimal zero.
NARRATOR: Carl must accurately
calculate the weight of the loose bags.
CARL: Just let me know weight,
average weight, per piece, please.
(radio chatter)
CARL: That was
not the question.
That was not the question.
I know that.
I just told you, show 75 bags and
give me the average bag weight,
please, so I can do the LMC.
MENIR: 19kg for
me 19kg for me.
CARL: There you go.
Thank you very much.
Don't you just love it when you ask somebody
a question and they come back with a
completely irrelevant answer?
NARRATOR: At last, just three
minutes before scheduled departure,
the loose bags finally arrive.
CARL: The bags
are here now, look.
We're just trying to finalize the loading.
I'm just gonna try and get
the rest of these bags on.
It's quite obvious it's not all gonna go.
NARRATOR: Carl has been battling to
get this Afghanistan bound flight beset
with problems off the
ground for over an hour.
Any bags he leaves behind in Dubai
will be sent on the following flight,
if there's space and spare
containers to put them in.
CARL: So I'll be at home by the time
the passengers get to know about this.
Nothing we can do about it.
If we haven't got the
equipment, we can't use it!
NARRATOR: Finally, after their
three-mile journey from the terminal,
ten minutes after they were supposed
to takeoff, the passengers are boarding.
Carl tries to work out
how many bags they've loaded.
But in the middle of the night,
the detail is proving challenging.
CARL: 66 bags off.
KENNEDY: No.
CARL: So 66 pieces offloaded.
KENNEDY: No, 101 bags. 101.
CARL: Eh?
KENNEDY: Two plus 28.
CARL: 32 plus 28 is 60.
KENNEDY: Yeah, but.
CARL: Plus six. 66 offloaded.
Loaded, 75!
KENNEDY: Yeah, that's right.
CARL: Telling me there's 101 bags loaded
in the bulk when there's actually 75.
It's a good job I'm on top
of the situation already.
NARRATOR: At 2:49, over 20 minutes
late, the doors are finally closed and the
aircraft cleared for takeoff.
Despite the last minute delays, chaos and
confusion, Carl is happy they've loaded
the plane as efficiently
and as safely as possible.
CARL: Yeah, I think
it all went pretty well.
I estimated there'd be 75 bags in bulk.
Exactly 75 bags were loaded.
I estimated 60 to
70 bags would be offloaded.
66 bags were offloaded.
Doesn't get any better than that, does it?
NARRATOR: In Emirates'
state-of-the-art training center,
experienced pilots Dave Storey and Rory
Smith are on the final hurdle of an Emirates
conversion course preparing them to fly
the world's biggest
passenger plane, the A380.
Emirates pilots are considered
to be among the best in the world.
Today's exam in a simulator
will push them both to their limit.
RORY (off-screen): Are you happy
to call it worst case zero count?
DAVID (off-screen): Yeah.
RORY (off-screen): Well, ten weeks of training
has brought us to the point now for the
final skills test, which is what we have
to do to have the 380 put on our license.
DAVID: Thank you,
that feels just fine.
We put all the previous work we've done
in the simulators up until now together,
and we basically prove to an
instructor, without any input from him,
that we can fly the plane safely.
NARRATOR: The four-hour examination inside
an exact replica of the A380 cockpit is
the pivotal moment in their training.
If they pass, they'll be flying the real
617-ton plane with 525 passengers on-board
in a few weeks.
They must pay attention to every little
detail or it's back to the classroom.
Nicklas Dahlstrom is Human
Factors Manager at Emirates.
NICKLAS (off-screen):
I'll be looking for the in-depth behavior,
the in-depth human behavior,
not as much as what happens as what
it means in the context of the situation.
NARRATOR: For the first two
hours of the test, Dave pilots the plane.
But now it's Rory's
turn to be the captain.
No matter their position in the cockpit,
both pilots are being tested continuously by
an examiner who presents them
with possible life-threatening scenarios.
Captain Peter Vandentillaart has been a
pilot for 38 years and has flow 18,000 hours.
Today, he's in the simulator control center
to oversee Rory and Dave's examination.
PETER: There we go.
So they're just about to set thrusts.
They've just released the park
break, they're gonna takeoff.
RORY (over radio): Man Flex 59.
NARRATOR: The pilots
get the aircraft to V1.
At this speed they're committed
to takeoff and cannot abort.
For the test it's 100 knots,
about 115 miles per hour.
DAVID: 100 knots.
RORY: Check.
MAN (off-screen): V1.
NARRATOR: They're past
the point of no return.
PETER (off-screen):
Engine failure.
After that V1 call you cannot
stop the aircraft on the runway
so it's safer to go airborne.
DAVID: Rotate.
NARRATOR: The instruction
"rotate" is used to begin takeoff.
They've made the right decision
to continue with getting airborne.
But now they have to deal
with a failed right engine.
Their actions will determine
whether they pass or fail.
DAVID: Positive climb.
RORY: Yeah.
DAVID: Okay, we're up.
RORY: Okay, so
what have we got?
DAVID: Engine one fail.
RORY (over radio): Okay, that
one looks like zero. ECAM actions.
NARRATOR: Rory and Dave must work
together to keep the plane in the air.
Dave checks the ECAM, a system that relays
details of the engine failure and provides a
checklist of procedures to
follow, while Rory concentrates
on piloting the plane.
DAVID: Auto
re-line in progress.
Yeah, there's still damage.
That's not gonna work.
RORY: Check.
Thrust lever one on.
Thrust lever one confirmed.
DAVID: Okay.
NICKLAS: You will get all the signs
of a workload, heart rate going up,
skin conductance, that is sweating.
The difference is how different
individuals handle this increased stress.
NARRATOR: This is an
extremely serious situation.
Rory and Dave must keep a cool head.
If they panic and
make a mistake they will fail the test.
DAVID (over radio):
Yep, engine one damaged.
RORY (over radio): So I have a one
two left as previously briefed just check
I haven't missed anything
in the set up, can you?
Then we'll go breaks
two, performance is checked.
And LS you've got on your side and lights.
PETER: Rory's doing well.
He's doing good.
Good tracking.
Good management.
The process is sound.
It's the second engine that's gone now.
RORY (over radio):
Oh, that's convenient.
NARRATOR: The four-engine plane
now has two failed engines on the same
side of the aircraft.
Trying to control the
plane is like rowing a boat with one oar.
The pilots have to overcompensate
to stop it flying around in circles.
They must find the nearest airport
to land at as quickly as possible.
PETER (off-screen): And now
they're gonna go through the checklist.
RORY (over radio):
Okay, ECAM actions.
DAVID (over radio):
Engine two failed.
Auto re-line in progress.
RORY (over radio): Check.
NICKLAS: If you list to that, the tremor
of his voice, there's absolutely nothing,
it's the physiology of his movements.
This is a man in control.
NARRATOR: They identify an airport,
but with minimum maneuverability
the pilots have a difficult landing ahead.
DAVID (over radio): Check.
RORY (over radio): So it's 500 speed
managed, thanks, and we're now committed.
DAVID (over radio): Check.
NARRATOR: It's the job of the Emirates line
maintenance team to ensure that every plane
gets up into the air quickly and safely.
They're a rapid response team ready
to inspect the 42 planes landing and
taking off every hour.
ZO: Yeah, I'm close.
NARRATOR: A flight bound for Prague in the
Czech Republic is held up by 15 minutes.
ZO: And already
at departure time.
Okay, we'll swing by
and have a quick look.
NARRATOR: Zo Ammoury is the
engineer racing against the clock to get
it off the ground.
ZO: During the morning when it's a busy
time, if we're approaching a delay we just
try to jump on it to minimize the delay.
Also, the airport being as busy as it is,
sometimes the gates are required or we need
to get the aircraft
off straightaway for scheduling purposes.
NARRATOR: The passengers on this
plane have now been waiting 20 minutes.
ZO: I just got a call saying they have a
problem with the cargo lock in the aft hold.
MAN: Okay. All right. ZO: Can you take a
screwdriver and we'll have a look, please?
Yeah, they said had a problem with the
locks, which occasionally does happen.
If the, if the containers are warped
or disfigured, sometimes they don't
lock into place properly.
I'll have a look and see what's going on
just to try and keep this thing on time.
It's already delayed by 20 minutes.
(indistinct chatter)
ZO (off-screen): It looks like the
pallets aren't locking into place,
which means there's something ahead.
Unfortunately, we have to keep pulling
pallets out 'til we see why there's something
ahead that's not working properly.
NARRATOR: The mystery problem
is behind the containers somewhere.
MAN (off-screen): Hey,
watch out! Whoa, whoa! Whoa!
ZO: So, I think there's something
wrong with the first one that was put in.
Unfortunately, we have to unload all
the containers before we can look at the
first one and see why
it's not locked in properly.
NARRATOR: If the pallets
aren't locked into the hold safely,
they can't go with the flight.
Unloading all the containers
is going to take time.
ZO: They're just now at the moment about
three pallets away from being able to have a
look at the first, first,
first one that went in.
NARRATOR: It's up to Network Control Center
to deal with the fallout of the delay.
MAN: Right, Georg, EK139 to Prague,
running about 15, 20 minutes behind now.
GEORG: Yeah. MAN: They've
got a problem with the locks in the,
you know, in the floor of the cargo
hold, so we should have an update,
hopefully, in the next
five or ten minutes on that.
NARRATOR: The Vice President of
the nerve center is Georg Bröemmer.
He's the man who makes all the
vital decisions to keep the network on
track as problems arise.
GEORG: We'll assess the thing.
We'll try to fix it.
If it doesn't work we'll get a call back
again and then we'll start with plan B,
which probably will be to speed
up the flight and look at alternatives.
NARRATOR: If the plane flies faster it will
save time, but will also burn more fuel,
which is very costly, and a
longer delay could lead to the flight
being abandoned altogether.
GEORG: That could probably even go
to the point that, at the two hour margin,
that we are saying we offload the
passengers and maybe offer refreshments
and prepare a new aircraft.
IVAN: Yeah, we can't,
we can't delay this further.
ZO (off-screen): No,
they have an issue with.
NARRATOR: Zo and his
colleagues inspect every
detail to find the root of the problem.
ZO: It must be something with the container
that was put in first so they have to unload
the whole hold so we can
look at the first one.
NARRATOR: That means hoisting out the steel
containers weighing up to 1.6 tons each.
Finally, the last
metal box is dragged out.
Zo can now check the locking system on the
floor that holds the containers in place.
ZO: Chu-chu-chu.
There's no lock problem, nothing.
That's normal, normal, normal.
Yeah?
So what about this container,
this first container?
Is it warped 'cause I see it's a bit
damaged on the other side, yeah?
NARRATOR: The locks are given the
all-clear, so the container that was removed
must be checked.
GEORG: Ivan, the 139 Prague,
call the engineer again.
If that doesn't work we'll offload it.
IVAN: Can we have a word with the engineer
again and let me know in five minutes what
course of action we doing at the aircraft?
GEORG: Yeah, looks like a container,
there's one container currently not locked
on a position.
IVAN: Is the engineer working
on it or now have you.
NARRATOR: The troublesome container
may have to be pulled off the plane.
The delay could also mean people are late
for connecting journeys and the return flight
will be held up, too.
The ripple effect of one damaged container
will be felt from Dubai to Prague.
GEORG: The immediate
knock-on effect right now already is 140,
the return flight from Prague.
It has a minimum turnaround in Prague,
something like one and a half hours.
There are return passengers which
are now to be connected as well,
and we're monitoring it.
NARRATOR: To stay the world's
busiest global hub for decades to come,
Dubai International is investing
$7.8 billion over the next four years.
But space is limited and will continue to
be stretched as Emirates expands its fleet.
Today, a new overspill
parking bay, called an apron,
is being tested to see if it's
big enough to park a plane on.
Airside Projects Manager Laura
Brannigan is in charge of the trial.
LAURA: Well, this morning's activity is a
new apron that we're about to open in an
area we call Golf.
We've got nine different aircraft parking
positions that we need to open here,
but one of them is a little
bit of an interesting case.
NARRATOR: The interesting
parking spot is known as G6.
LAURA: It's right at the end of a cul-de-sac
area, so basically when an aircraft
needs to position in or out of here there
are some obstacles that it needs to avoid.
NARRATOR: The plan is to bring a 777 into G6,
bring in all the support vehicles needed to
load and unload it, and then push back.
Laura has to check every little detail
to ensure the huge plane can do all this
safely without a hitch.
LAURA: As you can see, we've got the stand,
we've got a road that comes very close,
so we wanna have a look at how that may or
may not affect the positioning of vehicles.
NARRATOR: Senior Pushback Operator Mark
Dearden is on site to observe the trial.
MARK: I'd give this bay
maybe a rating four to five out of ten.
You cannot get a good initial turn.
You have a fence behind
so there's space limitations.
LAURA: Right
everybody, that's it!
NARRATOR: More aircraft accidents happen
during pushback from the gate than up
in the air, so the concerns are very real.
But there's no more time to worry.
The 240 foot long
Boeing 777 is on its way.
With a wingspan of 200 feet
and costing over $300 million,
the tiniest knock to its wings could
cause some very expensive damage.
LAURA: I'm a
little bit nervous.
It's healthy
to be apprehensive in these situations.
NARRATOR: The 777
starts the turn into G6.
MARK (off-screen): I'm a little
bit worried about the markings.
I feel they may be a little bit too tight
for the turning circle of the aircraft.
NARRATOR: If the aircraft turns too
tight it could damage its landing gear,
putting it out of service.
MARK (off-screen): Doing the
initial turn onto the bay it was okay.
There's no issue with
the turning circle either.
Lots of wingtip clearance.
So coming onto the bay is no problem.
NARRATOR: The first part
of the trial is successful.
G6 has proved to be a welcoming host.
Next up, testing how easy it will
be to access a plane in this spot.
LAURA: All of the normal vehicles and
equipment that you would see around a plane
that do the cleaning, the catering,
moving the passengers around,
the steps, we'll put all of those on, have
a look at how they move around the plane.
It's a little bit stressful.
A lot of people, a lot of equipment,
a lot of things that could go wrong.
NARRATOR: To pass the trial, Laura
needs the ten vehicles to be able to move
around the plane safely.
But now she spots a huge problem.
The vehicles are pulling
off the apron to get 'round.
LAURA: Definitely not ideal to have vehicles
having to try and maneuver and do turns on
what is a service road.
NARRATOR: This second stage of the trial
has shown a dangerous error in the layout.
An entire road might need to be redirected
so there's space for the handling equipment,
a costly undertaking.
But there's no time to
dwell on this disappointment.
LAURA (off-screen): We're
really time-pressured now.
We've got ten minutes before this
aircraft has to go back into service.
NARRATOR: Pushback
cannot be rushed.
MARK: The most dangerous part
here is pushing into the unknown
is the clearance at the rear for the
tail and the wing tip clearance here
so worrying about a collision.
NARRATOR: Acute precision is
needed to move a 330 ton plane.
MARK (off-screen): It's looking
okay. We've done the pushback.
There's lots of room at the
rear, lots of wingtip clearance.
NARRATOR: There's no problem with the
pushback, but the road is still a headache for
Laura to get the plane parking
spot fully operational.
Although the other stands can open on
time, G6 won't be included in that number.
LAURA: It, it is
a little disappointing.
We have capacity constraints.
Every single stand on this
airport is extremely valuable.
But that being said, it's not valuable
enough for us to open something that's
not safe to use yet.
NARRATOR: Pilots Rory and Dave are undergoing
their final examinations in a simulator to
qualify to fly the biggest passenger
plane in the world, the A380.
RORY: Back a little then. Check.
NARRATOR: The plane has
suffered a double engine failure on the
right-hand side.
They're flying the world's biggest
plane on only half its engines.
MAN (off-screen): 200. Minimum.
NARRATOR: Landing looks like
an almost impossible challenge.
How they perform now will determine if
Rory and Dave can take the controls of
the real thing.
MAN (off-screen): 100.
DAVID: Go out the slot
MAN (off-screen): 50.
40.30.20. Retard. Five.
DAVID (over radio): Spoilers
reverse three green, brake to decal.
RORY (over radio): Check.
PETER: That was good.
It was, it was well handled.
NARRATOR: The plane's on the
ground in one piece, but worse is to come.
For the final test,
the simulator is reset to mid-flight.
Examiner Ali Kashwani takes over.
ALI: I'm gonna play the role of cabin crew
and I'm gonna call them and I'm gonna say
that there is lots of smoke in the cabin.
I want to see how
they're gonna manage that.
Hi, this is Ali from the back.
We are in mid-one and there is lots of
smoke coming from the ventilation vents.
DAVID: OK, thank you for that.
Is it dark in colour? Can you
tell us what it smells like?
ALI: It's a sort of white smoke
coming out from the ventilation.
RORY: Okay, that's bad.
NARRATOR: Smoke on any
airplane is very bad news.
The pilots are
tested on their reactions to the scenario.
RORY: Flight level 350.
We have reports of cabin smoke.
RORY: There's huge scope with the smoke
checklist in pretty much any aircraft to get lost
and to get confused.
What can happen is, if you fail to
identify the source of the smoke,
it can end up travelling throughout the
system 'round the aircraft setting off all
the other smoke alarms,
so it can get very messy.
RORY: Can you update us
on the latest Paris weather?
PETER: Rory is
doing the right thing.
You can tell his previous experience
as a Captain is kicking in there.
Immediately he asked for the nearest
airport, what are the weather conditions.
He's assuming it's gonna degenerate so
that he has to get on the ground right now.
Here comes the smoke into the cockpit now.
And what we are trying to do is replicate
conditions that were similar to the
UPS crash we had in Dubai a few years ago.
NARRATOR: In 2010, a Boeing 747-400 UPS
cargo flight suffered an internal fire,
filling the cockpit with
smoke shortly after takeoff.
As the aircraft attempted to
land back at Dubai it crashed.
Even though this was not an Emirates
flight, safety procedures were reviewed
after the incident.
As a result, all pilots must
be tested in similar conditions.
DAVID (over radio): Barely off.
And signs on.
NARRATOR: Before the pilots go through
the checklist to assess the situation,
they must get their oxygen masks on.
PETER: David should have his mask on, before
this, because you don't know if it's toxic,
you don't know if
it's dangerous goods, lithium batteries,
you have no idea what it is.
Any smoke whatsoever you've
gotta get a mask on immediately.
RORY: Check. So if you
continue with the procedure.
We've been cleared to descend.
PETER: We're not trying to put fear into
our pilots but we're trying to get them to
experience what their
own personal limits are under this very,
very stressful condition.
DAVID: Smoke fumes. Land ASAP.
RORY: Check.
DAVID: Apply immediately
cabin crew masks on. RORY: Check.
ALI: The smoke simulation,
it's a very difficult scenario.
Somebody has to locate
the source of the smoke.
The other person has
to fly the aircraft down to the ground.
NARRATOR: Teamwork is essential if Rory
and Dave are to get the aircraft on the
ground safely and, if they can, they
also need to locate and put out the fire.
This is as bad as it gets in the air.
DAVID: If you can isolate the
fire and put it out, your best option,
if there's no airport,
is to ditch in the ocean.
It's that serious.
NARRATOR: And if this isn't bad enough,
the oxygen masks that allow the pilots to
breathe in the smoke actually make it harder
for them to communicate with one another.
PETER: You can already hear the tone of
the voices are very difficult to understand
'cause they're talking
through a microphone now.
They're breathing a lot faster,
a lot louder 'cause of the stress.
RORY: Do you agree?
DAVID: I tend to agree, yeah.
PETER (off-screen):
David is doing some checklist.
You see him reach up and
start switching switches.
The smoke can get so thick you can't
see the switches to turn them on or off.
DAVID: The source of smoke is
suspected from the air conditioning.
RORY: Are you happy that
that's where it's from?
NARRATOR: With the air conditioning
pinpointed as the source of the smoke,
the pilots must now descend to
below 10,000 feet to depressurize the
plane and remove smoke.
DAVID: OK, we can't do any
more with that checklist
until we get to 10,000 feet.
ALI: Good.
PETER: If the smoke is becoming critical,
you have to get down to an altitude that
you actually depressurize the aircraft.
And it's as simple as opening a ram air button
and it's just air from the outside flowing
through just trying to get
the smoke out of the cockpit.
ALI (off-screen): Nicely done.
Thank you, guys.
Good, so that exercise is over.
NARRATOR: Disaster is
successfully averted.
After four hours in the simulator,
the examination is finally over.
PETER: Ali gave them the
thumbs up. They did well.
RORY (off-screen):
I'm relieved to have passed.
I've flown better than that and
I'm quite sure I've flown worse.
DAVID: We've passed,
which is great news.
Now the most exciting thing is we're
actually gonna get in the airplane,
which is what the last three and a half
months have been culminating towards,
so I'm very excited.
NARRATOR: After 40 minutes, the 777 for
Prague is still stuck at the departure gate.
Zo is determined the plane
leaves with all its luggage.
The faulty container is pushed
into a different position in the hope it
will fit into place.
ZO: We're not sure, but I think one
side of the container was a bit warped so
it's not allowing the
locks to go on properly.
Now it locks okay, it seems.
So, hopefully, this will be it.
They'll be able to load the
other containers and it'll be okay.
NARRATOR: The container wasn't locking into
its original spot by a mere millimeter.
But that must be dealt with so that
everything can get back on track.
ZO: No, just this container that they've
pulled out, they've moved it around to
another side and it seems
to be okay so no lock problem.
We'll get this airplane on its way.
When it reaches its final destination
they'll probably take that container offline
'cause it's causing problems.
NARRATOR: With the faulty container now
securely slotted into a different position,
the rest can be reloaded.
There's no time to waste
in the sweltering heat.
ZO: It's a bit hot and sweaty,
there's not a lot of airflow.
It's okay.
Hopefully, they'll get it on its way.
It's starting to be pushing 40, 45
minutes delay so I hope this will be it.
NARRATOR: Even if Zo does get this fixed,
the plane can't takeoff straightaway.
IVAN: Engineers are
working on this flight, so.
GEORG: Corrective action from
now will take 15 to 20 minutes,
because it requires load
sheets to be reworked and it
requires ATC flight plans to be filed.
All of that has a following
logistical consequence.
Once that is done we're going.
So, the longer we take the
longer the delay will take.
Currently, we're at the range of 50 minutes,
probably already reaching one hour now.
ZO: Yeah, handkerchief.
It's an essential piece of equipment here.
IVAN: 139 is sorted out.
They managed to establish
which unit had the problem.
GEORG (off-screen): All of the
containers are now going? All of them?
IVAN: Yeah, all of them are
going so aren't offloading it now.
GEORG (off-screen):
We're going in five minutes.
That, 'round about, is an hour delay.
NARRATOR: A delay of nearly an hour all because
one container was a millimeter out of place.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services