Ultimate Airport Dubai (2013) s03e02 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: In this episode,
Myles sweats as the
airports multi-billion dollar
expansion project hangs by a thread.
MYLES: It's 15 tons and you can
see them really stressing them. Jeez.
CARL: Woah!
NARRATOR: Carl's having
trouble out on the apron.
CARL (off-screen): Look at that!
Instead of stopping they just continued!
MEL: You need to go away Sir!
Can you go away?
NARRATOR: And Mel faces
off with unhappy passengers.
Dubai International Airport, the
busiest global hub on the planet.
Staying on top takes a crack team.
PHIL: No one else in the world is doing it but
everybody else in the world is watching us.
MEL: We have births, we
have deaths, the whole spiel.
HASSAN: It is very dangerous
because it can be explode at any time.
MYLES: This concourse will
help Dubai airports stay number one.
NARRATOR: It's the job of 90,000
staff from all over the world to make
this the ultimate airport.
Connected to 270 destinations
across six continents, Dubai International
truly is at the heart of the
world's aviation network.
Events thousands of miles away, both big
and small, impact the airport every day.
And that means all of its 90,000 staff
are trained to expect the unexpected.
9:30pm.
Airport services manager, Mel Sabharwal,
is dealing with the fallout from a major
terrorist attack in Pakistan.
MEL: The passengers are
starting to kick off again.
It is a potential riot situation.
NARRATOR: 71 passengers are
trying to make their way to Peshawar.
But a mass shooting at a school has prompted
multiple airlines to shut down their
operations in the city.
DAVID: Please,
please just back up.
NARRATOR: Mel and her colleague David
Scott arrive at the gate to try and pacify
the angry passengers.
Because of the heightened security threat,
Emirates feel they have no choice but to
cancel all flights to the
city until further notice.
MEL: It's not safe for us to go there and as
an airline we wouldn't compromise the safety
and security of our
aircraft or our passengers.
NARRATOR: The passengers have now
been stuck at the airport for 24 hours,
and it's starting to take its toll.
MEL: They‘re really frustrated,
you can see they are all really tired,
they just want to get home.
We don't have an
option to fly to Peshawar.
NARRATOR: Emirates offered
to fly the stranded passengers to Karachi.
But that's a 900 mile, 16
hour drive from Peshawar.
MEL: That option doesn't suit the
passengers, they don't want to go to Karachi.
MAN: We are tired
of sitting here.
MEL: Yes, I know it.
I know it very well. We are here with you.
Whenever you come, we here are with you.
MAN: So when are you
going to solve this?
NARRATOR: Emirates are now
trying to fly the passengers to Sialkot.
Only 250 miles away from Peshawar,
it's an easier and quicker onward journey
when they finally reach Pakistan.
But there's a problem.
Emirates don't have a
spare plane big enough to take them all.
AMJAD (off-screen): I will say this
only once, so listen to me very carefully.
We have tried to contact
Sialkot for a bigger plane, alright?
We are trying to send you all to Sialkot.
They have asked us to give them one hour.
They want one hour so they
can figure out a solution.
I know you have been
waiting since this afternoon.
NARRATOR: Hungry and exhausted, the
passengers' frustration is coming to the boil.
PASSENGER: The flights are coming
from all over the world except Dubai.
PASSENGER 2: You
are taking us for fools.
MEL: Please be patient.
Be patient, please.
PASSENGER: You
are lying to us.
MEL: We cannot do
anything right now.
DAVID: We just got to try and try and
keep them calm and wait a bit longer.
As you can see they're at
the end of their tether.
NARRATOR: All they can do now
is hope for good news on the bigger plane.
But the situation is in danger
of spiraling out of control.
DAVID: Oh gosh.
NARRATOR: The tense
standoff is now also a medical emergency.
At Dubai's global cargo hub, a
triple 7 freighter has just touched down
from Frankfurt, Germany.
It's en-route to Sydney Australia, but
first it must drop off and pick up cargo
here in Dubai.
At the center of this global chain
is ground dispatcher Carl Knight.
It's his job to unload the freight.
But he's frustrated as he's only just
been handed the flight's cargo manifest.
CARL: No what I wanted was to
be able to plan the flight,
I wanted to plan the flight, because there
is a lot of work on this flight and I didn't
get the opportunity to
do my normal planning.
It is not a way I like to work but time
to time that's what we are faced with
you know, that is all what we have to do.
NARRATOR: Former military man Carl knows
that the key to a successful dispatch
is rigorous planning.
But tonight Carl will
have to think on his feet.
CARL (off-screen): Wow,
I need to go down here.
This is going to be very tight.
Some of the cargo that has to come off in
Dubai is right at the front of the airplane,
but a lot of the cargo that we have to
offload before that is actually going on
to Sydney, Australia.
NARRATOR: On further inspection
the situation is more difficult than
Carl first thought.
The plane was poorly loaded in Frankfurt, so
he must take off 20 huge pallets in transit to
Sydney, just to access
the goods bound for Dubai.
CARL (off-screen): It is not an ideal situation
we don't really want to do this we'd love to
just keep it on board but
that's not going to happen.
NARRATOR: Carl has no option but to
unload and then reload 40 tons of goods.
CARL (off-screen): It's creating a
lot of extra additional work for us.
It is going to add an
extra 45 to 50 minutes.
And given the ground time from now, we've
got 1 hour 45 minutes from the arrival time
to the departure time, it's
really, really, it‘s really pushing it.
NARRATOR: Carl and his team
would normally have three hours to turn
this flight around.
And to make matters worse,
several items on the manifest require
extra special handling.
CARL: We've got an awful,
awful lot of dangerous good travelling on
this flight today.
So much so, over 100 items
of dangerous goods
are travelling on this flight.
Lots of flammable liquids,
flammable solids, oxidizing agents.
You know we don't want
anything going bang or catching fire.
NARRATOR: As the team
carefully stack the palettes on the apron,
Carl gets a nasty surprise.
CARL: I've actually found out that
we have actually got some explosive
substances on here today.
NARRATOR: The plane is carrying a shipment
of highly explosive flare gun cartridges.
CARL: We're just going to have to be
careful, extra careful with the handling
of them on the ramp.
What we don't want obviously, we don't want
the, we don't want a pallet falling on the
floor, we don't want any pallet failing
on the floor, but especially we don't want
an explosive pallet falling on the floor.
NARRATOR: Handling lethal
substances requires military precision.
CARL: We just need to
make sure that, we are watching everybody,
make sure everybody around
is doing what they should be doing.
NARRATOR: The last thing Carl needs
at this critical moment is a distraction.
CARL: Woah!
That is what I just noticed, they are dragging
something along that is obviously making
a horrendous sound and instead of stopping
and checking what's causing the problem
they just continued.
Despite the fact that he can see me waving
at him to stop he's just has continued.
That's what we are left with, we are left
with apron damage, and a huge piece of metal
lying on the floor.
NARRATOR: FOD, or foreign object
debris, must be cleared up immediately.
CARL (off-screen): Look at that!
NARRATOR: It could easily
damage a ground vehicle,
or worse, puncture an aircraft's tire.
CARL: You could obviously hear it was making
a sound and a noise and I shouted at you to
stop and you acknowledged
me and you carried on.
MAN (off-screen): Sorry I did
not listen, sorry for that.
NARRATOR: But with just 20 minutes
before the flight is due to depart,
Carl needs to focus on the cargo.
He goes to check on the
re-loading of the pallets from Frankfurt,
as well as the new cargo from Dubai
which must also be squeezed onboard.
CARL (off-screen):
It's full? Full?
Full, right ok, ok, ok.
NARRATOR: It's bad news, not
all the new cargo will fit.
CARL: We don't have enough space in the bulk
compartment, compartment 5 for all the bulk
cargo, it's not all going to go.
I'll have to calculate how much we are
actually going to have to leave behind.
CARL: Guys can you get
me a count of the pieces?
No, inside here, inside.
I want to count these pieces please, yeah.
Count pieces, no, go
in and count them properly.
19? 19? Ok. 19.
Calling sky cargo.
MAN (over radio): Sky Cargo.
CARL (off-screen): Come in. All
the bulk cargo will not go.
19 pieces.
NARRATOR: The 19 pieces of
unloaded cargo will have to follow on the
next flight to Sydney.
But the explosives and
flammables are onboard.
CARL (off-screen):
Go ahead, George.
NARRATOR: And with these
dangerous goods in the hold,
it's imperative Carl informs the pilots.
CARL: Hi Captain. Hello.
Hi I am Carl from Dispatch, hi,
evening, hello there, hi nice to meet you.
Lots and lots of nasty's
on today's flight, explosives as well,
you are carrying explosives,
they're transit from Frankfurt,
they're already loaded on position.
That's over 100 items of
dangerous goods carrying today.
NARRATOR: With the final
items secured, Carl can give
the pilots the go-ahead to push back.
CARL (off-screen): You're all
good, thank you very much.
Look at that, three minutes to
departure, exactly what we are looking for
bang on target, excellent.
NARRATOR: Despite all the challenges
thrown at him, Carl's cool head under
pressure means the flight
departs in the nick of time.
10.30pm.
Back in the terminal, Mel and David
are in a tense standoff with 71 passengers
stranded for 24 hours.
Now one of them has collapsed.
DAVID: Guys, back,
back. Please back.
Please, please, please, please.
Please. Back please.
MEL: Is this the same
guy that came in on shift?
DAVID (off-screen): Yes
he's fainted again.
MEL: Again?
DAVID: Yes.
MEL: The gentleman when
we first came on shift he'd collapsed
and we'd got a medical team to come and
assist him and take him
to the medical center.
Four hours later after he's
been released, he's collapsed again.
NARRATOR: This is the
second time the passenger has fainted,
and it's making a tricky
situation even worse.
MAN: This first time down, next
time down, no going this too much problem.
DAVID: Well we have to
take him to the hospital sir.
NARRATOR: The airport's medical team,
on standby 24/7, arrive to assist him.
Again.
MEL (off-screen): David,
David, same one.
We need a fit to
fly certificate for him this time, yeah?
I'd like the doctor to see him
again because he's collapsed again.
MEDICAL: It's ok, we
will bring him again the medical center.
NARRATOR: Doctors must give the man the
all-clear, for him to have any hope of making his
flight back to Pakistan.
NARRATOR: Now that
the sick passenger has been taken care of,
Mel turns her attention to the other
passengers, who have been waiting
at least 24 hours.
At last, she has an update about
their planned departure for Sialkot.
MEL: I'm going to tell them hopefully the
good news that we're getting them as near to
their destination as
possible, well Amjad will.
AMJAD: We have upgraded
the aircraft so all of you can go Sialkot.
The flight is at 6:20am
this morning from here.
It's confirmed that you
all will go to Sialkot.
100%. You are all
going to Sialkot.
Are you happy now?
MAN (of-screen):
Yes we are happy.
We are going after four days.
NARRATOR: But after
such a long wait, not all the passengers
believe the good news.
MEL: Some of them are saying you know
we went before we got on the aircraft,
we got off the aircraft, are
you sure the aircraft's going?
NARRATOR: Mel assures the passengers
the flight will depart at 6:20 am.
But that is still seven hours away.
MEL: They're asking for hotel accommodation
but by the time we process them by the time
they go outside, by the time they
come back it is going to be six hours,
they'll literally only have about 30 minutes
in the room so we are going to keep them
here, ticket, boarding card, food.
Insha'Allah.
NARRATOR: Happy the
tense situation has been diffused for now,
Mel prepares to leave.
But she knows it's not over yet.
MEL: Thank you guys.
It's a massive relief for the passengers
mainly, you know I'm just happy to give them
the good news to be quite honest.
NARRATOR: Six hours later,
the news is not so good.
Mel knows the 71 passengers
are desperate to board their flight.
Some have waited at
the terminal for more than 30 hours.
Now she has to tell them they've
got to wait even longer.
MEL: We've been told that the flight
is going to be delayed by 60 minutes,
purely because of
weather conditions in Sialkot.
NARRATOR: With thick
fog grounding all flights to Sialkot,
Mel needs her team to
break the news of this additional delay
as diplomatically as possible.
Get it wrong and they risk
inflaming an already volatile situation.
MEL: A few weather issues,
we're just getting clearance from Sialkot
and we'll start boarding.
You've got lots of staff
here, it should be smooth.
NARRATOR: Gate supervisor
Rishi Raj Sud, gets the dubious honor
of breaking the news.
RISHI: As soon as we know that the weather
is clear we will take-off from here.
PASSENGER (off-screen): So
how long we will stay here?
RISHI (off-screen):: We
will take off dead on six.
PASSENGER: I know you.
Today you tell us 6 o'clock, but you
have been telling us that for three days.
NARRATOR: The passengers
are at breaking point.
The weather delay is the last straw.
PASSENGER: If you force us to
stay here further, then we will fight.
MEL: They're not happy.
Other passengers are now getting
confused with cancellation because all
they're hearing is cancellation.
This situation needs to now
be controlled quite severely.
NARRATOR: To avoid any further confrontation
between passengers and her staff,
Mel calls the police for back-up.
MEL: I need the police here.
PASSENGER (off-screen): She is just talking
on the phone. She only takes her money.
MEL: Because they are disrupting
the other passengers. Yes, yes!
NARRATOR: In their current mood,
the passengers won't listen to reason.
MAN: Go Nawaz Go!
Go Nawaz Go!
Go Nawaz Go!
MEL: No, no! I'm
keeping my staff back.
I am not letting them
talk to the passengers.
Right, okay bye!
NARRATOR: Mel is starting to consider
what she can do to control the situation.
MEL: We might have to
take them off the aircraft.
You need to go away Sir!
Can you go away?
NARRATOR: Some passengers
are determined to be heard.
MAN: Why should
we go? Why go?
MEL (off-screen): You can stay
here. You can stay here.
MAN: Why? Why? Why go?
MEL (off-screen): I am not going
to listen to you if you're shouting.
MAN: I am not going
to be Pakistan?
MAN: It's been 3 days. 3 days!!
MAN: Am I not staying
in Pakistan. I will go to Saudi Arabia.
NARRATOR: Mel needs to calm the passengers,
or they won't be going anywhere.
Over at air traffic control the mood is
also tense, but for a different reason.
Phil Marques is getting ready
for a pivotal day for Dubai international.
A trial of a fully automated computer
system to guide planes around the airfield.
PHIL: The unique thing about this trial is
that no one else in the world is doing it,
but everybody else in
the world is watching us.
So really we're going to be the litmus
test or the measuring stick for every
other airport around the world.
NARRATOR: The system on trial is called 'follow
the greens, ' which relies on a computer to
decide the most efficient
route around the airfield.
PHIL (off-screen): Right now a pilot will get
his clearance and he will receive a really long
taxi instruction, go from
here to there, to there to there to there.
Read that back to the controller, the
controller has to hear it back and make sure
that it's all correct.
This system completely eliminates that.
What ‘Follow the Greens' is allowing us to
be the first airport in the world that goes
fully automatic, reducing the
controllers need to talk on the frequency,
it keeps things safer and it's ah,
we're really going to be a world first.
NARRATOR: 8,000 LED's will highlight
green routes for pilots to follow.
Cutting communication to
air traffic control by 70%.
PHIL: That allows the airfield to increase
capacity because our controllers won't be
overloaded they'll be able to handle
whatever the capacity the airlines
want to throw at them.
NARRATOR: At any one time, ATC can be directing
30 airliners taxiing around the airfield.
Soon, the lives of everyone onboard
will be put in the hands of a computer.
PHIL: It's essential that
we're 100% sure that the system works,
there are no bugs and that it is safe.
NARRATOR: Today they're testing
how the system reacts to a ground vehicle
obstructing an aircraft's route.
Airside operations duty manager, John
Taylor, has the dubious privilege of playing
chicken with this 70 ton 737.
JOHN: So what we're going to do
is, we're actually blocking the route of
this oncoming aircraft.
NARRATOR: ATC's radar
should automatically detect John's car.
And the lights should alert
the pilots to the blockage.
JOHN (off-screen): Obviously driving in
front of an aircraft is not the best idea.
There are lots of
things that can go wrong.
NARRATOR: John is about to find out
whether the new system works, or not.
NARRATOR: In terminal 3, the passengers
of flight EK 620 have been waiting
for their flight for over 30 hours
and their frustration has boiled over.
MEL (off-screen): They don't
understand that it's weather related,
they just think that we are
messing them around again.
I can't crowd control them at this
stage, I don't expect my staff to either.
So we need to wait for the
authorities at this stage.
NARRATOR: When police arrive,
the tensions show no signs of diffusing.
Mel is worried the passenger's behavior
could threaten the flight's safety.
MEL: A few of them in this state on
board an aircraft if for whatever reason,
mechanically or whatever issue happens and
we're delayed again there will be a riot on
board the aircraft and we can't
afford to let that happen.
So I've got another 5 or 6
police officials coming down.
NARRATOR: Mel's shift is due
to finish before the passengers board.
Her colleague John Krempa,
arrives to take over.
JOHN: This is not the
way we usually like to start our shifts,
however our intention is to get
them on their way as soon as possible.
Comfortably.
And get on with the day.
NARRATOR: Mel doesn't want to let the most
confrontational passengers onto the plane.
MEL: I can
identify them to you.
JOHN: That's
fine, that's fine.
MEL: And once they come through
the gate if we move them to one side.
NARRATOR: A couple of agitated
passengers are of particular concern.
JOHN: The short hair in the black jacket,
the arms folded, yeah that's one of them.
NARRATOR: John spots the
second man identified by Mel.
JOHN: At this moment he will be offloaded
from the flight along with the other customer
that was identified earlier by Mel.
NARRATOR: The agitators aren't the
only ones who might not make the flight.
The man who fainted twice
has been cleared to fly.
But he's clearly still unwell.
JOHN: This gentleman as you can see he has
fallen, this is the third time that he has
fallen down since having been with us.
But we've had somebody call medics and the
medics are on their way so hopefully they
will be here very soon.
NARRATOR: The stress and lack
of sleep seems to be too much.
Now after well over a day of waiting at the
airport, he may not be allowed to board.
JOHN: We have a very strict
policy on not carrying those
passengers who the medical
clinic deems as unfit due to their health,
we don't want to have another
issue on board due to health.
NARRATOR: And it
just gets worse.
The mood of the passengers hinges on the
weather more than a thousand miles away,
and the update is not good.
JOHN: 50 meters?
Okay so the visibility in Sialkot is
50 meters off the ground in the fog,
ok which is obviously below minimum.
That's not good news, because now
it's going to be, probably a longer delay
than we anticipated.
NARRATOR: John
braves telling the crowd.
JOHN: Right gentleman, unfortunately
the fog is not lifting yet in Sialkot,
it's 50 meters off the ground.
And therefore it's unsafe to land an
aircraft at this time, it's only 50 meters.
Therefore the next update that we
will provide for you is one hour from now.
NARRATOR: This time the
passengers seem resigned to their fate.
But unfortunately for John, the dense fog
in Pakistan has forced another flight to
return directly to Dubai.
And he now faces the prospect
of a new planeload of irate passengers.
JOHN: I'm expecting that
these passengers are no going to be happy,
with a minimum 2 to 3 hour that we
have in store for them when they arrive.
NARRATOR: 10 am and up in
ATC, it's the moment of truth.
Dubai's automated ground control system
'follow the greens' is just minutes away
from being put to the test.
PHIL: It is a live test we're in the live
operation, we've got to get this up and running
we don't have many opportunities
to run these trials.
NARRATOR: John Taylor, call sign airside
2-5, is going to park directly in front of an
oncoming 70 ton airliner,
to see if the system can detect his car.
JOHN: Hello John speaking?
PHIL: Hi John, it's
Phil from ATC how are you?
JOHN: Very good and Phil you?
PHIL: Good thank you, George is manning
our ground position and he's ready to start
getting a trial up and
running with you if you are ready to go?
JOHN: I'll probably
stop around 250 meters in front of him.
PHIL: Ok sounds good, I'll let
George know all that and he will talk to
you on the frequency.
GEORGE: Alright
switch the system on.
Mick can you get the fully automatic on first
thing and I'll just change it over here.
JOHN: Ground airside 25.
GEORGE (over radio): George
ATC: "Airside 25 Ground Go ahead."
JOHN: Are you ready
for the test sir?
GEORGE (over radio):
"Airside 25 we're ready for the test
and the system has been set
up. Report ready to go."
JOHN: Ok I am ready to go now
sir I've got an aircraft just taxiing up.
NARRATOR: John parks his car
in front of a taxiing 737.
JOHN: So we're actually
blocking the route of the aircraft.
NARRATOR: 70 tons of aircraft
is now bearing down on John.
All he can do is hope the radar system
detects the car and alerts the pilot.
NARRATOR: 800 feet now lie
between John and the 737.
JOHN: From the pilot's perspective
as he's coming along the taxiway,
the green lights should
stop at my vehicle.
NARRATOR: But these green lights are still
on, and the 737 shows no signs of stopping
as it relentlessly powers
towards John's vehicle.
He has no option but to
speedily get out of the way.
The test has not gone to plan.
JOHN: Hi Phil.
PHIL: I didn't see what I was
expecting to see on my lighting panel,
it looked like the lights
actually didn't um
turn off and go back on
when you were close.
What did you see down there?
JOHN: Well I actually saw lights which I
shouldn't have done so it was a little bit
confusing, I'm not going to lie.
NARRATOR: With the lights remaining green,
despite the obstruction of John's car,
the revolutionary multi-million dollar
system is having some teething problems.
PHIL: It didn't really work
the way we expected it to.
So we're just going to
have a quick look at the system as to why,
see if it is something that we can work
on here, to get sorted and try and run it
again, but not an encouraging sign.
NARRATOR: Down but not out.
Phil and George check the
'follow the greens' program sequence.
PHIL: Hopefully it's just a programming
or an adaptation type change that
we can fix quite quickly.
NARRATOR: George tweaks the
settings and resets the system.
GEORGE (off-screen): James,
873 is going right on Zulu.
Airside 25 Dubai ground we'll
be commencing the test shortly,
advise once you are ready.
NARRATOR: For John, it's
back to action stations.
JOHN: Fingers crossed a very clever man
upstairs has pressed the right buttons this
time and we can get
the result that we want.
Ground airside 2 5 back at ITHP abeam
November 8 Alpha for simulation test.
GEORGE (over radio): George ATC: Airside
25 are you ready to recommence the test?
JOHN: Affirm sir I am on taxiway November,
abeam November 8 Alpha on the ITHP.
NARRATOR: George checks in
with the taxiing airliner.
GEORGE: Standby 303 the tower, the
vehicle's about 250 meters clear of you,
can you now observe the greens?
And what you see from the cockpit?
NARRATOR: The pilot reports the
lights are highlighting the obstruction.
GEORGE: Standby 303 so it appears to be
one green line and a circular around the
vehicle is that correct?
Ok 303 thank you for your
assistance that's copied.
NARRATOR: The lights that
were green before have now gone off.
JOHN: Basically I can't see any lights
which is actually what should happen,
so now I am going to vacate the taxiway
and get out of the way of the aircraft.
PHIL: Hey John yeah it worked really well
from our side I think they have made a couple
of small changes up here
and it seems to have worked.
JOHN: That is a very big tick in the
box for airside ops especially as we will
obviously have to sign off against
the project from a safety point of view
so it's good news.
It is a big thumbs up day.
NARRATOR: If further trials succeed,
the system could be switched on
in two month's time.
PHIL: The day that we hit the switch and go
24 hours a day fully automatic ‘Follow the
Greens' there will be a huge sense of pride,
I think from the whole aviation community
here at Dubai we will be extremely
proud of the system we have created,
we will be world leaders, and it will just
be another project that Dubai has done
that nobody else has.
NARRATOR: Back in the terminal,
John Krempa has reached concourse B.
JOHN: Ok First and Business Class
customers please go with my colleague.
NARRATOR: And is relieved to find the
situation with the returning plane isn't
as bad as he feared.
But just as one crisis is avoided, John
receives news that the fog has lifted and
the passengers have finally
started to board their flight for Sialkot.
He's over a mile away from their gate, and
is worried two tricky passengers will board
in his absence.
JOHN: OK do you remember we discussed earlier
these two passengers that were causing a
scene at the gate earlier?
Do you remember these two?
Are they still physically in front of you?
Ok. Hold them there, hold them
there until I get there, Ok?
NARRATOR: If John feels the passengers are
likely to make more trouble on the flight,
he will have no choice
but to keep them in Dubai.
JOHN: Are you ready to travel?
MAN: Yes travel.
JOHN: You understand?
MAN: Yes.
JOHN: Ok.
And you feel as though everything
is going to be ok once on board?
MAN: Everything.
JOHN: Everything is good for you?
MAN: Everything is fine.
JOHN: Ok, ok gents let's go
please. Ok, thank you.
JOHN: It was very clear upon assessing their
condition that they are not going to pose any
safety or security
threat on board the aircraft.
NARRATOR: Finally, after more than
36 turbulent hours waiting at the airport,
the passengers are able
to leave for Pakistan.
JOHN (off-screen): Really
nice to have a good ending.
Ready for the next challenge.
NARRATOR: In the race to increase
capacity and revenue, Dubai is expanding
at breakneck speed.
Its massive new concourse D, is racing towards
completion, and construction teams are now
putting the finishing touches
to its automated train system.
They've just taken delivery of
the state of the art train cars.
JAMES: It is a multimillion dollar
vehicle, they are specifically designed and
built for the airport, there is no
other vehicle like this in the world.
It's a bit more expensive
than a few Ferraris.
NARRATOR: Its James Grisdale's
job to crane these multi-million dollar,
15 ton vehicles onto the 40
foot high elevated track.
JAMES: It is a big day, you know
expensive vehicles, a lot could go wrong.
You only need to look at
YouTube to see that it does
happen in the industry
lifting rigs do fail.
NARRATOR: If anything does go wrong with the
lift today, the airport's 900 million dollar
new concourse D won't open.
NARRATOR: The driverless train cars have
just arrived from Pittsburgh in the USA.
Having survived the
seven thousand mile, four week journey
completely unscathed,
James can't allow the cars to get damaged
at the very last hurdle.
JAMES: So we've decided not to take the
plastic covers off today when we lift them
because we're using two spreader beams,
the shackles and the crimps could scratch
the top of the vehicle, something we don't
want to do, so we're going to leave the
covers on today and
then we'll unravel it when we get it up to
the guideway this afternoon.
NARRATOR: The one mile long elevated
track is the airport's vital link to its
brand new concourse D.
Built to meet ever increasing demand,
this extension of terminal one will boost
Dubai's capacity by 18
million passengers a year.
That means up to 200,000 passengers travelling
to and from the concourse every day.
These automated train cars must
work perfectly, or risk the whole
project being de-railed.
MYLES: This train is
fundamental to the whole project,
without the train there's
no passengers getting back or forwards.
NARRATOR: With the concourse due
to open in just a few months,
project manager Myles Jones has come down to
make sure the lift goes off without a hitch.
MYLES: It is crucial that we get this
perfect to get it up onto the platform as
efficiently and as smoothly as possible.
NARRATOR: Before the train cars
can be craned on to the elevated track,
they must be transported
to the security controlled airside area.
MYLES: Anything going airside has to be swept
by the police so they check for anything
that shouldn't be there.
NARRATOR: As the vehicles are too massive
for even the largest of Dubai's x-ray
machines, they will be given a thorough
sweep by highly trained sniffer dogs.
JAMES: We've got a little bit of a logistical
issue with how we're going to get the dogs up
into vehicles so as you can see it's
about 2.5 meters to get the dogs up so
hopefully they don't bite.
NARRATOR: Despite all of James'
meticulous planning, this simple,
yet vital detail seems
to have been overlooked.
MAN: You are not going to
get a dog up that platform.
JAMES: I need an
aluminum scaffold.
Ok aluminum scaffold yeah,
yeah I want aluminum scaffold.
Just getting a ladder seems
to be tough this morning.
NARRATOR: After an hour's wait,
the police arrive to inspect the cars.
But the delay now risks putting
the lift behind schedule.
JAMES: As soon as that's done we
are going to get the vehicles on the road,
drive them down to our lifting location
and then lift them up onto the guideway.
Hassle free, hopefully.
NARRATOR: It takes the sniffer
dogs just minutes to check each car.
JAMES: So the police sweep is
done, it seems like we got the all clear.
NARRATOR: Finally the team
can get the move underway.
But the wait for the dogs
has cost them valuable time.
MYLES: Now It's two and a half hours into the
day and we are just moving this first car now
which is ok but a bit
slower than what we wanted.
NARRATOR: The team
are up against a tight deadline, by 5:00,
200 buses packed with laborer's will
be travelling through their work site.
JAMES: If we don't get these done by 5:00
we are going to basically hold up 11,000
people who are trying to
get home this afternoon.
NARRATOR: The train cars have been
transported airside to where the crane
is being prepped.
With a 250 ton lifting capacity, this
hydraulic crane is more than a match
for the 15 ton cars.
But with such a valuable load,
the team can take no chances.
JAMES: Ok so the trains
are here, the crane's nearly set up,
what we need to do now is we're going
to have to unshackle everything from the
trailer, get it all loose make sure the
breaks are on, make sure nothing is
hanging on the undercarriage.
NARRATOR: The undercarriage houses guide
wheels and delicate current connectors
that have to make perfect contact
with the track's central power rail.
With just inches to play
with, there really is no margin for error.
JAMES: We hit it here, and we bend this, or
we bend these, it's going to cause us delays,
we are going to have to restore it,
all of these parts are made overseas,
none of them are manufactured
locally, we'll have to fly all of these in
if anything is damaged.
NARRATOR: It's a high risk operation
that will test James and the crane
team to their limit.
JAMES (off-screen): There is
always potential for it to fall,
but you have the potential
to injure people.
We'll see how we get on, we've got a good
team so hopefully they do it properly,
otherwise Jason is
going to end up in jail.
MYLES: We've got to lift it up to the top
there it's got to go over about 20 meters high
so the boys are just preparing the car to
be lifted up, they'll put the beam across
the top, they'll hook it up and hopefully
will lift it up and Bob's your uncle.
NARRATOR: The team connect the spreader
beam, crucial to balancing the load,
to shackles on the underside of the car.
JAMES: Ok it looks like
we're nearly ready to go.
So we'll slew it turn it
a little bit in the air not too much and
then we'll drop it down.
MYLES: It's all now
rigged up, there's tension on the crane
now so we are all ready to
lift, so a safety check right
around the perimeter of the
lift and then we'll lift it in
about a minute or two.
NARRATOR: While Myles closes the area under
the crane to vehicles and construction
personnel, James heads
up to the elevated track.
JAMES: Basically this is where we are going to
be putting the train you can see these little
wooden boxes, we've set those up so that we
can know exactly where we've got to put those
wheels, those guide wheels
that we have underneath here.
So you can see where the crane is
set up, this is where we are going to slew
it up and over.
We need to fit the vehicle in between this
walkway and the emergency walkway over there.
Any wind, any movement
of the vehicle could cause damage to it.
NARRATOR: James needs to get
the lift underway quickly.
Strong winds are
forecast for the afternoon.
JAMES: It's definitely
blowing a breeze I can feel it in my hair.
MYLES: Fingers crossed
everything will be fine.
NARRATOR: After more than two years in
the planning and a four week journey from
Pittsburgh, it's now crunch time,
and everyone is feeling the pressure.
JAMES: Yeah we
can start the lift.
MYLES: Off the ground, pretty happy
about that, now we got to get it up there.
NARRATOR: The thick steel cable
strains under the tension.
JAMES: This is when we could lose the
whole vehicle if something was to go wrong.
MYLES: The car there moves around a fair
bit you know it's 15 tons and you can see
them really stressing them.
Jee.
NARRATOR: The multi-million
dollar train car is 65 feet in the air,
and James' worst fears have come true.
The wind is picking up.
JAMES: You see the crane bobbing
a little bit with the wind back and forth.
It is a cause for some concern because
if it's rocks too far in either direction,
obviously it's going to get heavy on
one side and could cause it to buckle.
NARRATOR: If James and his team can't
get the lifting cradle back under control,
its precious 15 ton
load could destabilize.
JAMES: If it were to fall
now it would destroy the whole vehicle,
I don't think there is any
other, it's 20 meters up in the air,
15 tons of equipment, there won't
be much left of it if it was to fall.
We've got to be a little bit careful with the
wind back I can feel there is a little bit
of a cross breeze so obviously that's going
to make it a little bit more difficult for
us to position it in here.
Millions of dollars' worth of
train is suspended above us, yep.
NARRATOR: So far so good.
James now has to drop it down
inch perfect onto the tracks.
JAMES: Ok let's bring it down.
The axles, right?
Axles fine?
NARRATOR: But the wind pick ups
again and twists the car out of alignment.
JAMES: Pull it.
Slowly, once it's moving it's moving.
NARRATOR: The team must work together
to wrestle the car back into position.
JAMES: You see this, Baba,
this here, needs to be here.
How is that side Sergio?
No. This side, hello!
Ok that's better yeah.
Bring it slowly down
and back a little bit.
Alright you side Jim?
NARRATOR: They've come along way,
but these last few feet are the hardest.
JAMES: This is the part that
we are obviously concerned
about we could hit it on either side.
Anything that we scratch or damage on it
we're going to have to replace and the only
place we can do that is in the
States, so the smallest,
smallest scratch is
obviously a big problem.
Let's bring it down.
So we just want to make sure that
we've got everything aligned before
we drop it down.
NARRATOR: Even at this late stage, James
knows that it all could still go wrong.
JAMES: Michael, out of there.
Don't go under the car.
Move out of there!
Out, out. Out!
NARRATOR: But despite
fighting the 15 ton weight of the train,
James is struggling to
get it back on line.
JAMES: Ok I think that's it.
Ok, down, down.
As you can see how
close we are now, to the wall.
This is where a big breath of wind, anything
along those lines could push it off course
bump it into somebody,
bump it into the guideway.
NARRATOR: With barely two inches
clearance on either side,
it's a precise fit.
At the worst possible moment.
JAMES (off-screen): Stop!
NARRATOR: A sudden gust of
wind pushes the train out of alignment.
JAMES (off-screen): Stop!
Lift it up a little bit.
We've just hit the side
of the emergency walkway with the pin.
Got a little bit too close
to the emergency walkway,
that's the problem with the wind, you
never know when it's going to pick up,
all it takes is it to blow this vehicle a
couple of centimeters and we could be
hitting the edges.
And it's looking good.
NARRATOR: Fortunately the train has escaped
damage and inch by inch the car drops
precisely into place.
JAMES (off-screen): So you can actually
see the guide wheel going on to the box
that we've made, and you can see the
alignment is going straight down on to it.
It looks aligned here
right, good, yeah it's perfect.
We're good here.
Alright set it down.
If you can hear, you can actually hear the
guide wheels rubbing up against the steel
guideway, that's how
close it is, how close we need to get it.
Looks good.
Okay so we're done.
That's it, how's the guide wheels.
On?
Everything on?
There we go.
Sigh of relief, it's on the ground I
think any major issues that could have
happened now I think we
have diverted it, so we've got through it.
NARRATOR: One down,
just another seven to go.
The team push the train car back down the
track and take off the protective covers,
giving James his first
opportunity to inspect it.
JAMES: I've seen pictures of it from
Pittsburgh but the first time we've seen it in
the flesh in Dubai and very
pleased, pleased as punch.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.