(dramatic music playing)
(radio chatter)
(music fading)
(upbeat music playing)
(funk music playing)
- Guess where I am.
I'm inside an airport operation car
at one of the world's busiest airport, Los Angeles.
(Background chatter)
We're on the runway. Wow.
- (Driver) We're on the runway, Sam.
So what we're looking for is discrepancies
with marking, signage and lighting.
- (Sam) Wow. Look at all the tyre marks. It's all black.
We are on one of the busiest runways in
the United States at LAX 2-5 left.
- City ops eight seven zero, clear of 2-5 left,
holding short 2-5 right at Bravo 17.
(background chatter)
- Welcome onto the longest runway at LAX.
- (air traffic controller) Eight seven zero from Bravo 17.
Proceed onto runway 2-5 right, eastbound.
- Well, too bad we're in a car.
We're not able to take off, Jon.
Oh, this is still an experience,
very cool, running down the longest runway in LAX.
- Los Angeles Sheriff city ops eight seven zero,
clear 2-5 right, thank you.
(radio chatter)
(engine roaring)
- Wow, what a beautiful aeroplane.
Now, Korean just started,
brought the 747-8 back this month.
- Let's go catch, uh, Korean as he gets to the gate.
This is one of my favourite angles to be behind the aircraft.
It's very important, for us, that we stay centre,
so that we're not jet blasted.
So you'll see me veer across,
and then just get behind him.
You can see the exhaust from his engines-
- (Sam) Yeah.
- (Jon) still on.
- (Sam) I can smell it in the car, the jet fuel.
(upbeat music)
- (Jon) Sam, the 747 freighter just departed,
the passengers have just arrived,
and it's like clockwork here,
the crews are getting ready to
turn this thing around in two hours, a busy day at LAX.
(upbeat music)
- (Shanay) So let's go catch the landing
of the Dreamliner 787-9, Tetiaroa
coming in as Tahiti Airlines 8 from Papeete, Tahiti.
We have about two and a half hours on the ground,
and I'm going to show you my work
in turning the aeroplane around.
- (Air traffic controller) Tahiti 8 heavy,
LA tower number 312508.
Runway- (engine roaring)
- (Sam) How did you go?
- Super! Look at that beautiful blue bird touching down.
- Oh nice. - Wants a kiss.
(upbeat music)
The aeroplane has just come to the gate
and the cargo lock has bridged on.
But we've got to service the oil.
Remember, this is a 787-9, so the amount of oil
we use is dramatically less than legacy aeroplanes .
The trick is doing this while the engine is still hot.
You see the smoke coming out of the engine over here?
(alarm bell ringing)
We're going to go to the other side,
open the service door and add oil.
The GNX that powers the Tahitian Dreamliner
prefers the Mobil Jet Oil II.
It's a specific oil for this engine
due to the nature of its viscosity and everything.
It's important to use the correct oil for the best
efficiency and extending the life of the engine.
- So every time when the aeroplane lands
you put two cans of this oil in the engine.
- In each engine, that's correct.
- (Sam) Right. - (Shanay) We top it up.
It has to be full
because remember our flights are ETOPS.
We fly over the ocean.
So having sufficient amount of oil is very,
very, very imperative.
- Sam, so it was a little noisy
under the aeroplane because of the air conditioning packs.
Remember this is a no bleed aeroplane.
The 787 is unique, but the UV light, what does it do?
There's an 80 second delay before water will enter the tanks
because the UV light acts as a filter.
It filters any impurities that's in the water
before it enters the tanks to be
then used on board the aeroplane.
We fill the water depending on the length of flight.
So this aeroplane is going to go to Paris,
which is why we need 800 litres
of water because the flight is longer.
- (Sam) This is how we access the aeroplane.
Friends are showing friends.
- Okay. So this is-
- (Sam) Oh, our guy's here.
(everyone cheering)
- Good to see you, sir.
Good to see you, man.
- I always come on board a clean aeroplane,
like a passenger, a customer, right?
And today's quite different seeing a dirty cabin aeroplane.
Not too bad though,
but you can figure when it's clean, what it looks like.
- And so Sam, this is the Poerava Business class cabin
of the Tahitian Dreamliner.
Obviously the aeroplane has just blocked in.
So we are going to have an army
of cleaning staff in here in no time.
And in an hour, the plane will be clean, catered
ready for the crew and bound for Paris.
(upbeat music)
- I see some FOD up ahead,
which is foreign objects and debris.
- (Sam) Oh, this piece here?
- (Jon) It's this piece here.
It is just a piece of paper, but
yesterday we took some pieces of
larger debris that we had to clear.
So to allow for the safe movement of aircraft.
These are the tools that we use, especially now
during COVID so that we don't get our hands dirty.
Hi Sam, let me show you some
of the construction site work that we have going on at LAX.
Why don't you follow me and
I'll tell you a little bit about it.
- (Sam) Sure.
- The construction that you see behind us is part of 4.5.
All of the terminals that we're building
is going to be 1.5, 2.5, 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5.
This is all part of the construction
that'll connect our terminal facilities
through to our train which is
a couple of years out from being completed.
Our responsibility with this is to make sure
that their plans are in place.
Their safety protocols are in place.
So Sam, if you can see the aircraft behind me,
the Turkish Airways is very,
in very close in proximity to the construction site.
Our responsibility with airfield is to make sure
that that aircraft's movement is never interrupted.
(engine roaring)
So here we are at one of our ramps at Bradley International.
What is your favourite aircraft?
Is it a Boeing product, an Airbus product?
- (Sam) I think, no doubt, it's the 747 here.
- And here it is about to push back.
(upbeat music)
- I've been coming here over 20 years,
seeing countless 747s.
And I'm so glad there's still 747s up to these days.
Korean Air, and later, Lufthansa and many more.
- So Sam, my colleague is waiting for this aircraft
up above to escort him to the departure point
of the airport, because we don't have the sufficient space
for group six.
The reason we escort them is
because of their wing span and their length.
We do this just in certain parts of the airport.
(upbeat music)
(background chatter)
(engine roaring)
- I can feel lots of jet blast,
just coming off the Korean 747.
(upbeat music)
(engine roaring)
I finally caught it, it's so beautiful.
It's such a nice gift.
You know what?
When you get something here, you lose something,
'cause I can see Lufthansa 747-8 is on the north side.
(upbeat music)
- Hey Sam, what do you think of that view?
Just don't jump whatever you do.
(upbeat music)
- My friend, I wish you showed me earlier.
You're saving the for best for last, it's unbelievable here.
- So these guys in here control two taxiways
to the east and two taxiways to the west.
It helps the movement of our aircraft,
and they work hand-in-hand with FAA.
It is operated by airport operations,
and we're very proud of that.
So welcome Sam.
(upbeat music)
(radio chatter)
So Sam, we just talked to Lot Polish here.
He's just a transition aircraft through our area,
so we gave him some instructions to hold short of Delta.
(upbeat music)
- Okay Sam, so what you're looking at here is the extension
of the international building known as Bradley west.
It is a hybrid building, which you can see
from the aircraft here.
So it'll accommodate both domestic
and international carriers.
It was open late in 2021,
and we're very excited about this addition to our airport.
(upbeat music)
- How many years I knew you?
- It's been about 20 years, Sam.
Do you remember that day when we decided
that you needed a call sign?
- Tell everybody what's the call sign.
- Panda One, welcome back to LAX.
- I'm the only panda here in LAX, I think.
- I believe you are the only Panda,
but we have other wildlife here,
and part of airport operation's responsibility
is something called "wildlife mitigation",
from getting rid of coyotes, snakes, birds.
We had pelicans land here the other day.
We had to capture them and get 'em away from the aircraft.
All with the intent of keeping
aircraft safety at the top of our list.
20 years ago, this is how I found him, asleep.
I've worn him out.
Panda One is asleep.
- I'm still here. I'm waiting for the Emirates A380.
This is probably the heaviest A380 out of Los Angeles.
The world's longest 380 flight, 16 hours.
There he goes.
(radio chatter)
(engine roaring)
(upbeat music)
- (Sam) All right, Jon. so here's the last stop, right?
You look pretty tired, so am I.
- Well, Sam, we've covered a lot in one day.
We've given you a snapshot of what airport operations does.
You are now in the airport response coordination centre
which ties all of what we showed you today
into a very neat bundle.
So from here we respond
to all emergencies or incidents.
Yesterday, for example we had an aeroplane
that had blown tyres on touchdown.
It resulted in two runways being closed.
From this room, we coordinated all of the response,
including buses to get our passengers off,
coordination with the ATC, air traffic control tower,
our law enforcement, and everything that needed to be done
is coordinated from this room.
- All right, panda number two, you've shown me a lot today
and I still want to get a couple more
landings at airfield. Let's go, right?
- (Jon) Panda One, let's go.
(inspiring music playing)