Over four and a half million people use City Airport every year and at Londonist
we're heading behind the scenes, pulling back the curtain to find out
what it takes to keep everything moving. We'll follow your bags after you hand them
over to those lovely people at check-in. "TVs. People buy TVs and ship them home? Yeah"
Well get a marshalling lesson from Danny in Ramp Services - in case you've ever
wanted to park a plane. "That's to bring the aircraft forward", and hunt down the
culprit who accidentally triggers an airport-wide alarm which we're told
definitely wasn't put on for the cameras and we'd hope so after seeing some of
these faces. Not happy
Right now we are walking along what we call the East Pier which is four aircraft
stands on the eastern side of the terminal and we're going to head to the
outbound bags team to find out what what happens to your hold luggage when
you arrive as a passenger. So what happens after your bags disappear behind
that rubber flappy dangly curtain thing - that definitely can't be the right name.
This is the start from here
So behind there is what? Check-in desks
The girls work behind there. From that point it come to us - through the fire door
come along here
We have two machines. 1 and 2
So 8 bags go to the right and 8 bags go to the left
So it's getting scanned? X-ray machine is here
And so where does it go off to after this? It goes up here and make a left,
come all the way around the belt. Now this is quite small compared to most
airports right? Yes it's easier for us. Everything comes
together, all the bags come on one belt. See it's not how big it is, it's what you
do with it that counts. So tell me about some of the more random stuff that
comes through here? We have live animals, dog, cat, bikes, big box
TVs. People buy TVs and ship them home? Yeah. Going to Lagos. Is there a big market for TVs in Lagos?
Who knows?
With 18,000 items going through outbound bags every week woe betide you if you
put someone's expensive rubber knickers on the wrong flight, and to make sure you
and your rubber knickers get to the same destination - barcodes. Oh and TV gameshow
sound effects. And if you put a wrong bag like this one here
says no because it's going to Glasgow. So just around the corner from baggage are
Ramp Services. Now these are the people who load, unload, and give the plane some love
when it's on the stand. But they don't empty the loos - well Danny doesn't.
That's what he told me
Tell me about the guys with the paddles? The guys guiding the plane in. The marshalling? That's the
one yeah. So do you know what the signs mean? The signs?
That's to bring the aircraft forward. Once we get to the turning point
which normally is situated on the lines Once you get to the turning point you then
lift the right arm depending on what direction you're going. You then
pass it over to the quarter marshaller and then he
brings it back himself and then aligns it. Once he's happy with it he then puts the
cross sign which stops the aircraft. Handbrake set. Once it's set you are safe to
put chocks in.
Hold on.
Let's turn this off
So it's ramp control. They're letting us know what stands and what aircraft are
going to go on what stand.They're just giving you enough time to set the stand
up and tell you how much baggage weight is on the aircraft so you can
delegate your staff and how many guys you will need on that aircraft. You've
got about fifty voices on one radio. Literally, 20 miles, 10 miles, it
could be short finals, long finals and yes it's a fast, it's a reactive airport,
very quick. So we're due to head out onto the runway with airfield operations in
about 40 minutes time, so we decide this is a good time to get a bite to eat. Then
just as we're stuffing that big tasty wrap right in our faces...
"Attention. Attention. There is a fire in the building"
So here's the deal. If you are airside, as in you've gone through security, you've hoped for a
pat-down but didn't get one, you make your way out onto the apron. Basically
where the planes park up. And if you haven't made it through, but are
still hoping for an intimate cavity search, you're evacuated to the front of the
terminal. In all seriousness, because the alarm has been triggered
we are canning filming for the day. Andrew who I was with actually had to go
on and do his PR stuff. Loads of people have been tweeting about the fact they've
been on the runway. Well not on the runway, on the apron. Need to get out right,
that's very important, and so what we're going to do is; he's said to me
can we pick this up next week?
Next time. We race a plane down the runway
Point at some screens in the tower - nice finger
and dish the dirt on the future plans
for the airport and Sian Berry of the Green Party ain't gonna like it.