Ultimate Airport Dubai (2013) s02e03 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: In this episode
What could be customs biggest bust ever.
HASSAN (off-screen): This
can't be something normal.
It is something illegal.
NARRATOR: How to do a hill
start with a 300 ton Triple 7 attached.
MARK: If I lose power
the aircraft will pull me backwards.
NARRATOR: And a race to fix an
overheating plane before departure.
ANDY: It isn't just a
quick fix because it might happen again.
NARRATOR: Dubai
International Airport.
The busiest global hub on the
planet and aiming to stay there.
PILOT: Clear for take off.
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?
HASSAN: Oh sorry.
NARRATOR: More
smugglers to stop.
HASSAN: This is
the heroin here.
NARRATOR: And massive
engineering projects to complete on time.
It's nonstop.
24/7.
CARL: Oi! Oi! Stop.
Everything is time, time, time.
NARRATOR: It's the job of 90,000
staff from all over the world
to make this the ultimate airport.
Dubai International.
One of the world's fastest growing
airports is expanding at break neck speed.
Aiming for 75 million passengers a year.
Rapid growth means constant
change except in one area.
Safety, which is paramount.
That includes the safety of Dubai itself.
Customs Officers are on the front line
seizing 39% more contraband in the first
quarter of 2014 than the year before.
Customs Officer Hassan Ibrahim is
on his way to the baggage terminal.
Following a spot check on a
passenger arriving from Pakistan.
HASSAN: There is some bags
that's gone through the x-ray machine.
My colleagues suspect that maybe
there's some secret bottoms in the bags.
(speaking native language).
NARRATOR: Dark patches on the
x-ray are raising suspicion.
HASSAN (off-screen): What's showing here,
the darkness here, the density, it's high.
So maybe it's some secret bottoms.
NARRATOR: Hassan gives the
man from Karachi a chance
to own up to anything he
might be concealing.
HASSAN: Do you have
anything for declaration?
Any valuable things you
have, you carrying with you?
Anything you want to
declare for the customs?
No?
NARRATOR: The Customs Officers think it's
strange that the passenger traveling alone
has five bags.
HASSAN: Why so many bags?
PASSENGER (off-screen): Because
I have to move here. HASSAN: Move here?
PASSENGER (off-screen): Yes, I
will live here with my children.
HASSAN: Children?
Where is your child?
PASSENGER: He will come.
NARRATOR: The passenger
claims ignorance of anything
concealed in the bottom of the bags.
HASSAN: What is
this at the bottom?
PASSENGER (off-screen): I
don't know anything about that.
NARRATOR: As the officers
investigate further
He's keen to tell them the bags
themselves belong to someone else.
PASSENGER (off-screen): These are my goods.
The Holy Quran and all these things are mine.
HASSAN: And the bag? PASSENGER
(off-screen): The bag is not mine.
HASSAN (off-screen): Talk correctly
with me and then we will help you.
If you do not speak the truth
then you will face a problem.
PASSENGER (off-screen): Sir, whatever
you ask I will answer you truthfully.
You ask me what is inside
and I will tell you.
If someone has deceived and cheated
me then that's something different.
NARRATOR: The officers think
there's something funny about the bags
and they'll tear them apart to find out.
(speaking native language).
NARRATOR: One of the airport's most vital
but unsung jobs, keeping everybody safe,
is push back operating.
Every aircraft is pushed back
from the stands so the reverse
jet blast doesn't blow out
the terminal windows.
Tugs are called into action every time a
jet breaks down and every time airlines need
to save money on fuel.
The airport would grind to a halt if
it didn't have push back operators.
But it's not an easy skill to master.
Mark Dearden is the top gun of
Dubai's push back operators.
MARK: Just because you have a driving license
outside doesn't mean you'll be able to
push an aircraft.
NARRATOR: He knows high skill and precision
are needed to steer 200 foot long planes
around a fast paced,
ever changing landscape.
MARK: Multi million pound
aircraft full of passengers.
We want no mistakes at all.
NARRATOR: More aircraft
accidents happen during push back
from the gates than up in the air.
MARK: A worse case scenario
could be a jack-knife to the tow bar.
Damages the nose landing
gear which then causes delay.
Passengers don't get to their
destination, revenue is lost.
NARRATOR: Mark's so good
he trains the new recruits.
At push back pre-school
where training is rigorous.
MARK: We have them
pushing a dolly through in a figure eight.
This is a very good tool to see if
people have the hand-eye coordination
and natural ability.
Turn into it. Yeah?
Turn now.
Whoa! Whoa! Stop!
Set full lock.
You'll damage the, just reverse back.
NARRATOR: It's a very counter
intuitive way of operating.
The driver goes one way,
the dolly the other.
MARK: I liken it to
patting the head and rubbing the stomach.
Everything inside you
wants to do the opposite.
You have to fight that urge and.
TRAINEE: Normal driving you're
turning right your equipment goes right.
You're turning left, your
equipment goes left.
So this is a little bit different.
MARK: It's a definite skill.
We need practice, practice.
The trainees are always nervous.
It's higher grade, higher salary.
It's a prestige thing.
Being a push back operator is looked upon
as being a very good skill set to have.
NARRATOR: 80% of the trainees
fail on the first day and have
to return to their regular
jobs at the airport.
MARK: Unfortunately
I will have to fail.
TRAINEE: Yeah.
NARRATOR: For those
who make it there's an $80 a day pay rise.
MARK: Left hand side
was very good which means you've passed.
TRAINEE (off-screen): Thank
you! Thank you very much.
MARK: Happy?
TRAINEE: More than happy.
MARK: Ok.
TRAINEE: Yeah.
NARRATOR: But today it's Mark himself
who is going to be put to the test.
He has to use all the
skills from years of push back operating
to tow a 777 down a slope, make
a U-turn then drive back up.
The slope leads into a new
parking lot for Emirates fleet
of 777s called the Sierra Apron.
The apron's in a basement
down below runway level.
With a 777 weighing over 300
tons the incline will put a
serious strain on the plane
and Mark's tug towing it.
MARK: I'm confident
in my ability.
We'll see if the tractor is up to the task of
the gradient but we don't know what's gonna
happen until we get there.
NARRATOR: But before he can start airside
projects manager Laura Brannigan has to be
satisfied that the Sierra Apron
is ready for its first aircraft.
LAURA (off-screen): Technically
it's still a construction site.
You can see there's still lots of
little bits of activity which is fine.
We'll need all of it finished
up and cleaned off before
we'll accept it for a trial though.
There's still dudes over there
crouching down just chipping
off the last little bits of concrete.
NARRATOR: Laura doesn't want sharp edges
or even the smallest bits of construction
debris which could damage a plane.
LAURA: What we look to do in inspections
like this is to literally walk every single
square meter of the facility.
Make sure that there's no safety hazards
or operational hazards associated with it.
NARRATOR: Within minutes
it's clear there is still a lot to do.
LAURA: Just found
this out here.
Not a problem right now, the apron hasn't
been swept, ready for use, but this is exactly
the kind of thing that could
be a problem for an aircraft.
NARRATOR: Construction rubbish
could puncture a tire on the Triple 7.
Aircraft tires can be pressured to 220
pounds per square inch meaning the
explosion from one tiny
puncture could cause catastrophic damage.
LAURA (off-screen):
It's not 100% perfect.
We didn't expect it to be 100% perfect.
There are some things that
could still be done here.
NARRATOR: But the tow
trial is going ahead.
It's vital the apron is ready
to use in the next two days.
The airport is about to start a billion dollar
engineering project to refurbish both its
runways one at a time.
The impact will be huge.
The number of flights
will drop by a quarter.
Dubai based Emirates airline won't be able
to use all of its planes; it will have to
park 20 somewhere safe.
And that's where this apron comes in.
LAURA: You can see there's quite a pronounced
descent down into the apron here and
then of course in, in reverse it's quite a
pronounced slope to bring an airplane back up.
NARRATOR: If Mark loses control of the
triple 7 on the slope it could potentially
ruin a multi-million dollar
plane and delay the start
of the billion dollar
runway upgrade project.
LAURA: If things go wrong here, if
we have equipment failures etc, the, the
potential implications
could be quite serious.
NARRATOR: Only a real plane
will give the verdict on the new apron.
LAURA: We will transport an aircraft from
the engineering area which is close by.
It'll come down this slope and into the apron
and then we'll turn the aircraft around and
take it back out there again.
NARRATOR: Push back operator Mark wants
to make sure the triple 7 is ready roll.
MARK: Checking the aircraft
for any damage before we tow.
Huge aircraft.
Over 300 tons.
Lot of weight.
So just make sure everything is in place.
NARRATOR: With ten minutes to
go Laura makes sure everything
is set for the triple 7's arrival.
LAURA: Just gonna double check to make sure
that everybody's in position and ready to go
before the plane turns up.
We don't want any surprises.
NARRATOR: The message they need
to clear the space for the trial
hasn't got through to everyone.
LAURA: Hi guys.
I'm really sorry to do this to you but
we've got to move all of these vehicles and
everybody needs to be out of the way.
When we bring the plane in this is the
taxi lane so there's not allowed to be any
people, any cars here, ok.
The best place maybe
over that side. Is that ok?
Yeah. That way you can watch
but you're out of the way, you're safe.
Yeah?
(speaking native language).
LAURA: Awesome. Yallah.
Let's do it.
Thanks guys.
No really now. Now.
I want, every, you can't stay here, ok.
It's not safe.
It doesn't sink in.
We get language challenges here and I think
everybody's a little bit excited but I think
they kind of know what I'm trying to
say but it takes a bit of reinforcement.
NARRATOR: They'd better move
fast because after 180 degrees
seat swivel the 777 is on its way.
(radio transmission).
NARRATOR: Mark has only 90 minutes to get
the aircraft over to Sierra Apron, complete
the trial and get it back to its
departure gate for its next flight.
MARK: All eyes on me today.
Bit of pressure on.
NARRATOR: Mark is driving
a $900,000, 700 horsepower,
four wheel drive tug.
At 37 tons its weight helps traction
but it's still capable of reaching a
speed of up to 20 miles per hour,
even with the 300 ton triple 7 attached.
MARK: No messing around.
If you brake suddenly the weight of
the aircraft would crush the tractor.
NARRATOR: If Mark gets this wrong he
would not only wreck a $320 million plane
but also jeopardize the whole
runway upgrade project.
It's Mark's biggest test yet.
MARK: I am heading into
the unknown as we speak.
Going into the black hole.
NARRATOR: In Terminal Three, customs officer
Hassan Ibrahim has found a secret compartment
in a Pakistani passenger's bag.
Inside, a package.
(speaking native language).
HASSAN: Same in the other bags?
NARRATOR: The passenger
has four other bags.
Now, all need to be searched.
HASSAN: We want to
open all the bags.
After that we will see what it contains.
As you can see here a secret bottom.
And see the plastic bag, the black one?
There's something in it.
(speaking native language).
HASSAN: Ok. So,
this is the second bag.
Now the third bag.
(speaking native language).
HASSAN: We are opening the third bag now
and it has the same thing, same contents.
They've hidden them deeply in the bag.
NARRATOR: One by one the bags open up
to reveal a hidden black package inside.
HASSAN: That's the
third piece now.
Something like a powder inside.
NARRATOR: Finally
the fifth bag.
HASSAN: The bag is almost
empty but it's still heavy.
It's more than the normal weight.
And you can see here some
black plastic inside.
It's been hidden.
That's a professional way.
It's common type of smuggling by
hiding the drugs in the secret bottoms.
NARRATOR: Like the others the
last bag gives up its hidden package.
But Hassan's not done searching yet.
HASSAN: Now we are searching for some clues
to see if there's any kind of numbers or
name or anything to help my investigation.
NARRATOR: Each
suitcase contains the same three things.
Clothes, nuts and a Quran.
PASSENGER: I don't know anything
about what is inside. My work is this.
Look, I took old Holy Qurans
from there and I will sell them here.
In the bags there are
things that are not mine.
NARRATOR: The customs
officers smell a rat.
It's unlikely anyone would
pack five different bags with
exactly the same contents in each one.
HASSAN: I can say that it's a
work of a criminal organization.
They tried to make typical
bags but they didn't notice
that each bag have the same contents.
That make us suspect in the bags more.
I believe the boss of the
network have packed the bags
for the passenger and he's the carrier.
NARRATOR: They've found a lot but the
officers think there could still be more.
HASSAN: Now we're putting the passenger on
the body scan to make sure that he doesn't
carry anything inside his body.
NARRATOR: It takes just
ten seconds to create a high-res image.
HASSAN: We have some cases that the smuggler
they're using more than one technique.
They're using the passenger
themselves as a carrier plus their bags.
The image is showing that the passenger is
not carrying anything illegal inside his
body so he's clear.
NARRATOR: The team move to
the office to weigh the bags,
still in the dark about what's inside.
HASSAN (off-screen): Now we are
taking the weight of the packs.
(speaking native language).
HASSAN (off-screen): The total
weight of the five packs is 24k.
It's a big catch.
This passenger is coming from Karachi and we
have a lot of cases from Karachi and most of
the cases it's heroin.
This can't be something normal.
It is something illegal.
NARRATOR: The packages
weight over 50 pounds.
Now, almost two hours since the passenger
was first stopped the moment has come to
find out what's inside.
(speaking native language).
HASSAN (off-screen):
There's a powder inside.
It's a little bit brown.
So we take a swab here to make
sure what it contains exactly.
Now we take it to the drug detector machine
to get the result of the type of the drugs.
NARRATOR: Hassan takes the swab to
Terminal Three's narcotics trace detector.
The scanner heats the
swab to 446 degrees Fahrenheit.
Different drugs react
differently under heat.
If it's heroin it'll
be the largest drugs haul in ten years.
NARRATOR: With less than a
minute until he hits the slope
Mark is about to find out
if a triple 7 can make it
down into Dubai's new plane park safely.
The taxi-way has a highly unusual
one and half percent gradient.
That may not sound like much but any slope
is a potential hazard when you're towing a
300 ton aircraft behind you.
MARK: A nightmare scenario would be
brake failure, maybe a blow out of a tire
and then cause jack-knife.
LAURA (off-screen): Alright.
So here comes the aircraft.
The trial's under way.
This is the part of the exercise where
it would be unhealthy to not be just a
tiny little bit nervous you know.
This is the first time we've brought
an airplane into a brand new facility.
There's a little bit of tension.
NARRATOR: All Laura can
do is watch and wait.
MARK: It's not so steep at the moment but
I can see it's falling away quite rapidly.
I can feel the aircraft
pushing the tractor
so I'm being careful with the gas.
I'm just gonna do a brake test now.
Ok. Don't want to
press too hard.
NARRATOR: It's vital that
Mark's tug can brake safely as
it descends the slope into
the parking area.
In order to stop a 37 ton
tug plus a 300 ton plane in its tracks
special internal wet disc brakes
are integrated into each wheel.
LAURA (off-screen):
So far, so good.
This is exactly what we
would expect to happen.
They'll pause for a couple of seconds, just
double check the brakes while they've got all
of the load on the tow tugs.
Make sure that they can stop and
everything is ok and then keep going again.
MARK: The aircraft
hasn't pushed.
Ok, let's carry on.
NARRATOR: With the
brake test complete
Mark still has to reach the
bottom of the slope safely.
MARK: We've leveled out and
we're now on a level surface.
I'm applying the brakes now.
Ok, we've stopped.
It's quite a relief to have finally
reached the bottom of the gradient safely.
No issues at all so that part
of the trial has gone quite well.
NARRATOR: But this is
only half the test.
ENGINEER: How was your braking?
MARK: That was fine.
ENGINEER: It's fine.
NARRATOR: Now Mark has to
tow it back out up the slope.
But before he can do that
he needs to make a U-turn.
Normally tug drivers have
markings to follow
but with no lines drawn yet it's
all down to Mark's skill.
MARK: This is an
alien environment.
I'm not sure of the turning circle
that can turn the aircraft in this space.
NARRATOR: This triple 7 has a
wing span of almost 212 feet.
Mark's challenge is to turn the
aircraft without causing serious damage.
MARK: I'm worried about wing tip clearance
and do not want to exceed the maximum towing
angle for this aircraft.
NARRATOR: If he turns the aircraft too
wide he'll clip the lights with the wings.
Too tight and he might
damage the landing gear.
MARK: Ok. We have clearance
of the wing tip here.
Ok. Clear to go.
We're gonna now align myself
with the center line again.
NARRATOR: He turns
without a glitch.
Now, he needs to tow the
300 ton aircraft back out up the taxi-way.
LAURA: The most stressful part of this
afternoon will be bringing it back up the slope.
Obviously it requires quite a high level of
performance from the equipment to bring a plane
up this slope.
MARK: This gradient here is maybe on the
limits that I'd like to tow an aircraft on.
Anything more than this I
wouldn't be happy doing it.
Foot is to the floor.
If I lose power towing up a gradient
here the aircraft will pull me backwards.
It could damage the
aircraft, damage the tractor.
LAURA: If anything is to go wrong today this
would be the absolute worst moment for it
to happen, so fingers crossed.
NARRATOR: If the tug can't pull the aircraft
up the slope the Sierra parking apron will
fail the trial and they won't be able to
close the runway for the vital refurbishments.
The tug's 700 horse
power engine is flat out.
Mark makes it half way and then it stops.
LAURA: So, again they'll do a brakes check
just to make sure that they can stop and start
again while they're towing a load uphill.
So the big, big test
is getting going again.
MARK: It's fine, the aircraft
is not pulling me back at all.
A wave to the workers.
LAURA (off-screen): Success.
MARK (off-screen): No problem
coming up this hill at all.
Successfully trial.
LAURA: This is good.
There's a little bit of relief.
NARRATOR: The epic upgrade project making
Dubai's runways safe and efficient for 21st
century flight can go ahead.
LAURA: And in two days time
there's no reason why we can't
put this apron into live
operational service.
Very pleased.
NARRATOR: With 1,000 planes
flying in and out of Dubai every day
quick turn around time is vital.
But never at the expense of safety.
Any aircraft stuck on the
ground and not up in the air
is time and money wasted for the airlines.
So it's the A1 priority of the Emirates line
maintenance team to fix any fault in the short
window between a plane landing
and its scheduled departure.
At Terminal Three a Boeing
777 is due to fly to Beirut
in less than three hours.
But when engineer Andy Tetley arrives
to put it through its final checks,
he walks into a furnace.
ANDY: It's been on the bay now for about
an hour and it hasn't had any power on.
So it's over 45 degrees
aboard at the moment.
So I've just got to get the air conditioning
unit on and get the temperature down.
NARRATOR: First step
try the "on" switch.
ANDY (off-screen): I think it's
just simple as a flat battery.
NARRATOR: The computer
diagnostics may reveal the air-con fault.
But that needs power too.
So he connects to mains electricity.
The air-con is now working
but at 113 degrees Fahrenheit
the cabin is nearly twice the acceptable
temperature for passengers to board
and it's going to take a
long time to cool.
And suddenly a long list
of new faults pops up.
ANDY: This is what's
called a status page.
These are the faults that is now being
picked up on the aircraft on start up.
NARRATOR: The triple 7 computer diagnostic
system must analyze three million moving parts.
Andy wants to make sure it's not being
over sensitive, so does what any frustrated
computer user would do.
ANDY: We're doing what you do at home
if you can't get your computer to work
you just shut it off and start again.
And actually it does
fix it a lot of times.
NARRATOR: The error
message is still there.
But Andy's teammate tells him he's noticed
a problem with APU or Auxiliary Power Unit.
MAN (off-screen):
Fuel valve, APU.
ANDY (off-screen):
It was the APU valve? MAN: Valve. Valve.
ANDY (off-screen):
I'll connect Harper in. Ok.
That was the guy who did the aircraft tow.
What he basically said on
the tow over they had what
we called an APU fuel valve message.
That means the valve which
allows fuel to the APU isn't operating
so you can't start the APU.
NARRATOR: Located in the tail cone the
auxiliary power unit provides electricity for
non-propulsion systems
such as the air-con.
It also provides the power
to start the main engines.
ANDY: I can't start it.
I can't start the APU or anything.
Yeah, it's completely dead.
I can't, well, yeah,
it's just not starting.
Oh, it's got history.
It's happened before, yeah.
NARRATOR: The same APU valve
has seized up in the past.
Andy opens up the belly of the plane
to see if he can manually un-jam it.
ANDY: I think it's this
one here. Just two secs.
It is very, very stiff
is the valve inside.
It's normally a lot more freer.
So it could be sticking and causing
the actuator to stop operating correctly.
NARRATOR: There's not
enough time to replace the faulty part.
With Andy defeated the plane's scheduled
take off in two hours hangs in the balance.
ANDY: It isn't just a case that we do a very
quick fix because it might happen again.
NARRATOR: It's the moment of truth for the
Pakistani passenger caught carrying five
black packages hidden inside his luggage.
HASSAN (off-screen):
It's heroin.
As you see it gives us alarm.
So the final result it is heroin.
That's make me very happy.
I was right from the beginning
when I say that it's heroin.
NARRATOR: The powder is
actually 35% heroin cut with 32% THC,
the main ingredient in cannabis.
The remainder is mixing agent.
This combination is not
unusual for street heroin.
HASSAN: Everyday I'm going fishing
and today we have caught a big fish.
NARRATOR: Hassan's not
finished fishing yet.
HASSAN: Speak to me truthfully.
If you don't, I won't help you.
NARRATOR: The passenger offers
up some valuable information.
HASSAN: You said that
a person who is in Karachi has given
me this bag and asked me
to deliver this in Dubai.
PASSENGER (off-screen): After reaching here
then I should call him or he should call me.
NARRATOR: The information may
lead to catching the wider drugs cartel,
but that doesn't let the
passenger off the hook.
PASSENGER (off-screen):
Now my life is destroyed.
This symbol, this will be stamped
on my forehead. It will not be removed.
NARRATOR: In Dubai drug trafficking
is punishable by a life sentence
or even the death penalty.
HASSAN: He's now in the big
trouble and I think he will
say bye to his freedom for a long time.
NARRATOR: This is the biggest
drugs haul at the airport in ten years
and the biggest haul
ever in Terminal Three.
HASSAN: My heart beatings
going high, high.
It's a really big catch and that
makes me feel happy and excited.
NARRATOR: 53 pounds of heroin commands
an estimated street value of $6,000,000.
MAN: I'm very happy today for my
friends, brothers my managers.
Very happy today.
HASSAN (off-screen): We
are sending a message to the smuggler,
"Don't mess with
the Dubai custom."
NARRATOR: 2 PM.
The sun is still beating down
on the overheating triple 7,
scheduled to fly to Beirut
in less than an hour.
ANDY: Here in Dubai at the
moment it's about 38 degrees
but here, next to the aircraft
with all the sun reflecting
off the ground it's over 40.
NARRATOR: The auxiliary power unit or
APU that helps to power up the plane's air
conditioning and engines is still defunct.
ANDY: Is that no go, power?
NARRATOR: There's not enough time to replace
the faulty part before the plane departs
but there are work-arounds
for some faults.
And luckily for all
the passengers waiting to board the plane
Andy can by-pass a defunct APU.
ANDY: We can dispatch it
with the APU, Auxiliary Power Unit, in-op.
NARRATOR: Though the plane can depart with
an inoperative APU Andy still has a problem.
Connecting to mains electricity has
only been a partial fix for the air-con.
ANDY (off-screen): This is the
air temperature inside the aircraft.
So, we're 47 degrees inside.
NARRATOR: 20 minutes later the mains
air-con is still struggling to drop the
temperature lower than
96 degrees Fahrenheit
and Andy needs to speed up the process.
ANDY: We can't get the temperature down
below about 36 degrees inside the cabin
and flight deck.
The crew will be here
in about ten minutes.
NARRATOR: Andy's keen to get the problem
sorted before the flight crew arrives
so requests extra help.
ANDY: Yeah I've just called, because
we've got external air conditioning carts.
They can cool down much, much better than
the, the air conditioning system which is
actually on the bays.
NARRATOR: Andy connects the extra
AC units but he's running out of time.
Captain Manuel de Souza
is already onboard.
CAPTAIN: Oh that's nice.
ANDY (off-screen):
The APU's in-op.
CAPTAIN: Great.
ANDY (off-screen): Yeah.
CAPTAIN MANUEL: What's the
temperature at the back?
ANDY: It's over 30.
CAPTAIN: It's over 30, hey?
I'm going to actually get VPNC involved.
ANDY (off-screen): Yeah. Yeah.
CAPTAIN (off-screen): Because
they do, this is their.
ANDY (off-screen): I know. This is,
this is quite hot obviously at the moment.
CAPTAIN (off-screen):
This is too hot to put passengers through.
NARRATOR: The
captain calls VPNC.
Vice President of Emirates
Network Control Center.
The person responsible
for ensuring Emirates flights go on time.
CAPTAIN: We've just got onto the
aircraft, the APU is unserviceable.
NARRATOR: The quickest way to
cool the plane is to start the engines.
But they can only be fired
up with the doors closed
and that presents problems for boarding.
ANDY (off-screen): If we
can't get the temperature down at all
we'd have to leave all the
passengers off, start an engine
cool the aircraft down, shut the
engine down, connect up a bridge
and I don't want to do
that. That is a nightmare.
NARRATOR: It's now two hours
since Andy turned on the air-con.
The temperature is still too high.
Now Emirate's Head
Office is being informed of the situation.
CAPTAIN: The cabin temperature
is 36 degrees which is not ideal for
boarding passengers or for
keeping people in at any time.
NARRATOR: Captain Manuel
De Souza brings the news.
CAPTAIN: We're gonna hold off on boarding
and just board all at the same time.
ANDY: Board, get them all
in quickly and then start the
engines as soon as
soon as we can. Yeah?
CAPTAIN: That's
the plan for now.
NARRATOR: The plan is to get the plane as
cool as possible using external air-con,
board the passengers at
the very last minute and close the doors.
Then the engines can
be started safely and they
can take over powering the cooling.
But the faulty APU has one other job,
providing power to fire up the engines.
Luckily you can jump
start a plane using an air starter truck.
ANDY: On the ground you have to have an
external air starter which you connect on.
That then provides
high pressure air to start the engine.
Once we start one engine we disconnect
everything, we push it back, start the second
engine and then the air
conditioning will work.
But in that time
the temperature gets very hot as well.
NARRATOR: Unaware of the drama
below all passengers board the plane.
Still an unbearably hot 86 degrees.
If the engines don't fire up now
they'll have to disembark again.
Emirates are under schedule pressures but
they don't want their passengers to overheat.
ANDY (over radio): OK, you are
clear to start number one now.
NARRATOR: Hoses pump high pressure
air into one of the engine's cylinders
forcing a piston downward.
As the engine starts to
turn fuel is injected into the cylinders.
The engine is then
up and running and the air is cut off.
ANDY: That's the number one
engine started OK now.
So we'll move the equipment,
take the ground power off
push back and start the second engine.
NARRATOR: Despite the unconventional
start both engines are now firing
and the air conditioning pumping.
Cool enough to keep
passengers safe and healthy.
The triple 7 even leaves on time.
It's job done for Andy.
ANDY: Yeah, I've got to
go to the next one now!
NARRATOR: Night falls.
At a time when most airports are closed
for business, in Dubai it's rush hour.
There's one Emirates
night flight that always causes headaches.
The 414 to Sydney.
With a very tight turn around it's always tough
getting both passengers and bags on board.
But Emirates believes it's
unsafe to let bags travel unaccompanied
so when a passenger doesn't
make it difficult decisions need to made.
MEL: The 414
departs at 01:50.
It's missing over 250
passengers so I guess
it's time for me to get to the gate.
NARRATOR: Airport Services Manager
Mel has only 45 minutes to get the 250
passengers to the gate.
If 414 doesn't get to Sydney by 11:00pm
local time it won't be allowed to land,
so departure time is critical.
MEL: If we don't depart on time there is a
chance that the aircraft will be diverted
to other ports or it may
not even take off from here.
NARRATOR: And if it doesn't take
off over 300 passengers will be stuck.
What's more there'll be the expense of
hotels, extra flights and the damage to
Emirate's reputation with the passengers.
Most passengers are in transit from incoming
flights and many have tight connections.
MEL: The majority of the
connections have landed
so they must be here somewhere.
NARRATOR: But the
question is where?
Finding them in a terminal the size of
160 football pitches will be no easy task.
MEL: Sorry. Excuse me.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: At the
gate Mel needs to do some detective work.
MEL: EK2 connections will
come through a hotel.
They won't get here until
about 1:30am if we're lucky.
This one's coming from Concourse A.
They're in contact so that's ok.
The only major connection I'm
worried about is inbound Gatwick.
That aircraft has just chocked
in about ten minutes ago.
Calling Zach. Stand still missing
a lot of passengers on EK414.
ZACH: Copy that.
NARRATOR: If the passengers are
late Mel will have to off-load the bags
and leave them behind.
MEL: It's something that we really don't
want to do but the flight is that critical.
This plane has to take off.
NARRATOR: There's just 20 minutes
to go until flight 414 must depart.
MEL: Zach stand still missing
40 passengers for Sydney.
NARRATOR: General aviation
policy is that it's unsafe
for a bag to travel without its owner.
Now Mel has to decide if she
needs to off-load the bags of
any passengers who won't make it.
MEL: We load all the baggage for one particular
destination into one container and it gets
scanned as a group.
If one of those passengers is missing
then we have to dismantle the container,
look for his bag and then re-load
the container after scanning again.
NARRATOR: That could take up to an hour so
the decision to off-load needs to happen now
if the flight is to leave on time.
MEL (off-screen): Transfer
desk, just update me.
Do we have these
passengers inbound Gatwick?
WOMAN (over radio): Inbound
Gatwick to Sydney delayed passengers
are going through the Julia security now.
MEL: We've got the Gatwick.
They're just going through security now.
NARRATOR: Gatwick passengers located, Mel
takes the gamble they'll get to the gate on
time and she lets the bags go on.
ZACH (off-screen): Sydney
this way. Sydney?
MEL: You've got
five here, huh?
So they are clearing.
These are all
Gatwick. Brilliant.
NARRATOR: It looks
like Mel's job is done.
MEL: Hello, Tom.
Gatwick's are all here.
We're gonna close the gate.
Yeah. We're gonna close.
Alright. Hang on.
We've got one missing inbound Gatwick.
Stand-by teams, missing one
inbound Gatwick, Mr. Smith.
NARRATOR: With just seven minutes to
departure and the baggage containers already
onboard Mel's now in
an impossible position.
She has committed not to offload any bags.
MEL (off-screen):
Past the offloading.
No. Mr. Smith is missing.
NARRATOR: If Mr. Smith doesn't show, offloading
his bag will take so long the flight will
leave too late to beat the curfew.
MEL: We have to
find Mr. Smith.
NARRATOR: And if they cancel the flight
altogether they'll have over 300 passengers
stranded here in Dubai.
Bad for the airlines
logistics and balance sheets.
MEL: Zach, stand. High priority.
We need to find Mr. Smith.
Male passenger, inbound
EK16 Gatwick for 414.
Transfer desk team, Sarah, can you get
your teams to look for one inbound Gatwick?
NARRATOR: Mel's
neck is on the line.
She's desperately worried
she's made the wrong call.
MEL: We have to find him, hon.
ZACH: How old is he?
MEL: Good question. Tom, how
old is this guy? Born 19
TOM (over radio):
He's 80 years old.
MEL: He's very old.
ZACH: Oh, he's very old.
MEL: My boarding coordinators
are mini magicians.
They can find people anywhere.
The fact that this gentleman was born in
1933, which means he's very, very elderly
is a bit of a concern.
So, I'm not sure if he's lost somewhere.
Maybe he's sick somewhere.
WOMAN: 116 in the
information desk right now.
WOMAN: Do we accept?
MAN: Can you guide the passenger
directly to the gate quickly?
MEL: Ok, fine. I'll
go onboard. I'll check.
NARRATOR: Mr. Smith has been found
at the information desk half a mile away.
MEL: Thank you.
NARRATOR: They dispatch
a buggy to get him.
MEL (off-screen): Found
him onboard I think.
NARRATOR: All Mel can
do now is wait for her elderly passenger
to make it to the gate.
MEL (off-screen): Alright.
Yeah. Yeah. Alright.
We can go down then.
NARRATOR: Waiting for Mr.
Smith will mean a delay.
MEL: Two minutes.
But it's worth waiting for him.
That's Mr. Smith and I'm
very happy that he's made it.
Hi, Mr. Smith. Well
done for making it.
Was it a bit of rush?
Did you get lost. Okay.
MR. SMITH: Big
airport, isn't it!
MEL: It is a huge
airport. This way, sir.
NARRATOR: It's certainly
not lack of vigor that delayed Mr. Smith.
MEL: He's fast!
MR. SMITH (off-screen):
Somehow I got lost!
FLIGHT CREW (off-screen):
Oh really. Welcome onboard.
MEL: Ok. That's your last
passenger so you're good to go.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: With all passengers and
bags on board 414 prepares for pushback.
A few minutes late but crucially
in time to beat the Sydney curfew.
MEL: Another flight departed
reasonably on time I'd say.
We had about five minutes
to play around with.
It's now 01:56, so.
NARRATOR: Two days later
the Sierra Apron opened for business
paving the way for the
runway upgrade project.
The case of the alleged
heroin smuggler from Pakistan is ongoing.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.