One of the main branches of the aviation system as defined in DoctorAviation.com is airfield operations. In several of our sessions, Doctor Aviation remarked that a large airport is a city unto itself. I saw the truth of that expression at a whole new level a few minutes ago.
As I continue to try to constructively fill my 12 hour layover in Abu Dhabi (lots of reading has been done) I peered out the window to spy a beehive of activity around one of the Etihad Airways Boeing 777s I blogged about earlier.
From the pilot’s perspective (which is generally how we tell directions in an aircraft) there was not one, but two passenger jetway ramps coming in from the left. A lower ramp entered in what appeared to be between the first class and business class sections near the front of the plane. A higher jetway seemed to lead to the upper deck where crew bunks and other spaces abide. This is a photo of a different jumbo jet being loaded, but it will give you an idea of what I saw.
To the right of the aircraft were not one, but three pods for catering. Think of the storage pods that homeowners sometimes have put on their driveways. Two of the pods were actively being unloaded onto the jet. Again there was a lower door at the main cabin level and then an upper door, which I assume led to an upper galley. There was a pod on the ground that was in the process of being taken away by a truck. I assume that this catering pod had already been unloaded. There is an attached picture of a catering truck.
But that’s not all – as the commercial often goes. Additionally on the right side were two additional pods loading baggage into the belly of the airliner. There seemed to be two doors for that function as well, but it was hard to tell as it was getting to be dusk. What was clear was that there were a number of airfield operations ground crew working at each of these entrances, unloading pods of food and luggage, plus emptying trash using the passenger access jetways. I was like the proverbial anthill of activity.
As I pondered the challenge of flying nearly 400 passengers, plus what I assume would be 20 crew members a distance of 7,000 miles over a period of 12 hours, one would need a lot of supplies. I did not even see the fuel trucks which must have earlier deposited thousands of gallons of jet fuel into the numerous tanks on board. Suffice it to say, there were a lot of airfield operation personnel on display – decent paying jobs with good benefits.
So when Doctor Aviation says that running a large airport is like a city unto itself, he would like to add that loading a jumbo-jet is like a town unto itself. An amazing feat of management and systems engineering!