Britain's Busiest Airport: Heathrow (2015–2020): Season 5, Episode 12 - Episode #5.12 - full transcript
Airside Ian checks the lights on the airfield before the busy half-term school holidays. Officer Estefania pushes passengers through security with a unique method.
'Heathrow is the busiest
two-runway airport in the world.'
Lima One. I will have news for you
very shortly.
'With over 1,300 planes taking off
and landing every day.'
We don't want to miss it.
LAUGHS
'But keeping it open for business
is harder than ever.'
So that plane's not gonna take off
until we find out
where this animal is.
As Arnie would say, I'll be back!
'Managing crisis on the runway...'
We have to treat this
as a crime scene.
No-one's coming off that plane.
'Guarding Britain's biggest border.'
Can you check the gentleman's bag
when he comes around, please?
A bag of frozen chicken.
SIRENS
'And dealing with drama
in departures.'
Cardiac arrest.
'For the 77,000 staff...'
I would help you,
but I'm five foot three.
'..every day is nonstop.'
That's how we roll.
LAUGHS
'With a first class ticket
'into Britain's busiest
and biggest airport.'
I'm a king, innit? Yeah!
LAUGHS
'Welcome to Heathrow.'
I'm really excited!
But I know it's going to be good.
MUSIC: 'Clair de Lune'
by Claude Debussy
That's the last one out.
'It's approaching midnight,
and the busiest two-runway airport
'in the world
is preparing to go to bed.'
'There's a smattering
of passengers in the terminals,
'a handful of bags
on the carousels.'
'And out on the airfield,
the sound of jet engines is absent.'
It's very quiet out there,
very dark.
You can see for miles.
'Between 11:30 and 4:30am,
'in normal circumstances,
nothing takes off or lands.'
It feels very quiet
and almost like you can't believe
that this is
Britain's busiest airport.
'Tonight, instead of the usual calm,
'an army of staff are about to make
crucial repairs to the runway,
'in order that tomorrow's travellers
can jet in and out on time.'
CHATTER ON WALKIE-TALKIE
So what we'll do is, we'll just do
a nice little circuit around,
checking for any outages.
'And tonight, for the first time,
it's down to airside Ian
'to make sure all the bulbs
are working
'under the very watchful eye
of senior officer Steve.'
I think you're just learning
the layout, aren't you?
You're still getting to learn
where they are, how they work,
and which sequence they work in.
At night, and in low visibility,
these lights tell the aircraft
exactly where it's safe
for them to taxi.
'Up in air traffic control,
'the man who conducts
Steve and Ian's movements
'is the lighting panel controller,
David.'
If we've got an aircraft
on one taxi run,
and I want to move him to the other,
by pressing buttons on my panel,
he'll follow those green lights.
It's a bit like having
a massive model train set,
where you've got everything moving
at the same time,
and you're switching between
different tracks
and keeping everything moving,
so nothing bumps into each other.
Only we're doing it with
aeroplanes.
We've got the latest
lighting technology,
there's green, amber and red.
It's pretty obvious that it's green
for a safe route, really.
And red to stop, red for danger.
Or a warning sign.
That's a strange one, isn't it?
Because red is danger, but also,
strawberries are red.
Redcurrants are red.
It's like when you cut yourself,
you see red blood
and you think, oh, God, yeah...
Although saying that,
when you've a lack of oxygen,
you go blue in the face, don't you?
I think it's a bit of red herring,
don't you? Oh, yeah.
IMITATES DRUM ROLL
Walked into that one.
LAUGHS
Good one.
'Ian may have to wave the white flag
on this one,
'as he's only got four hours left
before the first flight arrives.'
It's a bit like riding a bike,
really.
It's just getting familiar
with the way it works.
PHONE RINGS
OK, here we go.
So Area 15.
PHONE RINGS
Hello, lighting panel.
Hiya, it's checker here. We're ready
for our lighting inspection
of November 6 tonight, please.
So that's Route 1, north-south.
MUSIC: 'The Blue Danube'
by Johann Strauss
So what we'll do is we'll just do
a nice little circuit,
and fault them accordingly.
So we've got one there.
A single outage.
That's it, that's that done.
'Runways started using lights
in the late 1920s,
'with mirrors reflecting lightbulbs
up into the night sky.'
OK, next sequence, please.
OK, curve to the south.
'Today, there are over 13,000
LED lights.'
So, worst-case scenario,
if this route wasn't available,
if the lights all failed, then ATC
could not vacate aircraft
to the turnoff.
That would put a delay
on the aircraft vacating the runway,
which could affect the aircraft
that's coming in to overshoot.
So it's essential that all
the routes are working correctly.
Next sequence, please?
OK, that's a stop bar
to the south of you.
That curve is good. Next sequence.
OK, curve the other way.
That's good, thank you.
East-west.
So we've now got green, amber,
green, amber.
So we're missing a green here
on this direction.
Two greens.
So we'll fault that.
So that's us complete, sir.
OK. So that's all my lights,
all done. Thank you, guys.
Thank you very much.
'Job done. And just in time
'for the airside engineering manager
to replace the broken bulbs
'before the first
morning flight arrives.'
'That also means the first departure
is only two hours away.
'And to get it out on time
means getting sleepy passengers
'through security
as quickly as possible.'
'Starting her early morning
security shift in Terminal 2
'is Estefania,
who is anything but sleepy.'
LAUGHS
'Heathrow aims to process
35 passengers through the lanes
'every 15 minutes.
'And Estefania
has a special something
'to meet that target.'
Let's get ready for the ticky-ticky!
Ticky-ticky-ticky!
LAUGHS
'But what is "ticky-ticky"?'
Ticky-ticky's the way you feel,
it depends.
Your ticky-ticky
is the way you are.
Whose is this bag? Yours? Let's see.
You can be ticky-ticky!
This is salami?
You can be ticky-ticky!
Bye-bye, ticky-ticky.
Thank you.
'She'll need a lot of ticky-ticky
today. It's half term.'
OK, guys, make sure you put your
iPads and laptops, liquids outside.
'Often reported as the worst
time to travel, it's so busy
'with families and tourists
anxious to get on their way.'
Bye-bye.
Ciao, ciao, encantada, ciao!
I am very customer service-focused.
I like to have a bit of chat,
you know.
Make them to feel less stressed
when they are coming through.
So I think if you have
a bit of talk to them and, you know.
Oh, straight away
when I say to people, "hello,"
they say, "Are you Spanish?"
Are you?
Yes. Oh, you didn't realise?
No, what part?
Oh, my God, I love you!
LAUGHS
Some of them, they say,
"Will you please speak English?"
And I say, "I'm trying my best!"
'Her job isn't just to chat
and be friendly.
'It's also to ensure
'nothing dangerous gets through
to airside.'
Will you please open the bag?
So let's see.
'Which means investigating
all those belongings
'passengers just can't do without.'
GRUMBLES COMICALLY
Dun-dun-dun-dun!
Yeah, that's my iPad!
Is it? It's yours?
Yeah, you need to be a bit nosy.
You know, like, what's in there?
And the check.
Oh! Lots of candies, uh?
Lots of candies for the flight!
Hello! Is this yours?
Yeah.
Perfect.
So...
This is olive oil. OK.
Oh, that's garlics.
Are you scared of Dracula?
LAUGHS
No?
I never know what to expect
when I'm searching bags.
It's always a surprise.
I have a bag to search.
'To get everyone through
to departures on time,
'Estefania is going to have
to pull something out of the bag.'
So I need to check that.
Yeah?
'Heathrow isn't just Britain's
front door for visitors.
'It's also Britain's mailbox,
'handling the majority
of the UK's post
'in and out of the country.'
'With over a million parcels
a day being processed,
'it's not surprising
that organised crime
'is trying to establish this
as a route for illegal drugs.'
'And this is how
a postman's archenemy
'has become a Border Force officer's
best friend.'
Have you had too much dinner, mate?
'Enter Border Force dog handler
Rachel.
'And Cole.'
Good lad.
Let's see what you can find.
'Cole comes from one of
the oldest breeds in the world.
'The English springer spaniel.
'And he's one of over a dozen
sniffer dogs working at Heathrow.'
Good boy.
Go on.
He's so keen, he never wants
to actually stop working.
Come on, then.
Big one. Good boy.
'Today the drug-busting duo
'are back on the mailroom floor,
checking international post,
'on the hunt for the slightest whiff
of smuggled contraband.
So, normally when he's
this insistent
that there's something there,
then there should be drugs there.
So he's shown an interest
in a couple of packets.
So we'll take them off
and have a little look,
and cross our fingers and hope
there's some drugs in there,
hopefully.
Very pretty paper.
Yeah.
Yeah, tea. Packets of tea.
We'll just double-check.
Sometimes they can
hide things in the packets.
But it looks like
it is just a teabag.
Oh dear, Cole. Oh dear.
We've got a tea dog today, then.
'Tea may be the quintessential
English beverage,
'but for Cole, it's one of
the many distinctive smells
'that could be suspicious.'
Gutted. Absolutely gutted.
It's like my worst nightmare.
LAUGHS
'There'll be no tea break
for Double-Oh-Cole!
I'll try again, mate.
Good dog.
Come here, what's this?
Where's it gone?
He's absolutely going ballistic
on it.
I wonder whether it's worth
putting them through
the X-ray just to see?
'Internationally, springer spaniels
are the dog of choice
'when it comes to drug detection.
'But is Cole
barking up the wrong tea?'
Oh dear!
'In Heathrow's vast mail warehouse,
'sniffer dog agent Cole
is on a mission.
'And has picked out some
suspicious-smelling packages.'
He's the expert. You do this
all the time, don't you?
All the time, yeah.
You look at x-ray machines
and I look at my dog's bottom.
LAUGHS
'The suspect items are going
through an x-ray machine
'to see if Cole has sniffed out
something illicit.'
Got some drugs here, I reckon.
That's that one?
You see this organic mass here?
With a plastic bag around it.
I think it's definitely
worth a check.
Cool, shall we have a look? OK.
It's gonna to be Lego.
No.
Yeah, there we go.
'Mission finally accomplished.
'Cole's delicate nose has weeded out
a cannabis jackpot.;
It's fantastic.
Really good.
Really good. That's a nice result.
Yeah.
'Cannabis is the most commonly used
illegal substance in the UK.'
Although Cole's not trained to find
cannabis,
if the dogs find concealments
in freight and in courier mail,
it's something that smells
out of the ordinary
of what they're expecting to smell.
'In fact, postal order pot
is on the increase,
'with nearly 1,400 stashes like this
being seized last year.'
I would say that about 70g.
I would expect this would be supply.
Something like this really would
fall on the person
who's receiving it or caused it
to be imported into the UK.
Good boy! Well done.
'By springing into action,
Agent Cole has proved
'this prying pooch is paramount
when protecting Britain's borders.'
Good boy.
All in a day's work.
LAUGHS
MUSIC: 'Smooth Operator'
by Sade
'Over in terminal three...'
Feeling good today. It's Friday.
'Cabbie Carlo may not be
protecting the UK's border,
'but he is promoting
its green and pleasant land.'
Yeah, I'm proud to be British.
We are very direct, sturdy...
I'll have a pint, mate, you know
what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
LAUGHS
'Today he's picking up
inbound passengers...'
That's the fantastic service
we have here in Britain.
'..and making sure they get
a great British welcome.'
Hold onto your hats.
1.5 mph, we go!
Oh, right.
When I mention Britain,
what comes to mind?
Tea.
Tea?
Yeah, cup of tea.
Cup of tea. A cup of tea!
Fish and chips.
Fish and chips.
I eat in a pub five times a week.
Everyone moans a bit. A lot.
Patience and queueing.
We've got that down to a very
fine art.
We're probably going to queue up
any minute now!
'Whilst queueing may be
a very well-known British device,
'out on the airfield, another
less-known British-made device
'means Heathrow is one of
the safest airports in the world.
'Runway visual range indicators.
'They are vital pieces of tech,
providing air traffic control
'with weather and visibility data.
But today there's a problem.
'They're not working.'
I'll call you when we get out there.
OK? Thank you.
'Air traffic control are despatching
senior engineer Suki to fix them.'
A lot of kit today.
Is not quite as big as it looks.
Very highly protective boxes.
'And he's joined by trainee Zoe.'
I am an engineering technician.
I was an engineering apprentice.
I'm training in this job.
'With qualification
taking three years,
'Zoe's being mentored by Suki.
He's very kind. Very sympathetic.
He's a very good listener.
What's it like hearing
such nice things about you?
It makes a change from most people
I work with. No.
'The RVRs they are fixing today
are crucial in reducing delays
'to incoming flights
due to bad weather.'
We get quite a few low-visibility
days, especially in autumn
when we have a lot of low-lying fog.
When you're coming in to land,
and there's fog, everything
can be quite clear until you get
to a very low level,
and then it just goes blank.
'Aviation engineers have
affectionately given
'these RVRs a nickname.'
Do you know, from Doctor Who,
the Daleks? Exterminate!
That's what they look like.
But they're not Daleks.
They're extremely important.
One of them is a transmissometer,
so like a transmitter.
The smaller one on the left
is the receiver or reflector.
So the transmissometer is sending
a beam of light outwards.
And depending on how much light
that reflector receives,
determines the ground visibility.
'That vital information
is then relayed
'to air traffic control
and on to pilots.'
Loosen it quite a lot, so that...
'So if the RVRs can't be fixed,
flights could be delayed.
'Or worse still, cancelled.'
I would help you,
but I'm five foot three.
There we go.
There we go, perfect.
This is more my height friendly,
isn't it?
Wow, there's a lot of dirt
on this one.
OK.
'Turns out the Daleks
have had an altercation,
'and been knocked out of alignment.
'So Zoe and Suki need
to carefully recalibrate.'
So, what we've done is put
a target on the other side
and we're now making sure that
the transmissometer
is aligned correctly.
'The instruments will be aligned
when it's got the square K17
'from the grid in its cross hairs.
It needs to go a little bit more
that way.
Yeah, a little bit more
to my right.
You want to check?
K17. Perfect.
Same specification.
It's all good to go.
'And that means flights
are also good to go.'
It's amazing being this close,
I mean,
a lot of plane-spotters are very
envious of us
being right here right now.
This is the bit where we're standing
that makes you jump really excited,
like, wow! How cool!
'From a plane spotter on the runway
who keeps flights ticking over,
'to a bag spotter in security,
whose ticky-ticky
'is being stretched to the limit.'
Yes, I have some experience,
you know.
'It's the end of Estefania's shift,
and the end of half term.
'Which means there's been no let-up
to the relentless bag searching.
'And with only an hour to go,
Estefania has to stay tuned in.'
So you all right for me
to search your bag, yeah?
'As she detects
a suspicious-looking shape.'
OK. Will you please open the bag?
'Heathrow's x-ray machines
immediately flag up wired devices.
'Different materials
that go through the scanner
'come up in varying colours.
'Metal tends to come out blue,
wiring green.
Oh, this is a radio for your car?
Yeah.
A radio for your car. OK.
Oh, OK.
I need to open up to do the swab,
OK?
Please do.
OK. Anyway I'm going to have
to ask my manager,
because it is a large electronic,
and it's not very common.
There is a certain size
that a passenger can bring through
for an electrical item,
like they can't bring
a fridge freezer through, obviously.
What do we have here?
So, basically, I wanted to show
yo this,
because the gentleman is carrying
a radio for his car.
As long as it fits through
the x-ray machine,
that's how we gauge it, really,
you know.
So how much you are saving
did you make, then?
OK, very good.
That's good.
You buy cars?
Oh, how many cars you have?
So you have like a collection?
Wow.
Oh, I think I need to go to Norway.
I need to go to Oslo.
Just for a ride.
LAUGHS
OK.
'Estefania isn't the only person
who wants to go to Norway.
'After seeing all this lot go on
their holidays,
'I fancy a trip myself.'
OK.
Bye-bye, ticky-ticky.
Subtitles by TVT
two-runway airport in the world.'
Lima One. I will have news for you
very shortly.
'With over 1,300 planes taking off
and landing every day.'
We don't want to miss it.
LAUGHS
'But keeping it open for business
is harder than ever.'
So that plane's not gonna take off
until we find out
where this animal is.
As Arnie would say, I'll be back!
'Managing crisis on the runway...'
We have to treat this
as a crime scene.
No-one's coming off that plane.
'Guarding Britain's biggest border.'
Can you check the gentleman's bag
when he comes around, please?
A bag of frozen chicken.
SIRENS
'And dealing with drama
in departures.'
Cardiac arrest.
'For the 77,000 staff...'
I would help you,
but I'm five foot three.
'..every day is nonstop.'
That's how we roll.
LAUGHS
'With a first class ticket
'into Britain's busiest
and biggest airport.'
I'm a king, innit? Yeah!
LAUGHS
'Welcome to Heathrow.'
I'm really excited!
But I know it's going to be good.
MUSIC: 'Clair de Lune'
by Claude Debussy
That's the last one out.
'It's approaching midnight,
and the busiest two-runway airport
'in the world
is preparing to go to bed.'
'There's a smattering
of passengers in the terminals,
'a handful of bags
on the carousels.'
'And out on the airfield,
the sound of jet engines is absent.'
It's very quiet out there,
very dark.
You can see for miles.
'Between 11:30 and 4:30am,
'in normal circumstances,
nothing takes off or lands.'
It feels very quiet
and almost like you can't believe
that this is
Britain's busiest airport.
'Tonight, instead of the usual calm,
'an army of staff are about to make
crucial repairs to the runway,
'in order that tomorrow's travellers
can jet in and out on time.'
CHATTER ON WALKIE-TALKIE
So what we'll do is, we'll just do
a nice little circuit around,
checking for any outages.
'And tonight, for the first time,
it's down to airside Ian
'to make sure all the bulbs
are working
'under the very watchful eye
of senior officer Steve.'
I think you're just learning
the layout, aren't you?
You're still getting to learn
where they are, how they work,
and which sequence they work in.
At night, and in low visibility,
these lights tell the aircraft
exactly where it's safe
for them to taxi.
'Up in air traffic control,
'the man who conducts
Steve and Ian's movements
'is the lighting panel controller,
David.'
If we've got an aircraft
on one taxi run,
and I want to move him to the other,
by pressing buttons on my panel,
he'll follow those green lights.
It's a bit like having
a massive model train set,
where you've got everything moving
at the same time,
and you're switching between
different tracks
and keeping everything moving,
so nothing bumps into each other.
Only we're doing it with
aeroplanes.
We've got the latest
lighting technology,
there's green, amber and red.
It's pretty obvious that it's green
for a safe route, really.
And red to stop, red for danger.
Or a warning sign.
That's a strange one, isn't it?
Because red is danger, but also,
strawberries are red.
Redcurrants are red.
It's like when you cut yourself,
you see red blood
and you think, oh, God, yeah...
Although saying that,
when you've a lack of oxygen,
you go blue in the face, don't you?
I think it's a bit of red herring,
don't you? Oh, yeah.
IMITATES DRUM ROLL
Walked into that one.
LAUGHS
Good one.
'Ian may have to wave the white flag
on this one,
'as he's only got four hours left
before the first flight arrives.'
It's a bit like riding a bike,
really.
It's just getting familiar
with the way it works.
PHONE RINGS
OK, here we go.
So Area 15.
PHONE RINGS
Hello, lighting panel.
Hiya, it's checker here. We're ready
for our lighting inspection
of November 6 tonight, please.
So that's Route 1, north-south.
MUSIC: 'The Blue Danube'
by Johann Strauss
So what we'll do is we'll just do
a nice little circuit,
and fault them accordingly.
So we've got one there.
A single outage.
That's it, that's that done.
'Runways started using lights
in the late 1920s,
'with mirrors reflecting lightbulbs
up into the night sky.'
OK, next sequence, please.
OK, curve to the south.
'Today, there are over 13,000
LED lights.'
So, worst-case scenario,
if this route wasn't available,
if the lights all failed, then ATC
could not vacate aircraft
to the turnoff.
That would put a delay
on the aircraft vacating the runway,
which could affect the aircraft
that's coming in to overshoot.
So it's essential that all
the routes are working correctly.
Next sequence, please?
OK, that's a stop bar
to the south of you.
That curve is good. Next sequence.
OK, curve the other way.
That's good, thank you.
East-west.
So we've now got green, amber,
green, amber.
So we're missing a green here
on this direction.
Two greens.
So we'll fault that.
So that's us complete, sir.
OK. So that's all my lights,
all done. Thank you, guys.
Thank you very much.
'Job done. And just in time
'for the airside engineering manager
to replace the broken bulbs
'before the first
morning flight arrives.'
'That also means the first departure
is only two hours away.
'And to get it out on time
means getting sleepy passengers
'through security
as quickly as possible.'
'Starting her early morning
security shift in Terminal 2
'is Estefania,
who is anything but sleepy.'
LAUGHS
'Heathrow aims to process
35 passengers through the lanes
'every 15 minutes.
'And Estefania
has a special something
'to meet that target.'
Let's get ready for the ticky-ticky!
Ticky-ticky-ticky!
LAUGHS
'But what is "ticky-ticky"?'
Ticky-ticky's the way you feel,
it depends.
Your ticky-ticky
is the way you are.
Whose is this bag? Yours? Let's see.
You can be ticky-ticky!
This is salami?
You can be ticky-ticky!
Bye-bye, ticky-ticky.
Thank you.
'She'll need a lot of ticky-ticky
today. It's half term.'
OK, guys, make sure you put your
iPads and laptops, liquids outside.
'Often reported as the worst
time to travel, it's so busy
'with families and tourists
anxious to get on their way.'
Bye-bye.
Ciao, ciao, encantada, ciao!
I am very customer service-focused.
I like to have a bit of chat,
you know.
Make them to feel less stressed
when they are coming through.
So I think if you have
a bit of talk to them and, you know.
Oh, straight away
when I say to people, "hello,"
they say, "Are you Spanish?"
Are you?
Yes. Oh, you didn't realise?
No, what part?
Oh, my God, I love you!
LAUGHS
Some of them, they say,
"Will you please speak English?"
And I say, "I'm trying my best!"
'Her job isn't just to chat
and be friendly.
'It's also to ensure
'nothing dangerous gets through
to airside.'
Will you please open the bag?
So let's see.
'Which means investigating
all those belongings
'passengers just can't do without.'
GRUMBLES COMICALLY
Dun-dun-dun-dun!
Yeah, that's my iPad!
Is it? It's yours?
Yeah, you need to be a bit nosy.
You know, like, what's in there?
And the check.
Oh! Lots of candies, uh?
Lots of candies for the flight!
Hello! Is this yours?
Yeah.
Perfect.
So...
This is olive oil. OK.
Oh, that's garlics.
Are you scared of Dracula?
LAUGHS
No?
I never know what to expect
when I'm searching bags.
It's always a surprise.
I have a bag to search.
'To get everyone through
to departures on time,
'Estefania is going to have
to pull something out of the bag.'
So I need to check that.
Yeah?
'Heathrow isn't just Britain's
front door for visitors.
'It's also Britain's mailbox,
'handling the majority
of the UK's post
'in and out of the country.'
'With over a million parcels
a day being processed,
'it's not surprising
that organised crime
'is trying to establish this
as a route for illegal drugs.'
'And this is how
a postman's archenemy
'has become a Border Force officer's
best friend.'
Have you had too much dinner, mate?
'Enter Border Force dog handler
Rachel.
'And Cole.'
Good lad.
Let's see what you can find.
'Cole comes from one of
the oldest breeds in the world.
'The English springer spaniel.
'And he's one of over a dozen
sniffer dogs working at Heathrow.'
Good boy.
Go on.
He's so keen, he never wants
to actually stop working.
Come on, then.
Big one. Good boy.
'Today the drug-busting duo
'are back on the mailroom floor,
checking international post,
'on the hunt for the slightest whiff
of smuggled contraband.
So, normally when he's
this insistent
that there's something there,
then there should be drugs there.
So he's shown an interest
in a couple of packets.
So we'll take them off
and have a little look,
and cross our fingers and hope
there's some drugs in there,
hopefully.
Very pretty paper.
Yeah.
Yeah, tea. Packets of tea.
We'll just double-check.
Sometimes they can
hide things in the packets.
But it looks like
it is just a teabag.
Oh dear, Cole. Oh dear.
We've got a tea dog today, then.
'Tea may be the quintessential
English beverage,
'but for Cole, it's one of
the many distinctive smells
'that could be suspicious.'
Gutted. Absolutely gutted.
It's like my worst nightmare.
LAUGHS
'There'll be no tea break
for Double-Oh-Cole!
I'll try again, mate.
Good dog.
Come here, what's this?
Where's it gone?
He's absolutely going ballistic
on it.
I wonder whether it's worth
putting them through
the X-ray just to see?
'Internationally, springer spaniels
are the dog of choice
'when it comes to drug detection.
'But is Cole
barking up the wrong tea?'
Oh dear!
'In Heathrow's vast mail warehouse,
'sniffer dog agent Cole
is on a mission.
'And has picked out some
suspicious-smelling packages.'
He's the expert. You do this
all the time, don't you?
All the time, yeah.
You look at x-ray machines
and I look at my dog's bottom.
LAUGHS
'The suspect items are going
through an x-ray machine
'to see if Cole has sniffed out
something illicit.'
Got some drugs here, I reckon.
That's that one?
You see this organic mass here?
With a plastic bag around it.
I think it's definitely
worth a check.
Cool, shall we have a look? OK.
It's gonna to be Lego.
No.
Yeah, there we go.
'Mission finally accomplished.
'Cole's delicate nose has weeded out
a cannabis jackpot.;
It's fantastic.
Really good.
Really good. That's a nice result.
Yeah.
'Cannabis is the most commonly used
illegal substance in the UK.'
Although Cole's not trained to find
cannabis,
if the dogs find concealments
in freight and in courier mail,
it's something that smells
out of the ordinary
of what they're expecting to smell.
'In fact, postal order pot
is on the increase,
'with nearly 1,400 stashes like this
being seized last year.'
I would say that about 70g.
I would expect this would be supply.
Something like this really would
fall on the person
who's receiving it or caused it
to be imported into the UK.
Good boy! Well done.
'By springing into action,
Agent Cole has proved
'this prying pooch is paramount
when protecting Britain's borders.'
Good boy.
All in a day's work.
LAUGHS
MUSIC: 'Smooth Operator'
by Sade
'Over in terminal three...'
Feeling good today. It's Friday.
'Cabbie Carlo may not be
protecting the UK's border,
'but he is promoting
its green and pleasant land.'
Yeah, I'm proud to be British.
We are very direct, sturdy...
I'll have a pint, mate, you know
what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
LAUGHS
'Today he's picking up
inbound passengers...'
That's the fantastic service
we have here in Britain.
'..and making sure they get
a great British welcome.'
Hold onto your hats.
1.5 mph, we go!
Oh, right.
When I mention Britain,
what comes to mind?
Tea.
Tea?
Yeah, cup of tea.
Cup of tea. A cup of tea!
Fish and chips.
Fish and chips.
I eat in a pub five times a week.
Everyone moans a bit. A lot.
Patience and queueing.
We've got that down to a very
fine art.
We're probably going to queue up
any minute now!
'Whilst queueing may be
a very well-known British device,
'out on the airfield, another
less-known British-made device
'means Heathrow is one of
the safest airports in the world.
'Runway visual range indicators.
'They are vital pieces of tech,
providing air traffic control
'with weather and visibility data.
But today there's a problem.
'They're not working.'
I'll call you when we get out there.
OK? Thank you.
'Air traffic control are despatching
senior engineer Suki to fix them.'
A lot of kit today.
Is not quite as big as it looks.
Very highly protective boxes.
'And he's joined by trainee Zoe.'
I am an engineering technician.
I was an engineering apprentice.
I'm training in this job.
'With qualification
taking three years,
'Zoe's being mentored by Suki.
He's very kind. Very sympathetic.
He's a very good listener.
What's it like hearing
such nice things about you?
It makes a change from most people
I work with. No.
'The RVRs they are fixing today
are crucial in reducing delays
'to incoming flights
due to bad weather.'
We get quite a few low-visibility
days, especially in autumn
when we have a lot of low-lying fog.
When you're coming in to land,
and there's fog, everything
can be quite clear until you get
to a very low level,
and then it just goes blank.
'Aviation engineers have
affectionately given
'these RVRs a nickname.'
Do you know, from Doctor Who,
the Daleks? Exterminate!
That's what they look like.
But they're not Daleks.
They're extremely important.
One of them is a transmissometer,
so like a transmitter.
The smaller one on the left
is the receiver or reflector.
So the transmissometer is sending
a beam of light outwards.
And depending on how much light
that reflector receives,
determines the ground visibility.
'That vital information
is then relayed
'to air traffic control
and on to pilots.'
Loosen it quite a lot, so that...
'So if the RVRs can't be fixed,
flights could be delayed.
'Or worse still, cancelled.'
I would help you,
but I'm five foot three.
There we go.
There we go, perfect.
This is more my height friendly,
isn't it?
Wow, there's a lot of dirt
on this one.
OK.
'Turns out the Daleks
have had an altercation,
'and been knocked out of alignment.
'So Zoe and Suki need
to carefully recalibrate.'
So, what we've done is put
a target on the other side
and we're now making sure that
the transmissometer
is aligned correctly.
'The instruments will be aligned
when it's got the square K17
'from the grid in its cross hairs.
It needs to go a little bit more
that way.
Yeah, a little bit more
to my right.
You want to check?
K17. Perfect.
Same specification.
It's all good to go.
'And that means flights
are also good to go.'
It's amazing being this close,
I mean,
a lot of plane-spotters are very
envious of us
being right here right now.
This is the bit where we're standing
that makes you jump really excited,
like, wow! How cool!
'From a plane spotter on the runway
who keeps flights ticking over,
'to a bag spotter in security,
whose ticky-ticky
'is being stretched to the limit.'
Yes, I have some experience,
you know.
'It's the end of Estefania's shift,
and the end of half term.
'Which means there's been no let-up
to the relentless bag searching.
'And with only an hour to go,
Estefania has to stay tuned in.'
So you all right for me
to search your bag, yeah?
'As she detects
a suspicious-looking shape.'
OK. Will you please open the bag?
'Heathrow's x-ray machines
immediately flag up wired devices.
'Different materials
that go through the scanner
'come up in varying colours.
'Metal tends to come out blue,
wiring green.
Oh, this is a radio for your car?
Yeah.
A radio for your car. OK.
Oh, OK.
I need to open up to do the swab,
OK?
Please do.
OK. Anyway I'm going to have
to ask my manager,
because it is a large electronic,
and it's not very common.
There is a certain size
that a passenger can bring through
for an electrical item,
like they can't bring
a fridge freezer through, obviously.
What do we have here?
So, basically, I wanted to show
yo this,
because the gentleman is carrying
a radio for his car.
As long as it fits through
the x-ray machine,
that's how we gauge it, really,
you know.
So how much you are saving
did you make, then?
OK, very good.
That's good.
You buy cars?
Oh, how many cars you have?
So you have like a collection?
Wow.
Oh, I think I need to go to Norway.
I need to go to Oslo.
Just for a ride.
LAUGHS
OK.
'Estefania isn't the only person
who wants to go to Norway.
'After seeing all this lot go on
their holidays,
'I fancy a trip myself.'
OK.
Bye-bye, ticky-ticky.
Subtitles by TVT