Mizter T wrote:
On 17/06/2013 21:41, Recliner wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Four hour long 'live' programmes (though presumably with much
pre-recorded content) about the operations of Heathrow are on BBC2 at 8pm
from Monday to Thursday this coming week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018t3xg

Hopefully should be of interest - there's certainly enough raw material
at one of the world's busiest airports.

Well, I thought it was really good. I know a lot about flying, and still
learned a lot. They also had live access to the control tower, which was
pretty impressive. And I liked the way Dallas was trying out the First
class suite on an SIA plane on live TV with the passenger possibly watching
the programme live from the departure lounge. I also think they wove the
recorded segments in with the live action very smoothly.

I only spotted one error, when Anita Rani said that the runways had to be
longer for the A380 -- that's one of the few things that didn't need
modifying, as A380s don't need longer runways than other long haul jets.

I wonder how much warning Kate Humble had that she'd be standing in for Dan
Snow? I don't think she's an aviation geek, so must have had to bone up
quite a bit.


Good to hear it was up to scratch - I'll be catching up on the programmes later.

Wasn't there some sort of adjustment to the LHR taxiways or apron that
had to be made to (better?) accommodate the A380. That might have got
muddled up with the runway itself.

What became of Mr Snow (junior)?

Yes, many changes had to be made for the A380, except to the runway length.
The plane needs a wider space around taxiways and also larger radius
corners. It also needed modified, wider spaced gates with more gangways
and lounge space. I suspect the pressure of live TV got Anita muddled.

They just said that Dan Snow couldn't be there because of a family
emergency. Kate Humble seemed to have been drafted in at very short notice,
and admitted that she doesn't normally like airports. She's certainly no
plane spotter, and she'd only just learned how to distinguish a 747 (she's
probably a lot better at wildlife than plane spotting). But she still
managed to do all the live interviews pretty well (Dan's recorded segments
still featured).