X-Ray Mega Airport (Smithsonian Channel)
07-31-16, 02:31 PM
#1
DVD Talk Gold Edition
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X-Ray Mega Airport (Smithsonian Channel)
The Smithsonian Channel is an interesting mix of programming. One show I've really come to like is called "X-Ray Mega Airport," which is a look at the inner workings of the Frankfurt, Germany international airport. The show is only 5 episodes but they get into everything: runway maintenance, aircraft maintenance of all sorts, baggage handling, you name it.
One thing Frankfurt does that other airports don't is it scrubs the tire skid marks from landing. You look at any American airport and it's just solid black where the planes touch down from years of tire skids, but in Frankfurt, that messes with the grooves of the runway and can cause sliding during a rainy landing. So a scrubber truck, rolling at 1 mph, goes down the runways every 6 weeks and blasts the rubber off the runway. All it uses is high pressure water. When done, they remove 5 tons of rubber and the runway looks new.
Another fascinating fact: landing fees only account for 1/3 of the airport's revenue. The rest is from retail. They have turned the airport into a giant mall. To accommodate Chinese visitors, they have shopping assistants who speak Mandarin. And one wealthy Chinese person flew in to Frankfurt specifically to buy two bottles of wine for 34,000 Euros each. he came in, got the win, and left.
The way they check for pollution is cool, too. They set up bee colonies around the airport and check the honey for pollutants. That's how they determine pollution in the air around the airport.
Never has an airport been more fascinating.
One thing Frankfurt does that other airports don't is it scrubs the tire skid marks from landing. You look at any American airport and it's just solid black where the planes touch down from years of tire skids, but in Frankfurt, that messes with the grooves of the runway and can cause sliding during a rainy landing. So a scrubber truck, rolling at 1 mph, goes down the runways every 6 weeks and blasts the rubber off the runway. All it uses is high pressure water. When done, they remove 5 tons of rubber and the runway looks new.
Another fascinating fact: landing fees only account for 1/3 of the airport's revenue. The rest is from retail. They have turned the airport into a giant mall. To accommodate Chinese visitors, they have shopping assistants who speak Mandarin. And one wealthy Chinese person flew in to Frankfurt specifically to buy two bottles of wine for 34,000 Euros each. he came in, got the win, and left.
The way they check for pollution is cool, too. They set up bee colonies around the airport and check the honey for pollutants. That's how they determine pollution in the air around the airport.
Never has an airport been more fascinating.
