Behind The Scenes At The Airport 1947

[Music] so [Music] [Music] plane from toronto now unloading it gate one oh there you are young fella how'd you like your first plane trip oh it was a lot of fun gee i wish i were a pilot like you why not but right now you'd better get ready for that boston plane did the stewardess tell you what to do yes she said to walk to that desk and show the man my ticket and i just wanted to say slung to you well thanks but now you'd better run along gee this is great there's nothing to it you just landed one plane and take off in another goodbye goodbye just land in one plane and take off in another i suppose that's how it looks to a lot of passengers perhaps that's the way you think of it too there are so many things going on around an airport that ray and other passengers never see they don't realize that there are great many people working in those buildings making it safer and easier for the passengers would you like to take a little trip with me and find out about some of those unseen jobs these are the mechanics who keep the airplanes flying they must make sure that every part of the plane runs safely and smoothly several long flights the mechanics will take it apart and check everything even though the plane may seem to be running perfectly they take the engine all down examine a two-part then they put the engine back together again and run it at high speed for many hours [Music] the mechanic can tell from the dials just how the parts of the engine are working also the big propellers are balanced just right they must turn smoothly at high speed when the big plane is all together again the mechanics know that it is running perfectly if a person plans to travel by plane he naturally wants to be sure that the seat will be reserved for him let's take a look at the room where calls for reservations come in this clerk is ready to take them over her special telephone the blackboard shows her the numbers of the planes which still have space for passengers and away the slip goes to be filed there are many reservation clerks like this one busy day and night ready to answer calls the pilot too has been thinking about the safety and comfort of the passengers let's drop in and visit him next here's a chief pilot just like myself getting ready to fly his route he's figuring out the quickest and most comfortable way to fly that route first he looks at this drawing that the weatherman has made for him it tells him what the weather is like all along his route the chief pilot is responsible for a lot more than just flying his plane while we're here in this room i want you to meet another important person this man is called a dispatcher you just saw him receiving the chief pilot's report his main job is to decide just when each plane may take off then he must keep track of every plane as it flies between airports radio reports from the planes are put up where the dispatcher can see them the dispatcher has many things on his mind all the time well you've seen the mechanics the reservation clerk the chief pilot and dispatcher oh i see ray's plane is out by the ramp it's right outside so let's step out and i'll show you another man that has an important job at the airport this man is responsible for loading the plane and seeing that it's ready to take off he's called the ramp agent he sees that the plane is ready to receive the passengers who will be coming aboard shortly these large containers hold hot food that has been prepared for hungry passengers like ray fire extinguishers must be held ready just to be safe when the engines are started gasoline is put into the big tanks there must be enough extra so that the plane can fly many hours beyond its schedule if it must but the most important thing that the ramp agent does is to make sure that the whole load is not too heavy he knows how many passengers will be on the plane if the seats are all filled and he can't load so much mail and freight the ramp agent keeps a careful check to see that the plane can safely carry its load well you've seen many things that ray and other passengers seldom see not less than 60 people are needed to help a passenger land and take off safely and quickly and then attention 430 plane for boston now loading at gate 4. 430 plane for boston now loading at gate 4. all aboard goodbye mr carlton [Music] [Music] there's one more person that we should know about before ray's plane takes off let's go up to that tower this man up in the control tower is the traffic control chief he's like the traffic policeman who makes the car stop and go so that the traffic will run safely there's rays playing down there now the pilot is preparing to take off flight 3-4 to tower requesting permission to take off over tower to flight 3-4 you may take off on runway c watch for small private plane parked near north end wind 15 miles northeast steady go ahead [Music] take a good look ray there's a lot more down there than just those buildings happy landings ray [Music]