The Aiport – everything you ever wanted to know about the airport and more!

On this page we’ll be telling you all about the different people you may meet and what they do.

And if you fancy exploring any of the other sections, simply click one of the buttons below.

Brought to you by Heathrow – making every journey better.

People you’ll meet…
.

Look around the airport and you’ll see lots of people working.  At large airports, there might be over 80,000 of them – that’s as many as can sit down at Wembley Stadium!

They all have important jobs, ensuring planes land and take off safely with all the right people aboard.  So who might you see?

Airfield Crew

Some of the jobs are like those you find in other places.  Airports have their own builders, drivers, fireman, security officers and cleaners to keep things running smoothly, and help in an emergency.  There’s also many people who work in cafes and shops to keep us refreshed.

But other people working at the airport have jobs you won’t find anywhere else!

Behind the scenes, aerospace and aviation engineers and mechanics keep the planes repaired, whilst baggage handlers look after your bags and make sure they get on the same plane as you, often by driving special baggage trucks.

One slightly odd but really important job is done by Load Planning Officers. They work out the best way for everything to fit in the hold – just like a big jigsaw puzzle or computer game where you have to fit in all the pieces.

Air Traffic Control

As you can imagine, it’s hard work flying something as big as a plane, and so Air Traffic Controllers help the pilot out by using cool gadgets to give advice on height, speed and route. They also help with the vital bit of taking off and landing!

The Controller’s job is in three parts – separation, direction and information.

Separation – Simply put, this is stopping planes from bumping into each other! Air Traffic Controllers tell the aircraft when they are too close to other planes or when they need to change direction to avoid getting in the way.

Direction - No, this isn’t if the pilot gets lost! There’s lots of planes and only a few runways so the Air Traffic Controllers tell each aircraft when it is their turn to land or take off. When a plane is waiting to take off, we say they are taxi-ing.

Information - This can be anything from the weather to conditions on the ground. Basically it’s anything that’ll help the planes take off and land safely.

If you ever want to see where these important people work, simply look for the a tall, thin building with glass windows at the top. If often has moving radar dishes on the roof and lots of aerials. You can trust that the Air Traffic Controllers are hard at work inside!

Pilot and Air Crew

You might have played with toy aeroplanes and wondered what it would be like to fly the plane for real – well pilots get to do just that, every single day!

The pilot in charge is called the Captain.  He or she is in charge of checking the route before take-off, making sure all the controls are working, and giving instructions to all the air crew about any unusual conditions that are expected – and flying the plane of course!

There is normally a First Officer on board too who is another trained pilot who can take over in an emergency.

While they’re busy doing that, to make sure you’re comfortable and relaxed during the trip there’s usually a nice and friendly air crew. You can normally spot them by the smart uniforms their wear in the airline’s colours.

Their most important job is to ensure everyone inside the plane is safe and secure.  You’ll watch them demonstrate how to use the safety equipment and they’ll make sure all hand luggage is stowed safely.

They also check that everyone has their seat belts on and are trained to manage any sort of emergency – even babies being born!