Author: Gareth

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Plane spotting

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This week’s video is a little different than usual. In a recent poll, 75% of people didn’t know the difference between an A320 and an A380, so this week is all about your plane spotting ability. You’ll need a pen and paper, and as you watch the video, try to write which planes you see. There are eight planes in total, which one is your favourite and why?

Check your answers at the end of the video. Good luck!!

Suggested ICAO level: 2+

British Airways fleet ‘spot the difference’

According to a recent poll, 75 per cent of people asked didn’t know the difference between an A320 and an A380 aircraft, one of the smallest, and the largest aircraft in the British Airways fleet. The A380 superjumbo has two decks and can carry 469 customers – almost three times more than its little sister.

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Hard landing

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Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

An Airbus A320, with 150 people on board, landed hard while on its approach, it then bounced and touched down again about 300 metres down the runway. At this moment passengers reported a loud noise as the tail made contact with the runway surface. The aircraft rolled out without any further problems but after checks by the maintainance personnel, serious damage to the tail was found. There was a 65cm scrape close to the tail section of the plane and the APU received minor damage. The plane will be out of service for a few weeks for repairs.

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Hard landing

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Listen to this recording and try to write what your understand. You should try to write everything that is said.

You can listen as many times as you want.

Check below the recording for some of the difficult words and come back and check the full text from this recording tomorrow.

Suggested ICAO level: 4+

Have a great day!

Difficult words: bounce (v.), roll out (v.), scrape (n.)

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Wildlife management answers

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Here are the answers to last Friday’s video, enjoy!

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

  1. His tools include; binoculars, hawk traps and several firearms.
  2. He uses these tools to deal with bird or mammal activity around the runways and the approach and departure corridors of the airport.
  3. It varies seasonally, so he isn’t doing the same thing all the time.
  4. He uses the car horn to try to scare the birds away.
  5. Hawks.
  6. No it isn’t. The trap has a soft netting to prevent injury to the bird.
  7. Propane cannons.
  8. He uses the red type, a ‘banger’, which sounds like a loud explosion, and the yellow type, a ‘screamer’, which makes a very high-pitched noise that lasts longer.
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Wildlife management

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Here’s an interesting video that describes how to manage wildlife at an international airport..

Try to answer the following questions about the video and come back on Monday for the answers.

Suggested ICAO level: 5+

Have a great weekend!!

  1. What tools does Jonathan Leddon use in his work?
  2. What does he use these tools to do?
  3. What is ‘one thing’ he likes about his job?
  4. How does he try to remove the group of birds sitting on a perimetre fence?
  5. What kind of bird is captured in the trap Jonathan demonstrates?
  6. Is the bird harmed by the trap? Why?
  7. What noise making machines are available at the airport to scare birds away?
  8. What types of pyrotechnics does he use?

Wildlife Management at BWI

Jonathan Leddon, USDA’s wildlife biologist in charge of wildlife management at the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshal airport in Maryland, describes the tools and tactics of his trade as he drives the perimeter of the airport on August 21, 2014, with Aviation Week & Space Technology senior editor for Avionics and Safety, John Croft.

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Airstairs

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Here’s the text to the listening from yesterday.

Enjoy!!

A 737 had completed its flight as normal without anything unusual. The plane parked at a stand without a jetway, so an airstairs was used. While disembarking the aircraft via the airstairs a passenger tripped and fell down the airstairs. He received moderate injuries including cuts and bruises and was taken to a hospital, but his injuries weren’t serious. The other passengers were able to disembark as normal.