FBO Sheremetyevo infrastructure: how light aircraft are prepared for flight

Airports on the basis of the organization of the schedule of departures are slotiruemyh and unclosable. Sheremetyevo is slotted, and in the third category, that is, there is a slot for each arrival and departure: this is a take-off clearance + a free runway, parking under an airplane, the possibility of servicing the aircraft, a tug, anti-icing, an escort and so on . Thus, departures are guaranteed strictly on schedule. If, for comparison, to take the airport of Murmansk or Arkhangelsk - they are not so big, and there the slots will be just an extra bureaucracy. Therefore, they are not used there. But Geneva or London - there is exactly the same system, and there just can not fly. We must agree in advance. During periods of exhibitions, conferences and major sporting events, requests are so frequent that the airport makes refusals for free slots. In Russia, this happens most often in economic forums.

In SVO, spikes every 90 seconds - take off or landing , so it will not suddenly pop in (only in emergency situations, for example, if someone of the passengers urgently needs a doctor on the ground). Flight plan at peak times is best served in half a day. If you sit past your slot without the permission of the dispatcher, then on the ground the transport inspection will wait for you: the plane will be arrested, the pilot's license will be taken away. If this still creates the cause of the accident, it will be a criminal case. SVO is proud to be the most punctual airport in Europe.
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In Vnukovo, the slotting goes according to category II: there the passenger confirms, gets on a plane, goes to taxi, but he can be a little slow down. SVO has an airport control center (in terminal F on the fifth floor) - the airport’s think tank. Seen every corner of the airport. There is planning and management of all life. There is also a special post for business aviation (just for small and medium aircraft).

As for ordinary passengers, the same rules apply for a business passenger as established by aviation safety requirements. And the same customs procedures, border control and inspection. Only quickly and discreetly. They took the passport, returned it in a minute - that's all.

The company that provides business travel is responsible for the quality of service and speed. Last time we told that a business passenger 10–15 minutes after arriving at the terminal is already in the air. In order for this to work properly, you need to do quite a few operations:

1. Plan in advance the flight. As a rule, a business passenger warns the company 2-3 hours before departure that he is going to the airport (and calls the final point of flight).
2. Provide technical training for the aircraft. It is necessary to roll it out of the hangar (and business jets are often kept “herringbone” for compactness, so often you need to roll out another plane, get the right one, then roll that other one to its original place). Or, if we are not talking about a private jet, but a charter, then provide one of the sides, the best one that has just landed.
3. Fill the board and provide it with engineering services. To minimize idle time in FBO "A-Group" there is infrastructure, for example, its own anti-icing machine fleet, 12 pieces. This is a lot and expensive, so FBO also serves many linear companies. When it was freezing rain in Moscow, they helped Aeroflot. This infrastructure ensures no delays for technical reasons. Many FBOs build a hangar, a terminal and an apron, and everything else is bought from the base airport. They don’t buy at A-Groups, because business passengers are in the spirit of: “Pour!” - “Aha, we’ll finish with trucks now, refuel 20 kilometers, then quickly and quickly to you” are not needed.
4. For technical reasons, there are no delays. The Moscow Aviation Hub is 80% of the traffic of all business aviation in Russia. FBO at Sheremetyevo has two competitors: Vnukovo-3 and CBA at Domodedovo. Moscow nodes are always ready to prepare the terminal, but in small FBOs, where there may be one board per day, a number of operations are still needed. The terminal approach may also differ: there is an FBO, passenger-oriented, there is - a profit. The first now win the second. Imagine: there is a delay in departure so that the “rich uncle” would go shopping and sit in a restaurant where there is no wine cheaper than 40 thousand per bottle. This "drive" of some began to enrage. In terminal A, the “clean zone” is very conditional: you almost immediately climb aboard your plane after registration. But, on the other hand, the opportunity to buy basic things for travel and sit in a restaurant is desirable in the terminal. For business delegations, it is still important for the mourners to stay until the end: often this is the only time when you can add something and sign documents other than the main issue of arrival. Many work right on the road, appointments are made at airports. In terminal A, we went a little further: there is still a conference room for meetings or press conferences. Another terminal should provide services for the physical protection of the first persons. In terminal A, this is strictly because it is often used for Government members.
5. You need to load luggage: usually everything you need is either sent in advance in a couple of hours by a separate car, or just waiting on the plane (who has a private board). By the way, the luggage compartments of most business jets allow you to climb into them during the flight. Frequent architecture is this: there is a pilot's cabin, a kitchen, a passenger cabin, then a toilet, and in the toilet the second door is further in the luggage compartment.
6. Immerse the power. There are FBOs that impose catering, but usually a business jet has its own staff. As a rule, one stewardess deals with food, who knows exactly what the main passenger likes to eat, and it prepares. Or, a passenger can simply order food from a favorite restaurant, and they will be dogmed and warmed up during the flight. In Russia, in 90% of cases, the stewardess deals with food. In charters - broker or flytsapport. By the way, several times a month even the coolest big-bosses order food from McDonald's or some kind of shawarma.
7. In parallel to all this, a flight plan is agreed upon.

In luggage, by the way, the difference is that you can take any amount of liquids (this is a safety requirement of airlines), but you should not take prohibited items (this is a requirement of the scope standards). If you and your family are aboard - very few people bring a gun to seize the plane. Is that mother-in-law.

Loading is standard most often: if you fly by an average plane to a ski resort, then eight people and all the necessary equipment will fit. Flytsapport provides loading and centering. Yes, passengers in medium-sized airplanes often go around the cabin, but there are no problems with centering disturbances, everything is designed taking into account exactly this behavior.

As they say, “if you want everyone to know that you have a private plane, fly to Vnukovo, if you want to let nobody know, to Sheremetyevo”. It comes to the fact that Flytsapport has a checklist item for checking the Forbes list: if two jets with passengers take off from there at about the same time, they are not put into adjacent slots so that they do not see each other.

When planning a flight, in addition to directly calculating the route and other features (for example, a strong wind head-on can shorten the flight range of an aircraft by 500–1,000 kilometers), other characteristic works are done. For example, you need to find a hotel for the crew, arrange transfers. It is important to calculate the price of fuel, as for cargo flights: sometimes, when the plane needs to be returned without passengers, it is much more profitable to take off with a small load, refuel at the airfield “on the road” and fly further. In Moscow, a ton of kerosene in Moscow costs about 40 thousand rubles, and on Sakhalin there can be 120 thousand: it is often very convenient to leave the islands on the continent.


As you can see, a large airplane for charters (with a converted cabin), a medium jet and two helicopters are stored in the hangar. Boeing, unlike other business planes, needs a ladder.

The service cycle on the ground - 25–30 minutes between flights: this is an inspection, refueling, flight preparation. If there is fuel already on the return flight, then even faster. It also depends on whether you need to flush the toilet or not, how much you need to maintain the cabin, whether there is something very special with meals on board.

In winter, 10 minutes longer due to the coating.



On average, a private plane, which is not given to anyone except the owner's flights, takes off four times a month. There is a difference where to stand - on the platform or in the hangar. Oddly enough, almost no matter where it is stored: these mechanisms are designed for much more stringent conditions than can be found on the earth's surface. It can stand on the platform for years, and nothing will happen. From practice: in DME "IL-9" stood for about 30 years. He was washed, examined, launched. But this does not apply to all airplanes: the latest generations with delicate equipment are difficult to tolerate a long deep cold (without heating the cabin). Even in the hangar is more convenient to store because before the flight you need to warm everything up, and this is quite a long procedure.

The usual temperature in the hangar is about 20 degrees. But it is clear that when the gate opens, it is immediately cooled or heated to ambient temperature.

In the hangars a lot of difficulties with birds. Hang special repellers that depict the eyes of birds of prey:



It is believed that the birds see them, understand that there is a predator near, and begin to fly away in panic. Moscow pigeons do not pay attention to them, and the magpies consider them toys. The next level is a special gel that coats the beams. His birds must peck, feel the lack of oxygen and fly out to catch their breath. It is assumed that after this they will form a fear of the hangar. In fact, as the senior engineer noted, the birds just eat it and are happy. So much so that shit so that then do not wash. Then the state ornithological service delivered repellers with records of the screams of panic of various birds. It helped, but not very much and not from all breeds. As a result, a laser repeller is used from especially arrogant birds (something like a disco ball with green lasers). The most effective were the representatives of one important delegation, who brought with them two owls. While the eagle owls were in Russia, not a single bird even came close to the hangars. Ornithologists use falcons, but they scare birds away from the runway, but not from hangars. There is also a very effective option - to coat the beams with diesel fuel. But this immediately means the danger of fire, so it is impossible.

The worst thing in the hangar is a fire. The board burns for about seven minutes. Fuel tanks can also help the process. Therefore, there is a new fire extinguishing system, which in 14 seconds falls asleep with the powder the whole hangar. Before that, you need to have time to run out, because this is the “POWDER, LEAVE”, which is not very good for health. After such a fire extinguishing the aircraft must be serviced: it will not fly.



The floors of the hangar are made of glass-rubber coating. It is necessary to ensure that the statics do not bite the attendants. The plane is charging, and a large current charge accumulates on it.



Current collectors on the wings partially solve this problem (they also burn, and they are changed), but they can also strike in the hangar. Inside the floor there is a small grounding grid (more precisely, equalization of potentials), which solves the problem. The tire at the wall takes it all from the floor and takes it out.





Attendants receive milk for harm, because working with airplanes is considered harmful production. In the coke is a radar installation, it can not be included in the hangar at all. Metal and fuel have a faint glow after being behind an atmospheric barrier (protecting against cosmic radiation); therefore, processing in the shower is obligatory. In winter, the reagents from the ice produce phenol. Plus exhaust fumes and traces of anti-icing fluid. By the way, about the liquid: the plane is treated not with alcohol, as many people think, but first with hot water (to wash the ice off), then with liquid, based on monoethylene glycol and deionized water. It is necessary for everything to become slippery, and the liquid is not kept on the plane. Recently, this liquid began to be produced near Moscow, and before that they were driven in tanks from Germany.

It’s also difficult on the lane: cars roll 200-400 kilometers per shift when they clean the strip.

Because of the engine noise of the crew, they are protected from hearing. In the old days, incandescent bulbs from the old lanterns were very much appreciated. They help much better earplugs, but most importantly, as they say, - do not blink your ear. This is crucial for the maintenance of the IL-62 and IL-86. Modern earplugs and headphones protect better, and so noisy beads are not very much.

On April 9, the opening of the third runway SVO is expected, and everyone is waiting for this at the airport.

References:

• We thank the colleagues from the "A-Group" for the tour, assistance in creating materials
• Business aviation and private jets
• Cargo flight
• Flight preparation for pilots
• History of catering and our rating of the most delicious airlines