Airport Systems Watch
About 60 minutes, indoors, for ages 11 and up.
Where it works
Works in any indoor space
Who it's for
ages 11 and up
Systems To Work Out:
- the order things happen to a plane after it parks
- where the bags go once they leave the counter
- why some gates are busier than others
- what the ground crew does that passengers never see
- how long a turnaround takes from parked to pushed back
Today's Challenge
- 1.What has to happen before a plane can leave again?
- 2.Which job looked hardest?
- 3.What would break first if one crew did not show up?
Quick Start: What you need
- 1notebook
- 2pen
The Goal
Figure out how an airport actually runs while you wait at the gate.
How to start
- 1
Gather what you need: notebook and pen. Nothing else required.
- 2
Head indoors and see how many you can find: the order things happen to a plane after it parks, where the bags go once they leave the counter, why some gates are busier than others, what the ground crew does that passengers never see.
- 3
Talk about what you are seeing. Start with "What has to happen before a plane can leave again?"
- 4
Print the worksheet to check things off as you find them, and keep it afterwards.
Draw The Turnaround
Draw the steps that happen to one plane between landing and leaving, in order, and mark the step everything else has to wait for.
A large airport can hold several miles of conveyor belt in its baggage system, and a bag may travel further inside the building than the passenger walks to the gate.
If you want to push it further
- Time one full turnaround and compare it to the next
- Find the step that everything else waits on
Print it and go
The worksheet has the checklist, the prompts, and a space to draw in. One page, ready for a bag or a glovebox.