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00:00Toronto Pearson Airport welcomes some VIP passengers.
00:06Big business, big animals. A lot of responsibility.
00:10A high-stakes operation to lift a massive jet...
00:15We may have to put this in.
00:17...requires urgent action.
00:19As twin winter storms shut down airports across North America...
00:23We're gonna get a good dumping of snow.
00:26Extreme weather stalls ground crew.
00:29It wants to go, it's just not going.
00:33And tempers reach boiling point inside the terminal.
00:37Delay, delay, delay. And I've been calling for five hours.
00:40But your organization is a f***ing joke.
00:43This is Canada's biggest gateway to the world.
00:47An elite force of 50,000 working non-stop.
00:50A lot of departments that sit here are like marionette puppeteers...
00:54...and make sure that everything happens.
00:56Keeping flights across six continents moving...
00:59...while battling the elements...
01:01That's what we get paid for.
01:03To do the impossible.
01:05...and facing the unexpected.
01:07There's a medical call going on right now on an aircraft.
01:09And they're doing it around the clock...
01:12...to keep Toronto International on track.
01:23After three months of brutal winter...
01:25...Toronto is finally catching a break from the storms.
01:28Inside the airport, it's business as usual...
01:31...as thousands of passengers pass through the terminals.
01:36But over in Air Canada Cargo...
01:38...Station attendant Jordan Hinton is awaiting the arrival...
01:41...of some very special cargo.
01:43Horses.
01:44We oversee flights in progress at the moment...
01:47...and all the cargo that's planned...
01:49...and we ensure that the cargo...
01:51...moves between the facility here at the warehouse...
01:54...and all the flights on the airport apron.
01:58Tonight's cargo is from Germany.
02:01When we get horses through our facility...
02:03...it's usually in larger batches...
02:05...so tonight there's going to be nine.
02:10Each day, flights carrying live cargo...
02:12...pass through Pearson...
02:14...transporting everything from beloved household pets...
02:16...to a variety of creatures...
02:18...great and small.
02:20We want to make sure the animal welfare...
02:22...are maintained.
02:24So it can be challenging.
02:27Live animals are carried in a special hold in the plane...
02:30...which is both pressurized and temperature regulated...
02:33...to ensure a safe and comfortable flight.
02:36Humans, they can get stressed traveling...
02:39...imagine animals just no idea what's going on...
02:43...the loud noises.
02:45Even a safe arrival in Toronto...
02:47...can be a shock to the animals.
02:49Temperatures can be extreme here in the winter...
02:51...down to minus 25 with the wind chill.
02:54These kind of temperatures are not ideal for transporting animals.
03:00In charge of the horse's welfare...
03:02...is customer service agent Justin Ralton...
03:05...who is eagerly awaiting their arrival.
03:07There is the horse freighter coming in now.
03:11These horses are coming on a freighter from Germany, Frankfurt.
03:18All right, right now we've got the first of three...
03:21...horse stalls coming off.
03:23You've got three horses in each stall.
03:25So my job is to ensure that they have the safest time here...
03:28...that they're all relaxed...
03:30...to make sure that they have the most comfortable, stress-free time.
03:36I'm like a co-sierge.
03:38I work for the four-legged people.
03:40Because at the end of the day...
03:42...they're someone's family member.
03:44Traveling with the horses is owner's son, Trent Devine...
03:48...who's keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.
03:50So we've brought over nine horses...
03:53...eight of them trotters, one in Appaloosa...
03:56...all mares that are coming into Canada to be imported.
03:59Mostly all in the racing market.
04:02People love horses and they want them where they are...
04:05...or they want them for an event...
04:07...and we make it happen.
04:10Pallets used to fly horses are specially designed...
04:13...with features like non-slip floors, ventilation...
04:16...and access panels for vets.
04:19As the horses are carefully lowered onto the tarmac...
04:26...Justin knows there's a lot at stake.
04:29Big business, big animals.
04:31A lot of responsibility.
04:33But it's pretty neat when they come off.
04:35Breeding horses is an expensive business...
04:38...with some thoroughbreds being valued at tens of millions of dollars.
04:42All three stalls have made it safely off the plane.
04:48All right.
04:49It's now time to check on the condition of their occupants.
04:53We have all three horse stalls here...
04:55...and all the vets here too.
04:57The vet's going to check all nine horses.
05:04And then once he's satisfied that everything's good...
05:08...then they can go over to customs and get cleared by customs.
05:12The vet checks the horse's microchips to verify their identity.
05:18He then carries out a stable examination...
05:21...to look for any visible signs of illness or injury.
05:24Everyone wants to get out of the airline seats, you know, when they land, right?
05:29So as the vet's done with these guys...
05:31...they're going to go one at a time, load them in the trailer.
05:33Just as the first stall is being unloaded...
05:43...one of the horses is showing signs of distress.
05:48In horses, stress caused by long-distance travel...
05:54...can cause serious respiratory conditions like shipping fever.
05:59The vet will stay with the horse until it calms down.
06:05So we need it between 8 inches and 11.5.
06:10At the Air Canada maintenance hangar, engineer Lydia Brazel and her team...
06:15...are carrying out a vital test on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner...
06:19...to ensure it's safe to fly.
06:21Tonight we're actually doing a gear swing on the aircraft.
06:25The plane's landing gear has just been replaced...
06:28...and now needs to be tested to check its functioning properly.
06:32The aircraft needs to be ready in 14 hours to fly to Incheon, South Korea.
06:37The first step? Lifting the 194-ton plane off the ground.
06:45So what that means is we evenly raise the aircraft off the ground...
06:49...while on jacks, and once we're all set...
06:51...we basically tell the aircraft to retract the gear...
06:54...and extend the gear to do our tests that we need today.
06:57Raising the plane needs precision and power.
07:01The engineers need to get the three jacks...
07:04...perfectly positioned in the jacking points.
07:06There's a little cup, a little fitting on the wing...
07:10...and that male portion of the jack fits into the cup...
07:15...on the wing, the fitting.
07:16The jacks need to be synchronized when raising the aircraft...
07:21...or it could become unbalanced and come crashing to the floor.
07:24When you're in the flight deck and you select your traction...
07:29...the whole airplane likes to shake while it's on jack...
07:32...so that's the nerve-wracking part.
07:34Absolute worst-case scenario, if someone's not paying attention...
07:38...you risk the aircraft falling off the jack...
07:40...and that's not a situation we want for anybody...
07:42...so it's very imperative that the whole aircraft...
07:45...just comes up evenly.
07:47We're gonna go higher.
07:48We're gonna go higher?
07:49Yeah.
07:50So we're gonna go lower?
07:51It has to come down, though.
07:52How much?
07:54Give me five inches?
07:56Lydia measures the jack extensions...
07:58...to ensure they're all completely level.
08:01Coming down?
08:03It's going slowly.
08:06And once we're in position, everything has to be at a certain height...
08:11...and extension before we can actually put the weight on the jack.
08:15If the jacks aren't correctly positioned in the jacking points...
08:18...it can result in serious damage to the wings and fuselage of the plane.
08:23It's pretty nerve-wracking each time.
08:26That should be good.
08:33To ensure the plane is level when they raise it...
08:35...the crew tie a plumb bob to a bracket inside the fuselage.
08:40As long as the plumb bob hangs vertically...
08:42...they will know the plane is horizontal...
08:44...and evenly balanced.
08:47Hey, we're jacking!
08:56The jacks are powered by compressed air...
09:01...and are capable of lifting a combined weight...
09:03...of over 350 tons.
09:08We're just slowly bringing the aircraft up...
09:10...and I'm just monitoring our little leveler...
09:13...in the nose vehicle well here...
09:15...and making sure we're not pitching too wrong...
09:17...in the wrong direction.
09:19It's a slow process.
09:20It's not something you want the aircraft just to jump up in the air.
09:23Too much can go wrong.
09:24It's a steady pace all the way up.
09:26The critical moment arrives as the aircraft leaves the floor.
09:31The jacks are now fully supporting its immense weight.
09:37You may have to put the tip...
09:42Sorry, one sec.
09:43Over in Air Canada Cargo...
09:46...one of the horses that has arrived from Germany...
09:48...is showing signs of distress.
09:52As the big drop in temperature from Frankfurt to Toronto...
09:58...comes as a shock.
09:59What was the temperature in Germany when you left?
10:00Fourteen.
10:01Fourteen degrees.
10:02Fourteen degrees.
10:03Fourteen degrees.
10:04I didn't bring a jacket.
10:05It was warm here when I left.
10:06It was supposed to be warm there.
10:07Fourteen degrees in Frankfurt.
10:08Minus one in Toronto.
10:09Yeah.
10:10Luckily, even a horse is like, yeah, this is crazy.
10:11With an adverse reaction to the cold...
10:12...rather than shipping fever being the cause of the upset, the horse is given the all clear.
10:34It's nice seeing them.
10:35Everyone arrived happy and healthy, so it's always good to see that.
10:37They're a little anxious to get off.
10:40They've been called off.
10:41They've cooped up for a while now.
10:43They've come from all over Europe.
10:45These horses are from a specific stallion
10:48that is highly valued right now.
10:51They're all mares and they'll all be bred to stallions over here
10:54and have babies of their own.
10:56With the vet giving a clean bill of health,
10:59all the horses can continue on their journey.
11:03That's it.
11:05I've got the piece of paper from customs.
11:08We're good to go to release.
11:10Now the horses are on their way to their farm for the night.
11:16The horses get underway to Trent's family farm
11:19just as the weather starts to turn.
11:22And now the snow's coming in.
11:31Pearson's respite from the snow doesn't last long.
11:35Several inches are forecast to fall in the airport this evening.
11:39And that means teams working through the night to clear the airfield,
11:43ready for the morning rush hour.
11:48At IOCC, or the Integrated Operations Control Center,
11:52airport duty manager John Ventresca
11:54is coordinating snow removal teams across the airfield.
11:58We're going to get a good dumping of snow.
12:01We'll have three crews in this evening,
12:03which means there's an abundance of employees coming in and contractors.
12:07The manpower is there.
12:08They're all prepped, ready to go.
12:13The first line of defense is 11 airfield maintenance vehicles,
12:16which keep Pearson's taxiways and aprons clear of snow.
12:25Right now, runway teams are prioritizing our main runway.
12:29We should have that in a good order again,
12:32probably the next 15, 20 minutes.
12:35And then they'll start making their way south.
12:37So we'll work on the north-south runways,
12:40all the associated taxiways and high speeds.
12:42Essentially, when it's snowing this hard for this duration,
12:46it's going to be the same on the apron as well.
12:48It's just one big, massive team effort for tonight.
12:57Here comes the snow.
12:58All right, party's over.
13:01But all this snow clearing is creating another problem.
13:05There will be six of these at least,
13:07along with a whole bunch of other little ones
13:09that they're slowly building up with little tractors
13:12where they'll push,
13:13where one of these big guys can push it
13:15all the way into a pile like this.
13:17Over on the ramp,
13:18enormous snow banks,
13:19some as high as 30 feet,
13:21are building up.
13:25Left here,
13:26they could cause a hazard to people,
13:28vehicles,
13:29and aircraft.
13:31So they need to be dealt with before dawn
13:33when the airport gets busy again.
13:40Did it break?
13:44Well, that's comforting.
13:46Yeah.
13:47In the maintenance hangar,
13:48just as Lydia and the engineering team
13:50are raising the 194-ton Dreamliner off the ground,
13:53an air supply hose, which powers the jack,
13:56has disconnected.
13:58I can't get it back in the trunk.
14:01Without air pressure to power the jack,
14:03they won't be able to lift the plane
14:05to test the landing gear.
14:06Is it okay now?
14:07It's old.
14:08It's not good.
14:09It's indicating that I'm getting a lot more pressure than he is,
14:12but it's moving slower.
14:13Yeah, because he's saying the right wing's a bit low.
14:14Yeah, it is.
14:15Yeah.
14:16The plane is unbalanced.
14:25If it continues to rise unevenly, it could crash down.
14:29The team need to concentrate on getting the plane level again.
14:34We've just got to catch up on this side.
14:36With the faulty hose, it now takes a minute to jack the plane up by an inch,
14:49twice as long as before.
14:58After 30 minutes, the plane is at the right height
15:01to carry out the gear swing,
15:03which means retracting the landing gear first
15:05and then dropping it again.
15:07But nothing is moving.
15:21Negative for hydraulics.
15:23We do not have hydraulics.
15:27There seems to be some sort of problem in the aircraft.
15:31Without hydraulics, we're pretty much at a standstill.
15:36So we've got to retrace our steps
15:38and see if maybe something was missed somewhere.
15:46Outside, snow is continuing to fall,
15:49and things are about to get worse.
15:52As two large winter storms approach North America,
15:55delays at airports hundreds of miles away
15:57will impact flights to and from Toronto.
16:01At SOC, Air Canada's Global Mission Control,
16:04Chief Flight Dispatcher Kent Suter is tracking the progress of the storms.
16:12We're looking at a snow event from New York up through Boston.
16:16Toronto International has some of the best defenses against severe winter weather
16:20of any airport in the world.
16:23But not everywhere is as prepared.
16:25In the event that we run into too many problems down at our stations in the U.S. Northeast,
16:31if the aircraft becomes stuck,
16:32that's going to jeopardize the next flight that's going to depart out of Toronto.
16:38Toronto needs to be able to quickly get flights out to U.S. destinations
16:42before the storms close the airports.
16:49On the ramp, snow clearing teams work through the night to keep the airport operational.
16:55But they now need to get rid of enormous 30-foot snow banks.
16:58Luckily, they have the right equipment for the job.
17:04Right over there, what we call our snow melter, basically is like a big sauna for snow.
17:12The snow is shoveled into pits, where natural gas-powered burners melt 100 tons of snow per hour.
17:19But all of this melt water has to go somewhere.
17:25We melt it down, send it through the snow pipes, and that's how we clean the airport.
17:33Before the thousands of gallons of melted snow water can be channeled into nearby water sources,
17:39it needs to be purified in the airport's largest water treatment facility.
17:43So we're going to start off with cell four over here and walk all the way down to cell one.
17:55The facility is over 30 feet underground.
18:02Water is going to come from cell one when it's draining,
18:05in through these pipes over here.
18:07The water is treated through multiple stages of filtration to remove impurities.
18:11Firstly, large debris is sifted out, but other contaminants are not so easy to get rid of.
18:18Snow and groundwater at airports is constantly exposed to jet fuel, oil, and other chemical pollutants.
18:28And removing them requires an additional process.
18:31At the start of the oil-water separator, inside the water we have these cages made up of synthetic fibers,
18:41which increase the surface area, which oil droplets can stick onto.
18:46And once there's enough of them, they'll rise to the surface of the water.
18:51The water is then diverted to the final set of tanks, where the finer oil particles are removed manually.
18:57The last step is we have a skimmer over here that we can use to skim out the top layer of oil.
19:07Over here we can see a layer of oil that's being captured.
19:13We're going to skim off with a skimmer.
19:15And all the clean water flows underneath this halfway retaining wall, so that way no oil from the top layer gets through the bottom and flows out the facility.
19:33Each year, the treated water from hundreds of thousands of tons of snow is diverted to one of 11 stormwater ponds,
19:42before eventually flowing into a local freshwater source.
19:47Another process which keeps the airport operational throughout the winter.
19:51At the Air Canada maintenance hangar, an issue with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner's hydraulics is stopping engineers from carrying out a landing gear test.
20:03An open circuit breaker could be interrupting the path of electrical power needed to activate the hydraulic system to retract the gear.
20:20Frank said he's going over everything upstairs, but it'd be a real shame if we had to put it back down.
20:31Hey, Yang, you're closing all those breakers up there?
20:37It takes five minutes to reset all circuit breakers.
20:39Yes, I'm ready.
20:43And they try the hydraulics again.
20:45Hopefully, let's see what happens.
20:51There we go.
20:52Um, it was a circuit breaker that was out that should have gone back in at this point.
20:59Okay, Yang, you can turn the hydraulics off.
21:01With the hydraulics functioning, the team can finally carry out the gear swing.
21:09Let me know when you're ready.
21:11Okay, if it's only small, then I can drop it.
21:14So we're ready for the gear swing.
21:16Okay, you're up there.
21:17Okay, you're up there.
21:39Fluid movement is imperative to ensure flight safety during takeoff and landing.
21:48Simple as that.
21:53The smooth retraction indicates the gear is working as it would during takeoff.
21:58Now, time for the drop.
22:17The green light signifies the landing gear is down and locked.
22:31Everything is working as it should.
22:34Once Avionics sign it off, the plane will be ready for its 1 p.m. flight to Incheon, South Korea.
22:40Toronto Airport can handle 48 departures an hour by keeping aircraft turnaround time to a minimum.
22:49Any delays could result in flights missing their weather window to areas in the U.S. being hammered by storms.
22:56It's now 6 a.m. and team leader Koresh Irani is overseeing on-ramp aircraft maintenance ahead of this morning's rush hour.
23:07So I'm just making sure that all the aircrafts are taken care of. Are they going to be ready?
23:12On the ramp, once inbound flights are empty and before they welcome their new passengers, engineers scan the planes for faults.
23:20One of the engineers, the aircraft maintenance engineer, the AME.
23:24He just called. He requires new tire chains.
23:28A tire on a Boeing 787 passenger plane needs to be replaced.
23:33They typically need to be changed between every 120 to 400 landings.
23:38So one of the engineers, when he was doing his walk around, he noticed one of the main wheels.
23:42It's damaged. So he is a quest. He's gone to the breezeway to pick up a main wheel.
23:47And then he has to change the main wheel. But if you can see the size of this, it's huge.
23:52787 tires are around 50 inches in diameter and weigh 218 pounds.
23:59This is not like cleaning a tire tire.
24:02But yes, if you have the right tools, it takes an hour, one and a half hour with two guys on it.
24:08Koresh only has an hour and a half before the flight needs to be airborne again.
24:14This is just one of 32 flights he needs to keep on schedule.
24:19And he gets an urgent call about one of those flights.
24:23155. Go check that out.
24:27What? What?
24:33Any crack in the exterior skin of an aircraft is a serious concern.
24:41Maintenance team leader Koresh is racing to investigate a reported crack on the fuselage of a plane bound for San Francisco.
24:48Deep cracks can lead to decompression and loss of control in flight.
25:07Who reported the crack?
25:08Who reported the crack?
25:09Where's the crack?
25:11There's no one.
25:13We're going to go up, look into it and see.
25:17The sheet metal team will check the damage to the plane.
25:23Because of the aircraft being pressurized, you have to make sure that it's just a pain.
25:29Damage, not a skin damage, because the skin itself is lost very thick.
25:33If it cracks, then it's too low.
25:35A blowout is a significant drop in cabin pressure which can have serious consequences.
25:41At flying altitude, the higher pressure inside the cabin can force a crack to tear open.
25:47In 1990, a British Airways flight experienced a blowout due to a faulty window installation.
25:53At over 17,000 feet altitude, the panel blew out and the captain was sucked halfway out of the aircraft, forcing an emergency landing.
26:04Incredibly, the pilot survived without serious injury.
26:08If the skin of the plane is cracked, this aircraft won't be flying anywhere.
26:12Just paint damage so we can smoothen it out and put some primer on it and let it go out.
26:27Primer will seal the scratch and prevent any corrosion.
26:30So we try to make the delays at least impactful as possible, but also not risk any damage.
26:39So we have to make sure it's good, but then we have to try to keep the downtime as low as possible.
26:43The effects of the twin winter storms are beginning to be felt in Toronto.
26:53A Halifax flight needs to leave on time before the airport there closes.
26:59But not all of its passengers have made it to Toronto yet.
27:02I would ask you please, as soon as you have Lucien, I need her to be at Orlando.
27:1310.87 Orlando.
27:15We're going to rush 39 Halifax customers.
27:18They have only 40 minutes.
27:21Operations manager Sarvi Najatian will greet the Orlando passengers and fast track them to the Halifax flight.
27:27Please, can you just prepare the whiteboard?
27:33But it's going to be tight.
27:35If the flight misses its weather window due to the storm in Halifax, it will be stuck in Toronto.
27:41They have only 37 minutes. They have good, it's just a volume.
27:45Yes, she's preparing it.
27:48Now, everybody knows what to do. We have the boards ready.
27:52We will meet the flight and then we're going to make sure to rush the connections.
27:55On the ramp, maintenance team leader Koresh is checking on the tire change.
28:05There's just an hour left to departure.
28:08So we'll just make sure that everything's going well so we don't delay the passengers and the flight.
28:17Typically, a tire change can take up to an hour and a half.
28:20So the old wheel is off. The new wheel is going on. So it looks good and promising.
28:30So this is the old one which came off. But if you look at it, it looks really good. But it might have a small dent somewhere which the engineer didn't find it to be safe so he's removed it.
28:44What was wrong with the wheel?
28:46There's a leak.
28:47Oh, there's a leak.
28:48Topped up. Topped up.
28:49Topped up.
28:50Okay, so there's no physical damage.
28:53Engineers can't risk even slow punctures as they can lead to blowouts and the pilot losing control of the aircraft during takeoff and landing.
29:01If you look at this, if he was alone, it was not possible. It wouldn't have been done in this time. We have to check everything, make sure the sensors and everything line up.
29:10So he's still got time. He will take him at least, I'm getting half an hour to 45 minutes to finalize everything. But at least the aircraft won't get delayed because of it, because we were on the ball with the change.
29:23By early morning, the huge winter storms have now moved in on cities across North America.
29:31This flight just canceled due to the weather.
29:33Air Canada's control center has determined this flight won't make it to New York before the storm hits there.
29:42It would either have to divert or turn back, so they've canceled it.
29:46Operations manager Matthew Esu needs to unload the plane and clear the space on the ramp for the next flight as quickly as possible.
29:56Mobile support.
29:58The plane's passenger doorsteps are too steep and icy to use in this weather, so Matthew needs ground crew to connect a ramp.
30:06Go ahead.
30:07Hi, sir. Do we have an ETA to gate 250 for the express route?
30:12Another 15, 20 minutes.
30:14Copy that.
30:18With all ground crews busy elsewhere, Matthew has no means of getting the passengers off the plane.
30:25And the gate remains unusable for incoming flights.
30:29OK, so we have nobody to open the door.
30:35After 10 minutes, there's still no sign of the ground crew.
30:39So we have to get somebody.
30:42Hopefully, the crew will be up and finished soon, so we can get this door open and get the passengers deployed.
30:50The grounded aircraft is blocking other flights from using the gate and leading to a traffic jam on the ramp.
30:56I'm going to make a call up to the operations control center.
31:02I'm going to see if I might be able to pull that lead quickly to come put on the express ramp and then go back to his task without impeding on departure time.
31:10The lead coordinates ground crew activity.
31:14If he can spare five minutes to connect the ramp, Matthew can get the stranded passengers off the plane without triggering further delays.
31:22Can I steal, um, the lead on 252 to put the express ramp on gate 250?
31:29Because mobile support is going to take about 20 minutes apparently.
31:33Thank you, appreciate it.
31:36I love you too.
31:38OK, bye.
31:40That's a yes.
31:41That's a yes.
31:42So I'm going to go talk to that lead.
31:43We'll get this express ramp put onto the aircraft and start our deplaning.
31:50Boss, you can do me a favor?
31:51Ooh, slippery.
31:53You can put the express ramp on this aircraft for me.
31:55The passengers are still on board.
31:57Mobile support is going to be about 20 minutes.
31:58OK.
31:59All right?
32:01Or any of you guys, anybody.
32:05Matthew's quick thinking will keep things moving on the ramp.
32:08I'm just going to do a little salt.
32:33You know, it could have been a much more streamlined process.
32:36Passengers probably should have been off about 10 minutes ago.
32:39But again, in times like this where the weather is bad and we are short on cruise,
32:43we just got to do the best we can.
32:48Back in the terminal, the delayed passengers from Orlando finally arrive.
32:53We're actually meeting an arrival flight right now.
32:56Terminal operations manager Sarvi is trying to connect the passengers
32:59to their onward flight to Halifax before the weather window closes.
33:03The team will actually make sure that the connections that are,
33:07the tight connections that we have can be rushed to the gates.
33:12Sarvi only has 40 minutes to move 39 passengers through customs
33:16to the Halifax gate half a mile away.
33:19Oh, OK.
33:20So here we go.
33:21Here we go.
33:22The first passenger.
33:23Sarvi's team work as a coordinated unit to transfer the passengers as quickly as possible.
33:33So this is what's happening.
33:34So we'll meet them here.
33:35Two of them are rushing in over there, telling them where to go.
33:39Can I actually ask you, because I don't want them to join the queue,
33:44or just let them know you will see a queue, don't join the queue, just go upstairs.
33:49Sarvi creates a shortcut through connections, so passengers can bypass any lines.
33:54So now making sure that they're actually getting to the right direction,
33:57and my team is going to let them know that you don't need to wait in the queue again.
34:00So now, hopefully, with my other colleagues, Jessica and Ayla,
34:17they're telling me that they've got a majority already standing upstairs,
34:21and now we can actually call the gate, telling them,
34:24hey, they're on run.
34:25All good, please.
34:30The Halifax passengers are lucky.
34:34They have a flight to catch.
34:36But as the winter storms across the eastern seaboard tighten their grip,
34:40other passengers are facing delays and cancellations.
34:44I understand, I get it, I just really, I just want to not be here.
34:49I just want to not be here.
34:51So, are you up here today?
34:53Yeah, I do.
34:54For the next day?
34:55Yeah.
34:5611 a.m.
34:57Okay.
34:58Due to the weather reason that all flights are either cancelled or rebooked now,
35:03the people, they're stranded here.
35:06Over 5,000 flights across the U.S. have been delayed or cancelled.
35:12A backlog of hundreds of stranded passengers is starting to develop in the terminal.
35:18The earliest many of them will be able to fly is tomorrow morning.
35:23The weather, big impact.
35:26Frustrating for the passenger force.
35:28Although Toronto Pearson is equipped to deal with extreme weather,
35:33it can still impact operations.
35:35Matthew's second flight of the day is already delayed by nearly an hour due to congestion on the ramp.
35:45So, the ramp lead over here asks me for a snow brush.
35:49Usually what that means is the intake, which is the engines up top, needs to be cleared out.
35:54The plane has been grounded on the tarmac for so long that snow has built up inside the engine.
36:05He needs to take the snow out of the engine just because when the aircraft is going to take off,
36:09all that snow might cause an issue in the engine turbine.
36:15With the storms worsening, it's now a race against time to defrost the engines.
36:20There's only a narrow window to get the delayed flight away before storms arrive at its destination.
36:35And Matthew is still waiting for ground crew to clear snow from the plane's engines.
36:39If it is snowing, we usually bring the heater and do a quick sweep out, but it usually doesn't take this long.
36:49We're pumping hot air into the engine, hoping that will melt the ice,
36:52and then he's able to use the brush to poop it out.
36:55The ground heater is a portable, self-contained unit that pumps hot air through a flexible hose into the engine housing.
37:02It can produce air as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
37:06On a day like today where the snow is pretty much above our ankles,
37:11we definitely have to take some extra time to ensure that there's no ice, no snow, no chips, nothing.
37:24The crew just cleaned out the intakes, so we should be good to go.
37:28It was a scheduled departure of 2 o'clock. It is now 3.40. Yeah. It is extremely delayed.
37:42An hour and 40 minutes behind its scheduled departure, the aircraft is ready to go.
37:47Uh, what's happening? I don't think it's going.
37:52Let's ask to the leave.
37:54But as ground crew try and push it out, the plane won't move.
37:58Go ahead.
37:59Yeah, the brakes are, I think they're frozen. They're calling maintenance some gear though.
38:05Copy that.
38:08Okay, so this aircraft will now be further delayed.
38:11Maintenance has to come check the aircraft to ensure that the brakes are okay.
38:15If the brakes are frozen, they'll need to be defrosted in the hangar.
38:19And Matthew would have to disembark the passengers from another flight.
38:23All good, my friend?
38:29Yeah, the brakes are really easy.
38:31Perfect.
38:32They're not frozen.
38:33Okay, copy that.
38:35The engineer finds no problem with the brakes.
38:38You guys going to stay for the pushback, just in case?
38:40Yeah.
38:41But the plane still won't budge.
38:57The tractor isn't heavy enough to push the plane back.
39:03It wants to go, it's just not going.
39:05It needs to get a grip, or Matthew is going to need a bigger tractor.
39:20It might be freezing out on the ramp, but inside the terminal, things are reaching boiling point,
39:26as the storms bring widespread delays and cancellations to U.S. destinations.
39:30Are you in this queue?
39:35Yes, I am, yeah.
39:36You know?
39:37Are you coming from a connection plane?
39:38No, I came from my house in Toronto.
39:39I've been here for seven and a half hours.
39:41Delay, delay, delay.
39:42And I've been calling for five hours, I told my family.
39:45Five hours ago.
39:46But I get it.
39:47It's your job.
39:48And I respect you.
39:49I respect you.
39:50But your organization is a joke.
39:53I get your frustration.
39:55The flight got delayed.
39:56The flight got delayed.
39:57It's not an answer.
39:58What we are here for, for you, is to make it happen.
40:01To see what's their options.
40:02None of these are answers to the questions.
40:03Because there are, because...
40:04Yeah, we're done, for sure.
40:05Have so much fun tonight.
40:06We're all having a blast.
40:08So, what we're going to do, unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to tell them that this
40:14is what's happening.
40:15Of course, everyone is frustrated, but I was not given any chance to talk to him.
40:19So, what's going to happen, he right into my face, used the preferred languages.
40:24This is not tolerated.
40:25Sarvi will alert her staff in case there are further issues with the passenger.
40:39At gate 252, time is running out to get the delayed flight away.
40:44I'm going to try to put some sand under the wheel.
40:50Hopefully, that can give it enough grip to pull.
40:59Without a heavier tractor, Matthew's only option is low-tech.
41:03But, it works.
41:20The weather can never be me.
41:21I always win.
41:22Over three hours after its scheduled departure time, the plane is finally ready to leave.
41:33And we'll just beat the storms.
41:35We made it.
41:36A win is a win.
41:37In the end, once the aircraft is pushed out and ready to go, the passengers can get to
41:42where they're planned to go.
41:44You can't be mad at it.
41:46All we can do now is thank the guys and go on to the next flight and do it again.
41:50Over in the terminal, as Sarvi's shift draws to a close, she can look forward to a well-deserved day off.
41:59I'm very happy that I'm on my, let's say, Friday.
42:03And it's actually good because I get to calm down, get the rest and then come back again fresh.
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