And now it is the time for the second part to come. Today you will learn about what is happening with a plane at the airport, how the scheduled maintenance is carried out, how all the planes are circumfused with de-icing fluid and also how these birds are seered off.

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If the scheduled plane maintenance is needed, an airplane is being towed to a specialized building where it is being repaired. The building is split up onto several huge floors and inner rooms, one of which is called “wheel room.” Here airplane wheels are fixed. The author was warned about not saying “tire fitting” in this room, otherwise he would be punched by steamed-up workers. You are supposed to say “wheel room” and so only.

In contrast to a car wheel plate, airplane wheel plate is multicomponent.

It is secured together by numerous screw-bolts. Not to unbolt them by hand, there is a special machine which bolts and unbolts all of them at once. Moreover, there are different operating modes for different types of wheels. A maintenance worker can adjust them directly at the machine.

There are various nozzles for different types of wheels.

This is a sandblast machine. At great speed sand blows out of hose and strips the old paint off the plate clean.

In the main floor maintenance works and planes fixing up are carried out.

Management of the hangar allowed the author to go up high. And it is rather hair-raising to be and walk around up there.

A poster back from the past. It says: “Use slings that are well-tried and properly functioning.”

Engines that are getting ready to be placed back in their birds after maintenance.

You can get into the hangar only through a huge gate that rolls aside.

While an airplane is parked, there is some snow or frosting can mass up on the wings, tail and the main body itself. There are a whole lot of specialized machines in the airport that are engaged in deicing process.

Driver gets in the cabin and operates water cannon from up there.

In order not to damage a plane accidentally there are three special whisker detectors set up at a boom-end. As soon as a whisker touches anything – the boom immediately stops.

On the average deicing of a plane consumes 200 liters of deicing fluid.

After the deicing phase an airplane follows one of those little Follow Me cars till the nearest take-off runway and then eventually flies away. Together with the photographer and his crew there was a woman working as a representative in Emirates airlines and she was seering the company’s plane off.

Photo credits – 1