Its call sign is ATL and it manages 2,700 take-offs and landings everyday. An army of airport staff oversee a quarter of a million people who pass through its gates, as well as their luggage and their safety. There are more planes in the air and on the ground Friday evening – when the world’s busiest airport is strained to capacity. The only way to handle it is to keep a cool head. Passenger safety and on-time performance records depend on it. Meet the engineers, tarmac operators and the rest of the crew charged with this tremendous task.
Subjects: Technology
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Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal moves 130,000 passengers a day over 400 miles of track and through 110 stations spread across New York City and upstate New York. It’s one of the busiest train stations in the world with more than 700,000 people who use the terminal and every weekday morning at 08:40 – rush hour is at its peak. And that’s where we begin.
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Technology
Thematic DVD collection of PBS NewsHour clips, including:
Scientists, Students Study Space Storms
Students Build Biological Machines
Young Engineers Envision Cities of the Future
In Iraq and Afghanistan, Military Relies on Robots
Better Storage Options Sought as Wind, Sun Power Catch On
Math Wiz Adds Web Tools to Take Education to New Limits -
In Colorado Desert, Hope Blooms for Pond Scum as Fuel
In our continuing series on innovations, Tom Bearden reports on an effort to extract clean fuel from algae.
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In Iraq and Afghanistan, Military Relies on Robots
The military has deployed thousands of robots in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the machines search for IEDs and conduct aerial surveillance. NewsHour correspondent Tom Bearden reports on the future of military robots.
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Fram
The world’s most adventurous cruise ship fights through the ice-choked fjords of Greenland to visit a spectacular collection of wildlife and icebergs.
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Tonsberg
The worlds largest roll-on/roll-off vessel races against the clock to load and transport luxury cars, SUVs and construction equipment across the Atlantic Ocean.
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USNS Comfort
This U.S. Navy hospital ship travels from Colombia through the Panama Canal on a mission of mercy to the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.
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Northern Leader
Alaska’s biggest longline fishing ships battles high waves and hurricane-force winds to bring home a massive catch of cod.
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Maersk Viking
One of the world’s most advanced drill ships builds an oil well more than 2,000 metres below the waterline in the Gulf of Mexico.