Behind the scenes at Heathrow Airport

Posted Tue 24th Jun 2025 at 12:50
by William Aiken

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with William Aiken, age 14

When we first arrived, we checked in and met Andy, he showed us the plan for the day and gave us the necessary equipment.

Our first stop was the baggage area, I really enjoyed watching the machines correctly place all of the suitcases and bags in the right place, and the fact that the system always knows where your bag is, is insane.

After this, we went to visit the control tower, we had a little talk at the bottom and saw the amazing 10 metre wide tv screen with a view of the whole airport, we all asked loads of questions and were very curious about how it all worked. Shortly after, we went up the outside lift all the way up to the tower, this was amazing and a little bit sketchy as well, but we videoed and enjoyed the whole way up. Once we were up there, we looked around the whole airport which was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Eventually we got back down to the ground and visited the fire department, this was so cool, and we asked a bunch of amazing questions as well. We even got to test out the fire engines. Then the fireman gave us a ride around the airport and we made a short stop at concord, it was very shiny, and it was washed a day prior to this visit.

At the end of the day we met up in Andy’s office and ate our late lunch, we talked a lot about what could help the airport be more Tourette’s friendly. All in all I absolutely loved this experience and would do it again any day.

William Aiken

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