The ORY airport fireplace division throughout a coaching train
Behind-the-scenes airport operations excursions are virtually all the time superb experiences, however Paris Orly Airport (ORY) appears to have set the bar for me with this one. Orly is the second-busiest airport in Paris (after Charles de Gaulle Airport), the 11th-busiest in Europe, and is positioned about eight miles south of Paris.
An Air France Hop commuter flight departing ORY
It’s a correct worldwide airport and the busiest home airport in France. It serves 143 cities, noticed a complete of 33,120,685 passengers in 2018, and its three runways had 229,654 plane actions in 2013, which is the newest yr for which data can be found.
A French Bee A350 on the gate
Orly serves as a hub for Aigle Azur, Air France, French Bee, HOP!, Transavia France, and Corsair Worldwide. It’s additionally a spotlight airport for Air Caraibes, Chalair Aviation, easyJet, Royal Air Maroc, and Vueling.
La Compagnie additionally runs its all-business-class 757 service out of ORY
The airport’s terminals are present process main renovations, and Orly South and Orly West have already been renamed to Orly 1, 2, three, and four. The deliberate outcome by way of the renovations is a much-improved passenger expertise.
A Rossiya B737 taxiing for departure as seen from ORY’s glorious commentary deck
As talked about in my latest French Bee flight evaluate, ORY has a fantastic glassed-in commentary deck that’s open to the general public and accessible earlier than security. However, I got here to see what’s airside, and, with the assistance of each French Bee’s advertising staff and the operations and fireplace division employees at ORY, I received the royal therapy. I had hoped to see some cargo operations, however that didn’t pan out this journey. What did occur, although, was one thing past what I’d anticipated – a full-on fireplace drill.
European fireplace gear is tremendous cool trying
Rounding the nook, …
And spraying down the coaching airplane
Orly’s airport fireplace division has an outdated Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle for coaching – it’s secured to massive concrete posts behind the fireplace station. It as soon as held registration quantity F-BVPZ with Corse Air Worldwide, which is now often called Corsair Worldwide.
Cooling down the Caravelle
We spent greater than an hour with them, watching the drill, touring the plane, and the station. The vans roared out of the station, sped to the airplane, and doused it with water. Then firefighters dragged out hoses to spray down the engines, cool the wings, and soak the wheels.
The outdated Caravelle is a bit weatherbeaten, however nonetheless a great-looking airplane. Love the triangular home windows.
The cockpit was in significantly better form than I’d anticipated
…identical with the cabin space
We even received a journey in one of many airport fireplace vans after the drill. My inside 10-year-old was delighted.
Speaking with floor management earlier than driving on a taxiway
Heck, my present 53-year-old self was delighted, too.
The Orly Airport Hearth Division has its personal tower
The hearth division could be very effectively built-in into the airport’s operation system – the fireplace station even has its personal floor tower to higher regulate issues.
Getting into the plane
The hearth vans have ADS-B transponders for monitoring plane and floor autos
Having an plane out there makes for practical coaching
Enjoyable little issues of notice: at ORY, every automobile that accesses the taxiways and ramp areas solely wants clearance from floor management as soon as every shift; that is completely different from what I’ve skilled at Stateside airports, the place tower clearance is required to transit exterior of marked airside automobile lanes.
Corsair Worldwide, the identical airline that when owned the fireplace division’s Caravelle Corsair
The airport fireplace vans have ADS-B transceivers with shifting maps on massive show screens, permitting them to observe each plane and different similarly-equipped autos.
French Bee actually does have a implausible livery
Seeing the highly-trained fireplace division in motion was an incredible expertise. I’m undoubtedly hoping for a return go to as soon as the airport’s renovations are full to see all of the enhancements.
ASSOCIATE EDITOR – SEATTLE, WA Francis Zera is a Seattle-based architectural, aerial, aviation, and business photographer, a contract photojournalist, and a confirmed AvGeek.
http://www.zeraphoto.com
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