Heathrow Archives - Golf Hotel Whiskey

The Wales Air Forum has reported that Heathrow has marked the anniversary of its 500,000th passenger to ride on its transport pods with a special visit from Transport Minister, Norman Baker. The Heathrow transport pods were designed by Ultra Global PRT and originally began as a research project with the University of Bristol back in 1995. In 2001, the company established trial runs of several generations of vehicles on a 1km test track in Cardiff after winning £2.7 million in funding from a the UK government Innovative Transport contract to design and develop a full prototype. Then in 2005, Ultra was chosen to build a pod system at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Today, the system provides around 900 passengers per day with a link from the T5 Business Car Park to the terminal and consists of 21 battery powered, driverless, zero emission vehicles that eliminate more than 50,000 bus journeys a year between the Terminal 5 Business Car Park and the main terminal. The innovative pod system has been noticed by the transportation industry as its won the top prize at the British Parking Awards for transport innovation, the London Transport Award for Most Innovative Transport Project and the Most Innovative Service award at the Best in Britain awards of The Great Exhibition 2012.

Ultra, which is 75% owned by Heathrow, has also signed a commercial deal with a company in India to deliver a system that will be 10 times the size of Heathrow’s for the northern city of Amritsar. In fact, Amritsar will represent the first urban application of such a system; and at peak capacity, it will be able to carry up to 100,000 passengers a day on a 8km / 4.8 mile elevated guideway in over 200 pods between seven stations connecting the Golden Temple (the holiest shrine of Sikhs) with the rail and bus stations.

A quick search on YouTube revealed this 10 minute segment from the online show Fully Charged about the Heathrow pods:

A couple of weeks ago British Airways invited me to visit their newly-extended maintenance facility at Heathrow to see the new Boeing 787 which was visiting briefly. I had seen them on the production line in America but we weren’t allowed to take photos, so this was a great opportunity to see a fantastic new plane and to share some pictures with you.

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British Airways was doing some tests to make sure that the 787 could fit in the new hangar and the maintenance cradles they had built for it. I was just looking for a photo opportunity!

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New Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines with this interesting scallop shape on the nacelle, which I believe is suppose to reduce noise.

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The first impression is that it is very smooth, like a dolphin. Perhaps it’s the nose. And is it just me, but is there a hint of Comet in the lines?

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We got a brief look at the cockpit. Note the head-up displays and the five large LCD screens.

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Other planes have little trackballs but I was interested to see that the 787 has a trackpad like a laptop.

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Surprisingly few knobs, dials and switches. As planes get more digital, the cockpits get simpler. I think even I could master this lot.

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This is the forward crew rest area. Very cosy.

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This picture shows the dimmable windows and Boeing’s business class concept with outward-facing windows (for a better view).

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Smooth. Composite structure and advanced aerodynamics are part of the reason that Boeing is claiming 20% lower fuel consumption. We got to see how engineers repair composites. I had seen some of this before after a golf ball hit the wing of an SR22 that I fly. (Don’t worry, it was on the ground at the time.)

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In service, I don’t think there would be so much space for walking around! But you can see the interior lighting system, cabin height and large windows in this picture.

I was impressed to see the 787 up close. Yes, it’s a few years late but some things are worth waiting for.

Heathrow transport pods transport their 500,000th passenger

On Board Boeing’s New 787 Dreamliner