Airport workers brave the heat
Workers refuel a landing aircraft at Pudong airport on Wednesday.
Summer always means busier airports when a large number of travelers come along with convection weather, flight delays, flood risks as well as more bird and lightning strikes.
At Shanghai’s two airports, thousands of engineers, technicians, security guards and outdoor personnel brave the scorching temperature to ensure smooth operations during the ongoing summer travel rush.
Temperatures out on the tarmac recently reached nearly 60 degrees Celsius.
The Pudong and Hongqiao airports expect to handle 21.4 million travelers, a 4-percent increase from last year, during the annual peak period in July and August, when many students and their families travel for summer vacations.
Over 130,000 daily flights will take off and land at the airports as airlines increase their capacity to cap rising demand.
More flights mean Sun Bin, a runway patroller at Hongqiao, has to walk around the two runways, over 3 kilometers long, more frequently. Sun and his colleagues work around the clock in shifts to remove stones and any objects on the runways.
Balloons and plastic bags often fly onto the runways and taxiways, posing great risks to takeoff and landing safety, Sun said.
The workers inspect six times a day to report and remove objects on tarmac between flights at the airport. Each patrol takes about three hours.
In summer, they also have to remove fast-growing plants on fences near the runways that could cause blind spots for security guards. "The cirrus plants are often thorny, while the stones on the runway are too hot to touch," he said.
At Pudong, security inspector Li Xiaolong prevents unauthorized people and vehicles from approaching planes. He is also charged with inspecting the credentials of those working near aircraft.
Li oversees the security of about a dozen aircraft each day. His duties often place him in front of aircraft, where he must endure the blistering sun and heat radiating from jet engines for up to an hour at a time, Li said.
"My shoes have to be replaced more often in summer due to the scorching temperature on the tarmac," he said.
Sun Bin, a runway patroller at the Hongqiao airport, checks the runway on Wednesday.
Song Bo, an aircraft inspector, checks the landing gear of an aircraft at the Pudong airport on Wednesday.
His colleague Song Bo checks the body, engines and landing gear of each aircraft before takeoff. After working at the Pudong airport for over a decade, he can spot any minor strikes from birds or lightning that often happen in summer.
Song has to bear the scorching temperature near engines to check the blades and landing gear brakes by hand. He inspects about six aircraft a day. The aircraft can take off from the airport after a nod from him.
"I'm the last insurance to flying safety, so I have to work with extreme carefulness," Song said. The job requires good eyesight and hearing, but the dazzling sun and loud engines can also easily impair these abilities, he said.
Night comes as a relief for these daytime workers, but is a busier period for Liu Qingfei, a technician maintaining lights on the tarmac.
The Pudong airport has a total of 181 tall lamps, each about 30 meters tall, to illuminate the boarding bridges at both terminal buildings. High temperatures and sunshine cause the lamps to break more easily in summer, said Liu.
He begins his patrols after 5:30pm every day when all the lamps are turned on along with street lamps across the city.
"Illumination is quite important for aircraft and vehicles to move safely at night," Liu said. It takes an hour to replace a broken light. The tall lamps can be lowered down for replacement, but the iron poles are aften too hot to touch after being baked for a day, he added.
Typhoons and thunderstorms are common problems for airports in summer. Wang Shuai, a pump station operator at Hongqiao airport, protects the runways from being flooded during bad weather.
Wang is in charge of dredging and cleaning a 74,000-square-meter pond near the runways. When there's a downpour, he opens the water gate to drain accumulated water.
To ensure the drainage system works efficiently, Wang patrols the pond every day and removes any floating waste on a boat.
"Sometimes, I hope a rainstorm could relieve the heat, but then worry about the runways being flooded and prefer the sizzling sunshine," Wang said.
Technicians maintain lamps on the tarmac at Pudong airport on Wednesday.
Security inspector Li Xiaolong stands under the wing of an aircraft to prevent unauthorized people and vehicles from approaching planes at Pudong airport on Wednesday.
Medical service
The high temperatures have prompted the Shanghai Airport Authority to enhance protection for its outdoor workers to ensure they don't suffer from heatstroke.
When the temperature is above 35 degrees Celsius, Guan Yongzhi and Tang Qian, doctors with Civil Aviation Administration of China, leave the clinics in the air-conditioned terminal buildings to check out workers on the tarmac.
Carrying a box of various heatstroke-prevention medicines, they take the blood pressure of workers, cleaners and crew members, and offer first-aid services.
Since the service was launched in July, the medical team has served about 300 staff at Hongqiao.
"The outdoor employees feel secure when they see us patrolling around the tarmac," Guan said. "They sweat far more than us," he added.
The airport authority has prepared 180,000 bottles of drinks and 1,800 sets of heatstroke-prevention materials, such as towels and portable electric fans, for the outdoor workers. Fans and mist sprayers have been newly installed across the tarmac to bring coolness to the sweating employees, the airport authority said on Wednesday.
The working period will be shortened while more shifts will be alternated during extreme high temperatures to protect outdoor employees while ensuring operation of the airport, the authority said.
Guan Yongzhi, a doctor at Hongqiao airport, checks a baggage handler at Hongqiao airport on Wednesday.
The medicine and equipment in Hongqiao doctor Guan Yongzhi's case
Temperatures soar to 54 degrees Celsius on the tarmac of Hongqiao airport on Wednesday.
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Workers often have to endure scorching temperatures as they help maintain operations at the city's two airports during the summer.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Sweating outdoor workers at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports on Wednesday.
Dong Jun / SHINE -
Dong Jun / SHINE
