Olympic Thread

[PAXboy]

I have the temerity to suggest that we collate stories about airports and the games, as they cut across numerous airports. Naturally, JetBlast will be waiting for all the rest ...

After the too few, may be the too many!!
Costs to rise as Heathrow books too many staff... - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/costs-to-rise-as-heathrow-books-too-many-staff-7945443.html)

Today [Monday 16th] had been billed as the busiest day in Heathrow Airport's history, with thousands of Olympic athletes due to arrive. But The Independent has learnt that the airport's owner, BAA, has been forced to revise down its figures after over-estimating pre-Games passenger numbers by up to 10,000 a day.

[PAXboy]

From: BBC News - London 2012: Athletes start arriving for Olympic Games (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18852034)
Thousands of athletes and officials have begun arriving in London for the Olympic Games, as questions remain about recruitment of security staff.
Preparations are intensifying 11 days before London 2012's opening ceremony.


The first priority "Games Lane" has begun operation on the M4 - the main route from Heathrow Airport - and the Olympic drug testing lab starts work.
Heathrow Airport is expecting to process as many as 236,955 passengers on Monday, which would surpass its previous record of 233,562 set on 31 July last year. This compares with 190,000 passengers through Heathrow on an average day.
And, at the risk of broaching into JB territory, this from the London mayor, shows that political bull$hit is also ready for the games:
Speaking to BBC News channel, London mayor Boris Johnson said: "London is as ready, in fact readier than any Olympic city has ever been at this stage in proceedings."On a brighter note, from: Normal summer weather 'is on the way' - Home News - UK - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/normal-summer-weather-is-on-the-way-7945590.html)
Britain is finally expected to get drier and warmer next week - but only after the country is hit by yet more downpours.

This summer's record-breaking grim weather has been caused by the jet stream settling unusually far south. Now experts believe it is on its way back north, restoring a "more usual summer pattern".

[VNAVPTH]

If that Azores High hasn't kicked in by now, the jet stream is going nowhere! Expect a reprieve of 2 weeks tops! September will be our next best chance.

[DaveReidUK]

Just checking (I'm not a meterorologist) - the Azores High is the cause, and the Jet Stream is the effect, have I got that the right way round ?

[Mr Mac]

I was informed by a Virgin pilot this last weekend that Hurricanes are the best bet to move the Jet stream quickly, and the first one is brewing up of West Africa presently. He said that if the track is up US Eastern seaboard then the Jets Stream will be moved quite quickly, however if bound for Carribean our summer will remain much as we have already experianced. Have checked this idea with a Met Service we use in business who confirmed this hypthesis to be true. Keep your fingers crossed I guess.:ok:

[PAXboy]

I know this is JB ,aterial but ... Bus carrying weary US athletes from Heathrow takes four hours to reach Olympic Village as driver gets lost in traffic - Home News - UK - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bus-carrying-weary-us-athletes-from-heathrow-takes-four-hours-to-reach-olympic-village-as-driver-gets-lost-in-traffic-7946693.html)

Today I had to go into London and the road closures are pushing traffic heavily onto other roads.

[VNAVPTH]

Davereid. Not quiet. The polar jet, the one affecting us, forms below the tropopause within the Ferrel cell. It's location is the height latitudes of that cell at the location of high level divergence between the Polar and Ferrel cell. The Azores high is at the southern limit of the Hadley cell where air is descending along with air to the south from the Hadley cell. As the ITCZ moves north, the Azores grows and spreads north. This affects the Ferel cell and the position of the Jetstream. The Jet itself is the result of upper level divergence, corriolis force and pressure gradients.

The journey north of the ITCZ, enables Huricanes to form of the West African coast and start their journey across the Atlantic towards the Caribbean and the States. The warm water of the tropical latitudes acts like a cooker, with a high level tropopause, to really build these storms into hurricanes.


http://www.pilotfriend.com/training/flight_training/met/images3/1.jpg

[PAXboy]

A genuinely interesting (video) item about the luggage and logistics, as opposed to the pax.
BBC News - London 2012: Transporting Olympic luggage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18961993)

[27mm]

Heads up if you arrive at LCY on a Sunday and want to go to Bank with DLR, as I did; the arrivals board on the DLR platform only had trains to Stratford Intl. I queried this with a DLR rep there, who said there were no DLR trains towards Bank on a Sunday! :ugh:

[PAXboy]

from: Troop influx patches up security (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/troop-influx-patches-up-security-now-for-the-travel-crisis-7973438.html) and some trains could not stop at the main station. :rolleyes:

Due to heat affecting the overhead power lines, Greater Anglia had to impose speed restrictions meaning nine services had to pass through the station at Stratford, the east London Olympic hub, without stopping.

Signal failures also disrupted Docklands Light Railway services to and from Stratford, as well as London Underground services for Heathrow on the busiest day for arriving athletes. Further travel problems may be experienced on the roads today as Olympic traffic-only lanes are opened across the capital.
Fortunately, the weather forcast for Friday is showery rain, so that should fix the hot wires problem. Another Great British solution. :ok:

[PAXboy]

Tomorrow's one-day strike by immigration staff called off

London 2012: Tomorrow's one-day strike by immigration staff called off - UK Politics - UK - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/london-2012-tomorrows-oneday-strike-by-immigration-staff-called-off-7976163.html)

[GrahamO]

can I safely assume that as the Daily Wail and Grauniad are not full of LHR horror stories, that the queues at Heathrow have not turned out to be biblical in proportions?

[PAXboy]

It would seem so. Which might just mean that the plans worked. :confused:

The meedja have turned on the Zil Lanes and now sharpening their knives for the opening ceremony.

[PAXboy]

International travel 'makes athletes ill'

Elite athletes who travel across more than five timezones to compete, more than double their risk of illness, a BMJ study has suggested. The researchers argue the different germs and allergens of a new environment affect the athletes.

Air travel does not seem to play a part as on returning home the competitors' health does not differ from normal.

They suggest this could contribute to a home advantage for Team GB in the Olympic Games.

Prof Martin Schwellnus, one of the paper's authors said: "It is a common perception that international travel increases illness - due to organisms in aeroplanes."

However, this study suggests that increased illness from travel is more likely to be due to the fact that the person is out of their normal environment.
I think that's a really intersting development in the debatre about health in aircraft cabins.

BBC News - International travel 'makes athletes ill' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19178547)

[ExXB]

Statistics have proven that 51% of all travellers become constipated, another 51% get the trots. My personal experiences has show this is correct.

[rjc54n]

Well, how fortunate the G4S debacle actually turned out to be. Olympic security under the armed forces was - in my experience at 3 venues - fast, efficient, polite, friendly and pragmatic. What a welcome contrast with the airport security (much outsourced to corporations such as G4S) that I negotiate week in week out.

I actually heard this exchange yesterday:

Officer: "What are you doing with those aerosols?"
Soldier: "confiscating them sir"
Officer: "No, 100ml and under is ok and if there's a slightly bigger one that's mostly empty use your common sense"
Soldier: "yes sir!"

I know that it is unrealistic and naive but, having now experienced large scale aviation grade security delivered in an exemplary fashion by the best, I can only hope that the airports are challenged to raise their game having seen how well it can be done.

And kudos to the forces who did such a good job.

[PAXboy]

A special Games terminal at Heathrow airport was made to resemble a London park today to give Olympic athletes a good send off after the ending of the Games.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/special-send-off-for-competitors-as-heathrow-terminal-is-transformed-into-a-london-park-8037882.html
To make departures easier and to cope with the large number of bags, athletes used check-in and bag-drop facilities at the Olympic Village yesterday.
Heathrow operator BAA said today that more than 5,000 bags were successfully collected at the Olympic Village and processed through Heathrow's baggage system overnight to relieve the pressure on the airport today.


The temporary terminal is part of Heathrow's £20 million investment in handling London 2012 passengers. Equivalent in size to three Olympic swimming pools, the terminal has 31 check-in desks and seven security lanes to help deal with the high number of departures. After three days of operation the terminal will be decommissioned and the site returned to its original use as a staff car park.

[WHBM]

..... use your common sense .....
This is the sort of approach that gives the security control freak management apoplexy; it completely invalidates all the expensive training given to staff that anyone with 101 ml and upwards is automatically a member of Al Qaeda. As a result it puts their jobs at risk.

[Gulfstreamaviator]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Glf