The way the guildance works is as follows:-
1) Aircraft i/b is allocated a stand, this is done by BA in T5 and there are loads of reasons they allocate a certain stand for each aircraft, again they quite often change them or de allocate for a host of reasons.
2) The TRM is allocated to an aircraft the point in which this is done im not sure either first TRM available to the next aircraft or they get given a list of flights and they work through their list, im not sure on how this is done.
3) The TRM very rarely gets there on time, for whatever reason, short staff? late gate change? lack of transport?? time taken to sign of last flight?.
4) The TRM should inspect the stand and ensure the stand is empty for the aircraft. This isnt being done correctly due to the fact the TRM is late and in a rush, This process is important and i have had to stop aircraft from pulling on stand due to equipment that is parked wrong and could/will hit the aircraft and it wasnt picked up at time of pre guildance selection.
5) When the guildance is switched on it sweeps the stand for equipment on stand and then is ready to recieve the aircraft, this sweep only sweeps the area the aircraft will use. and not the complete stand. I guess it is programmed to do this because if it triggered at every piece of wrongly placed equipment within the stand it would never want to guilde the aircraft.
6) If when the guildance is doing this check and the aircraft is already on stand then the aircraft will trip the guildance because it will flag up as something on stand.
Pilots this is a message for you, if you arrive on stand and the guildance is a safedock system dont cross over the double white lines with the nose, this will normally cause a ID failure and the aids will not work waiting in a further wait for a marshaller which are probably racing around putting on other aircraft that are holding off. I find 1700-1900L worst breaks for TRMs i guess?
7) Also the guildance has to have the correct aircraft type. Quite often a TRM will put in the system B767-200 instead of B767-300 thinking it wont make a difference but it does the computer has a set of aircraft size parameters and a wrong type will fail the system.
8) The guildance is set to close down after every arrival this ensures. that
someone is present at the next arrival to ensure the stand is clear. if it is kept on an aircraft could push back and another come on to a stand and hit something.
This also needed because the aircraft type changes most times.
9) The guildance isnt expensive to power its just a safety reason that someone needs to be present everytime its used to reduce chances of incidents.
10) The problem has always been there and i guess will never go, Have a few more TRMs would help because they can get to stand earlier and ensure a safe arrival,
T1 was always very bad in the last couple of years and this has moved to T5. T4 was normally alot better for late TRMs.
I know i piped on abit about this but, Solving this problems helps with so many more. Late Arrival = late turn around = no stands = more delays. getting the door open quickly i would have thought will help a lot.
If your all still awake then well done.
Cheers big