The secret life of Robin Hood Airport

In September 2009, BBC Radio Sheffield a look at day-to-day life behind the scenes at Doncaster's Robin Hood Airport.

Reporters spoke to the staff about how the airport operations run smoothly with a few surprises along the way.

Fire service

We all know that fire fighters fight fires. However, at an airport they have many other roles. The four watches based on the far side of the runway have to deal with uninvited guests while planes land. James Vincent went to see the Robin Hood fire fighters in action during a practice call out.

Cockpit

Did you know the captain of a plane always sits on the left of the cockpit? Reporter James Vincent spoke to Captain Mark Whitehead from Thomson Airways on his Boeing 737-300 cockpit.

Runway

The runway is the most important part of any airport. At Robin Hood they've got one of the longest and widest runways in Europe. When it was an RAF base it regularly handled Vulcan bombers, now it copes with tourist flights from all over the world. Reporter James Vincent spoke to Scott Litchfield the Runway Operations manager.

Security

It is one part of the airport that most people dread. Feelings of guilt and nervousness can overcome many passengers as they are forced to empty their pockets, take off their shoes and handover their baggage to be checked by security.

What are the security staff actually looking for, why does the security arch always beep, and what happens to the items they confiscate? Reporter Dan Johnson tried his luck passing through the check.

Air traffic control

Air traffic control are often the unsung heroes of the aviation world. Dan Johnson went to the top of the air traffic control tower to find out what they do as part of their job and why they always call the pilot Roger.

Baggage

What happens to your luggage once it disappears from the conveyor belt at check-in? The baggage handlers are on a race against time to get the cases unloaded and put onto the planes in a very short turn-around time. Reporter Dan Johnson went behind the baggage belts with Ground Services team leader Rowley Albans.

History of the airport

RAF Finningley opened in 1936. The first planes to land on the base were three Vickers Vimy Biplanes.

During World War Two and the Cold War, the base was best known as the front line bomber command base. RAF Finningley was also a centre of excellence for training pilots and air crew.

Possibly the most memorable aircraft which flew from Finningley were the Vulcan bombers.

From the 1960s onwards annual open days at RAF Finningley were characterised by massive crowds, bringing Finningley and the surrounding areas to a standstill.

The runway, just under two miles long, was sufficiently large to take even Concorde, and following the closure of the RAF base in 1996 there were several campaigns to turn Finningley into a commercial airport which would serve not only the South Yorkshire area but also Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The commercial international airport was finally approved in 2003, with the first flights from Robin Hood Airport in April 2005.

It is seven miles from Doncaster and about 25 miles from Sheffield. Plans for a train line to the airport have been discussed but no concrete decisions had been made at the time of writing (September 2009).

According to the Robin Hood Airport website in 2009, every year one million passengers fly to over 35 destinations across the globe.