Peak Hours at busy Frankfurt Airport – a chronicle
The Corona crisis begets ingenuity – and PilotsEYE’s resourcefulness brings a smile to the faces of aviation fans.
Airports all over the world have reduced their operations to a bare minimum. Frankfurt Airport reports a 95% decrease in air traffic, and it will take years until the number of aircraft movements across Frankfurt’s runways once again reaches the daily average of 1400 takeoffs and landings.
To ease the withdrawal symptoms true airport aficionados must be experiencing right now, PilotsEYE.tv dug a very special long-term recording out of its archives and re-mastered the footage at own expense for its viewers to enjoy online:
18 hours of sights and sounds from a single, and for regular airport visitors unreachable, point of view – as if looking down from Frankfurt tower onto the runways and airport ramp through an open window. Recorded from the height of 60 meters, the footage was shot in Ultra-HD quality and surround sound to further enhance the viewer’s immersion.
With the two southern runways (25L/C) in the background, planes being processed in the center, arriving and departing aircraft noisily rumbling past right beneath the camera, and changing weather conditions adding another layer of variety to the proceedings, the frame captures a day in the life of Frankfurt Airport.
The ambient sound is composed of turbine and engine noise, and signals, even the metallic clanging of an empty baggage cart can be picked out in the distance. A true airport soundscape that surrounds the viewer and lifts the spirits of every airport and aviation fan. And for airport workers confined to their homes in these troubled times, the footage will bring a special kind of solace: business as usual at their beloved workplace.
The recording begins with the start of flight operations – and a phenomenal sea of lights – at 5 am and ends with the last scheduled landing at 11 pm. The video player allows the viewer to manually skip to every full hour, for example, to see what would be happening at the time of viewing.
“Of course, nobody would be staring out the window for all that time, but just the authentic sounds recreate that perfect feeling of home, vacation, or cherished place of work. It’s Aviation Ambience, pure and simple.
“ I invite you to just click the link and give it a try, it’s available for free to everyone, and I promise you, after a while you will swear you can smell the jet fuel,” raves Producer Thomas Aigner. “And for all the not (yet) aviation aficionados out there, it offers something like a view at a giant aquarium, just with planes instead of exotic fish.”
In these times of quarantine and social distancing, the singular footage helps to bring a measure of normalcy right into everyone’s home. People young and old will be whisked away to a place they would maybe spend a few amazing hours at, but that is currently off-limits – not that there is much to see right now.
These 18 hours “From the Tower of Frankfurt Airport” present the opportunity to witness a true document of our times, as even after the Corona crisis has passed, it will be some time before the world’s airports are once again back to their old captivating bustle.
18 hours of Frankfurt Airport – in 4K and surround sound. (Vimeo only provides stereo)
Location on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/vrRYmQHhukFp5ckp6/
Your Job as Air Traffic Controller:
dfs.de/dfs_karriereportal_2016/en/
Take a tour, after reopening: fra-tours.com
PilotsEYE.tv website – Blue skies since 2006: pilotseye.tv
All episodes @ Amazon.de in English: petv.co/amzdeen