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Modern airports have to handle many many
planes flying in and out every day. It is very important that they do not
have any collisions, so there are very strict rules to
follow. All pilots have to do exactly what the air traffic
controllers tell them.
There are many offices inside a modern
airport where all sorts of people are working. They sit on computers and work out how to
fit all the passengers on planes, and get them to where they
want to go. They look at radar screens, to see that
the planes are keeping well apart from each other, and not
getting close enough to have an accident.
On board the planes, the pilot and
copilot listen on headphones to what they are being told to
do. They must always be in contact with the
ground controllers, because they are the only people who
know where all the other planes in the sky are.
Planes have to be towed around the
airport with little trucks. Sometimes they just need to go from one
runway to another, but other times they need to be towed
into a hangar (which is like a big shed for aeroplanes) for
maintenance work to be done.
The part of the airport that you see is
the check-in area, where you hand over your tickets and your
luggage. Then you go and get on to your plane to
fly off to your destination.
