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May 2, 2007
Runway patrol
Two members of the Gazette team had a rare insight into life at Heathrow Airport today - and it meant an early start to their working day.
Chief reporter Chris Longhurst and chief photographer Chris Berry were up at the crack of dawn -well 2am to be precise - as they had the opportunity to experience how the runways at Heathrow are maintained.
Runway maintenance is one of the most important aspects of safety at Heathrow and each night a team of airport staff check every inch of the runways, each one covering almost three miles in distance.
It was a fascinating insight into the safety measures taken at Heathrow and Chris Berry took some stunning pictures which we will feature in a special spread in next week's Gazette. Just to wet your appetite I have enclosed a couple at the end of this blog.
Like all good journalists the two Chris's returned straight back to the office after their early morning start to write the story and download the pictures - it promises to be a long day for the pair of them.
This week's Gazette is out and it's a particularly strong edition with a really good mix of stories.
The splash for the Uxbridge edition is an exclusive on the mayhem caused at KFC in Yiewsley when a mob attacked the restaurant. This was a particularly nasty attack and resulted in one member of staff bering rushed to hospital with 40 per cent burns to his back after a brick landed in the deep fat frier, splashing him with hot oil.
It was the type of story we might not have got to hear about had it not been for our reporter John Hugill being out and about in the Yiewsley area on Monday afternoon and has turned out to be aparticularly strong lead.
With the bank holiday weekend coming up there is no time to reflect on this week's issue for the newsdesk, who are now busy trying to get ahead of themselves for next week's Gazette.
The sun rises over Heathrow this morning
Reporter Chris Longhurst on the Heathrow runway
Posted by aseal at May 2, 2007 9:25 AM