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Mystery objects

OK, Atheist Scots, maybe you can help solve an ongoing mystery - I saw these "things" at Heathrow and Edinburgh airports. I started looking at bird's-eye views on Multimap and found others at Liverpool and Glasgow. Does anyone know what they are?? I'm sure the answer is probably quite simple, but BAA, Virgin, United and British Airways have not replied to my queries, nor has anyone at the Scotsman. Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Sean on August 30, 2009 at 1:07am

They are used as fire training devices for the fire-brigade. They can be set alight and also smoke-filled so that fire men and women can learn how to deal with aviation disasters and navigate blacked out aircraft. I've never seen it alight but you can see the smoke damage to the one in Edinburgh quite clearly when you taxi alongside it.

Here is an article about one in Norwich: http://www.takeoffmagazine.co.uk/news.htm#news1

And another about these rigs: http://www.airport-int.com/categories/aircraft-fire-training-simula...

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on August 30, 2009 at 1:14am

That's a relief. I was afraid they might be modern art.

Permalink Reply by Bud Simpson on August 30, 2009 at 10:39am

Sean,
Brilliant! This has been nagging me for a year. We sat, queued for takeoff, on the tarmac at Heathrow, and I kept looking at the one next to the Virgin hangar, and couldn't make sense of it. Sure enough, I just looked at the Norwich airport in Multimap, and there it is. You're a credit ti Scots everywhere.

Méabh, I've seen worse pawned off as "art", eh?

Permalink Reply by james keegans on March 7, 2010 at 4:01pm