In the United States, August 19 is National Aviation Day. Established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, it is a day for us to reflect on and celebrate the history of aviation, as well as its role in our lives today. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, it is also Orville Wright’s birthday. How did we mark the occasion at the airport? More on that in a moment, but first…
We Have A Winner!
At the end of last week’s blog I encouraged (OK, fine – cajoled, begged, badgered) you to let me know which mini Boeing should grace my desk at work – the 747 or 787. Well the results are in and the winner by a respectable 43% is THE QUEEN OF THE SKIES!
Don’t feel bad Dreamliner fans – she’ll continue to brighten up my living room from her location right next to everyone’s favorite ground support vehicle – the stairs truck!
National Aviation Day at the Airport
You’d probably expect an airport to take full advantage of National Aviation Day by engaging with passengers and employees to celebrate all the ways in which aviation inspires and connects us. There’d be balloons and confetti! Or maybe a couple of posters. Or perhaps an email? Or… yeah, you guessed it – there was no mention of National Aviation Day at all. At least not in any organized way.
One-Woman Aviation Celebration
Well you know I wasn’t about to let National Aviation Day go by without acknowledgement, ESPECIALLY not at the airport! So I built some biplanes (no, not real ones – I’m not THAT talented), brought in mini-cupcakes, wrote an announcement on my white-board and invited everyone to join in the celebration. I also brought in my mini-747 and gave it a place of honor on my desk. I wasn’t sure how my coworkers were going to take all this celebrating – as you know, most of them aren’t avgeeks. But then I got an email from a supervisor actually thanking me for being passionate about aviation! The email went on to say that it’s easy to get caught up in all the day to day work and it is good to be reminded about an event that recognizes and celebrates the aviation industry. Wow! That totally made my day!
Happy National Aviation Day everyone! After all, for avgeeks and aviation enthusiasts all around the world, EVERY day is aviation day!
Tales from the Terminal 
Awesome celebration! I’m kinda disappointed that it didn’t include a victory lap around the airfield with the stair truck… but there’s always next year!!
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I’m working on it! I think I might have more success at the cargo airport. Need to figure out a reason to be there for National Aviation Day next year.
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