Well here we are – day one of Airventure is in the books and things are truly under way. As is always the case, the fun actually starts before the show begins.
Saturday
If you read my last post then you may recall that I gave myself a “stretch goal” of getting to Osh early enough to see the Bonanza mass arrival, I was up and on the road early Saturday to get there before noon. As it turned out there was no need to hurry – the arrival was pushed back till later in the day. This was first really big mass arrival I’ve ever seen and it did NOT disappoint.
Many Bonanzas
I was watching from the North 40 so when they began to arrive they looked like specks in the sky. Many, many, many specks. And they just kept coming. A long line of Bonanzas was taxiing by to their camping area and still planes were landing – over 120 in all.
Sunday
Aren’t you a little short for a 747?
Osh is a marathon and not a sprint. As a result I wanted to take it easy and save my feet for all the walking I’d be doing during the week. I found a nice spot along the runway and spent the afternoon watching planes land and taxi by. Some of the more interesting planes to come in were the Lcokheed Constellation (one of very few still flying), the Boeing 747 SP Pratt and Whitney test platform and the Dragon Lady. That’s right – a U2 spy plane landed at Airventure. As you may know, a chase car is used to help the U2 pilot coordinate the landing. In this case they used a chase truck.
Connie!
Monday
The very first thing I did upon arrival on the grounds was get donuts and coffee. Hey – they are REALLY good donuts! But the next thing I did was tour the Boeing 747 SP. From the front it looks like a regular 747. From the side it looks oddly stunted. This is because it is much shorter than a regular 747. Apparently it was built in response to requests from airlines for a smaller plane. Makes sense. But looks strange. Adding to the strangeness is a bump just outside the cockpit where test engines can be fitted.
Where test engines are attached.Computers.
Most of the interior is taken up by computer servers and then rows of desks and monitors. A crew of 12 are capable of testing engines with up to 25,000 lbs of thrust. The plane can go up to 45,000 feet. I took pictures and texted them to my boss to tell her I found our new mobile office. She replied that only if we can get it cheap. Darn.
My desk! (I wish)
Oh More to come… Tuesday is looking great to far! A preview:
Spirit Airlines announced on November 18 that they have filed for bankruptcy. While the airline will continue operating as usual (for now) the filing will give it an opportunity to restructure its debt and improve its operations to (hopefully) be more profitable. This will have a big impact not just on Spirit, but on all the agencies and businesses that work with Spirit, including airports.
Before I dig into the airport side of this equasion I must first issue my usual disclaimer: every airport is different. Fee structures vary. Spirit may be a major player at some places and a bit player at others. As a result, how an airport is affected will vary.
At the airport where I worked, Spirit is a signatory airline. This means that they have signed an agreement to rent a certain amount of space (ticket counter, hold rooms, baggage areas, gates, etc.) for a specific number of years (I believe 5). In exchange, Spirit is given lower rates for things like landing fees, parking, terminal use, etc. Non-signatory airlines don’t sign contracts, but their rates are higher.
I dealt with multiple bankruptcy filings during my years in the industry. If I was still at the airport today, here’s what would happen once I receved the official bankruptcy notice. First I would record the date in the airline’s file. The date is important because no collections can be done on any open invoices from prior to that date. For this reason I paid close attention to airlines that were struggling financially. I would try to get them to bring their accounts as current as possible. The airport will only collect pennies on the dollar for each open invoice once bankruptcy is filed so the smaller the balance due, the less money the airport will lose.
The next thing I would do is send the bankruptcy notice to the legal department and copy the CFO. The legal team will eventually have to submit a list of all the airline’s outstanding balances to the bankruptcy court, so I would also send along a statement of account, as well as an estimate of when I expect all billing for the pre-bankruptcy period to be completed.
Several types of billings, like landing fees and fuel charges, are entered a month behind. Normally I would bill all the month’s landings together one one invoice, the month’s fuel on another invoice, and so on. However, when there is a bankruptcy I’ll enter two invoices – one for landings, fuel, etc that happened prior to the filing and another for items post filing. It is more work but it is cleaner. (I forgot to do this when Swift filed bankruptcy and they only paid the second part of their landing fee invoice. That left me with half an invoice hanging around. Ugh! Messy!)
Once everything has been billed I would then send a complete list of open invoices to the legal department for them to file with the court. I would also do a journal entry (fancy accounting magic) to record the total amount as a doubtful account – meaning it is money the airport is owed that it probably won’t get. The pre-bankruptcy invoices will eventually be written off to bad debt.
Filing bankruptcy should allow Spirit to renegotiate their contracts. The previous bankrupties I’ve handled were for non-signatory airlines so there were no contracts involved. However I can make some educated guesses about what Spirit’s options might be.
They could cancel their contract altogether and leave the airport. As of September 2024 they have seen an increase of nearly 200,000 passengers over the prior year. That translates to an increase of around 40%. That’s more growth than any of the other airlines. That’s way better than Frontier (a former potential merger candidate) who has actually had a decrease in passengers this year. Based on their growth I suspect Spirit will choose to stick around.
Another option would be to amend their contract by reducing the amount of space they rent. They could also assess their gate usage to see if there are any savings to be had. (They currently lease a single gate but they often pay extra to use an additional gate. Depending on how much they use the additional gate, leasing it might be cheaper.) One thing they probably can’t do is ask for reduced rates. The airport fees are calculated based on what it costs to run and maintain the terminal and the airfield. Those costs are fixed so there isn’t much wiggle room on the rates.
How much is all this going to hurt the airport? Well, Spirit accounts for about 9% of the airport’s total passengers, so the impact won’t be as bad as it would be if American or Southwest filed bankruptcy. However, the airport is planning to break ground on a new terminal next year. This is a big and expensive undertaking so every penny counts. Whatever they lose on unpaid bills this year will hurt, but ultimately they may be more concerned about Spirit’s future, whether they plan to stay and what the impact would be if they cease to operate.
I truly hope Spirit can pull through this and emerge stronger and better. Past experience is a bit of a toss-up – some airlines improved and contiued to operate while others floundered and eventually folded. To be safe I recommend you get those pictures of Spirit aircraft now while you still can!
Since I spent many years working at an airport, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some recent airport news stories and provide some insider perspective. Here are a few items that caught my attention in the last week.
Oh, Laguardia!
Our first story features everyone’s favorite airport – LGA. Apparently a raccoon managed to get inside the terminal and came crashing through the ceiling, startling passengers. I would love to tell you that it is rare for animals to get into airport facilities but unfortunately it’s not. Granted, birds and mice are the usual culprits rather than a critter as large as a raccoon. Still, this incident doesn’t really surprise me much.
A hawk sitting on an airfield light in December 2018.
When an animal invades the airport, who deals with it? Well at my airport the custodial department would bring in exterminators for mice, but anything else would be the responsibility of Airport Operations. Most of the time they are focused on keeping birds and other critters away from the airfield. But when feathered or furry intruders get inside, Ops handles that too.
I was busily working away at my desk one day when I heard a suspicious sound in the air duct overhead. Before I had time to figure out what it was, my co-worker in the next cubicle shrieked – she heard it too. Something spent the better part of the morning scuttling around overhead. The department admin was convinced it was a raccoon or an opossum. Being a country girl myself I know that little animals can make big noises, so I thought it was a mouse. Or maybe a squirrel. Eventually someone from Ops showed up, removed some ceiling panels and looked around. Turns out our big scary creature was actually… a pigeon. Ops left the ceiling panels open and eventually it flew into a conference room where it was caught and escorted off the premises.
This bird is always welcome at the airport!
Oh Laguardia… Again!
LGA had quite the week. If furry bandit invaders weren’t enough, they also had a bomb scare. Gate-crashing racoons are amusing. Bomb scares most certainly are not. Airports take them very, very seriously. There were at least two bomb scares during my time as an airport employee.
The airport police have two bomb-detecting K9s on staff. They mostly work behind the scenes where the checked bags are processed. They also screen cargo. One afternoon I got a notification that a K9 had alerted on a package in one of the cargo facilities. Thankfully these buildings are across the airfield from the terminal so there was no impact on flights. It took an hour or so to investigate before the cargo building was re-opened. To my knowledge, nothing suspicious was ever found.
Adler at his K9 retirement party. He was a very good boy!
We had another bomb scare which shut down one of the concourses, delayed flights and generally created a lot of mayhem. In this case it wasn’t a suspicious package, but a suspicious vehicle that caused the alarm. The car was involved im another security incident which had happened earlier that day. (A story I’ll share another time.) Fortunately the vehicle was cleared and operations returned to normal.
ARFF Down Under
SYD had a bit of excitement when a Qantas flight returned to the airport after an engine failure. Losing an engine can be a big deal, depending on the manner of failure and when it happens. However the pilots, Airport Ops and ARFF (Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting) do a lot of training to make sure these types of events are as uneventful as possible. US airports are required to hold emergency drills every three years. The Authority operates three airports so there was a drill at one of them every year.
ARFF extinguishes a simulated aircraft fire during an emergency drill.
My desk looked out at the south runway so I saw a number of emergency landings. I always knew when an emergency flight was coming in because ARFF would station vehicles at various taxiways just off the runway so they could quickly get to the plane once it stopped. Fortunately every emergency landing I saw concluded uneventfully.
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Well that’s it for this week. I’m going to try to make this a semi-regular feature so if you come across any interesting airport news stories – feel free to toss them my way!
The news is full of stories about people behaving badly at airports. You might think that because I worked at a desk safely tucked away from the public that I never had to deal with any shenanigans. Well I definitely didn’t have to deal with as much crazy stuff as the gate agents and flight attendants, but I still experienced my fair share.
Crazy drivers
The airport is not large and, in my opinion, not especially complicated. The road around the airport makes a one-way loop. You drive in from the west, circle around the front of the terminal and then head back out to the west again. It really isn’t hard to navigate and there are plenty of signs to direct you. Yet I still observed a lot of crazy driving.
I’ve watched drivers start to enter the garage, then change their minds and drive backwards down the entrance ramp, trying not to hit all the other cars entering the garage. Then they have to try to re-enter the traffic flow. I’ve seen them take out light poles with this manouver. I’ve seen them nearly hit other cars. I was nearly hit myself.
Employee lot
I’ve also seen drivers going the wrong way against traffic. Actually, I’ve seen this way too many times and frankly, it always scared the heck out of me. On my second to last day at work I was almost to the garage when I saw headlights coming at me – driving west in a part of the loop that only goes east. Thank goodness traffic was light and I was able to swerve around the car. When I thought about it later I was unable to figure out how the driver could have possibly ended up the wrong way unless they entered by the hotels and drove the entire loop backwards. But they’d have had to pass in front of the terminal going the wrong way and how they did that without crashing or getting stopped by security is beyond me.
Unattended Baggage
What is the one annoucement you hear over and over and over at the airport? “Do not leave bags unattended. Unattended baggage will be confiscated.” (And if you happen to be at the airport where I used to work, you might even hear me issuing that reminder.) Please especially don’t leave unattended bags near me! As an Airport Authority employee I was required to report any bags left lying around. And I always had better things to do. Like plane spotting. Or going home.
Back when I parked in the employee lot I had to go through baggage claim to get the shuttle. One evening as I was trying to escape I happened across a suitcase sitting near the doors, all by its lonesome. I looked around hoping to find the owner nearby. No one seemed interested in it. I REALLY didn’t want to have to call and report the abandoned bag so I waited around for several minutes hoping someone would come along and fetch it. Nope. Eventually I gave in and called, then waited for security to show up. Never did find out who that bag belonged to.
Bags waiting for their people after the great Southwest Holiday Meltdown of 2022
Intoxicated Passengers
The accounting office is not easy to get to. You have to walk down a long hallway, through a door (which automatically locks after 5pm) down a set of stairs and then through another door (which is locked all the time and requires credentials to access). Or you could skip the stairs and take the elevator. It also locks down after 5pm. You have to know where you are going or be escorted by someone to get down there. Which is why I was very surprised when I was leaving work late one night to find a guy with luggage standing outside the department doors. Since both the door at the top of the stairs and the elevator were locked I figured someone with credentials must have walked him down and he was waiting for them.
I stopped in the bathroom before heading out and was relieved to see that the man was no longer there. Unfortunately I found him a few moments later at the top of the stairs trying to open the door. Since the door was locked he set off an alarm every time he pushed on it. I asked what he was doing in the stairwell and he said he was trying to catch a flight. I was immediately suspicious. No one in their right mind would come this way to board a flight. And sure enough I quickly discovered he was definitely NOT in his right mind.
While I was puzzling over what to do, a coworker came along. She asked him what airline he was flying and asked to see his boarding pass. He was able to get to Delta’s website, but couldn’t bring up his pass, nor could he tell us where he was going. Since it was highly unusual to find a passenger in this location I called security to give them a heads up before letting him out.
Friendly reminder: Delta flies out of Concourse C!
As my coworker and I walked him out to the lobby, he kept trying to wander off into non-public areas. At one point he headed up the walkway that most of the TSA workers use to go outside to the ramp. Anyone without clearance who wanders out that way will be in a world of trouble! We finally got him to the ticketing area and told him how to get to Delta’s gates. He thanked us and wandered off in the wrong direction. I watched as he shuffled around aimlessly for a few minutes, then sat down and put his head in his hands.
It was clear to me that the man was in no shape to be going anywhere. When he got up and meandered off again I grabbed the first TSA agent I could find, explained what was going on and described the guy. The agent asked me to call security and took off to find the passenger. I called the Comm Center and explained the situation. They told me to stay put and that they were sending police. When the officers arrived I went over what had happened and they also took off to locate the passenger. Finally I was able to go home – more than half an hour later than intended.
On the way home I wondered again how that guy managed to get down to the area outside the accounting department more than an hour after the access points were automatically locked. I got my answer the next day. The police went through the video from that evening. Turns out a co-worker who left 10 minutes before me took the elevator up. When you do that after hours you are supposed to exit the elevator then wait for the doors to close before leaving the area. That way no one without credentials can access the elevator. But my coworker forgot and walked away without waiting. The passenger was able to stumble into the elevator before the doors shut.
The next time you head to an airport, check out a map ahead of time. Know the traffic patterns. Pay attention to the road signs. Better yet – take a taxi or an uber. Once there remember – there are cameras everywhere inside and out. If you decide to misbehave the police will see. Please, please, please don’t leave your bags lying around. And if an airport employee shuts an elevator door in your face, don’t take it personally.
One of the stories in the news not long ago concerned the death of the proposed merger between JetBlue and Spirit Airlines. As a former airport employee tasked with billing and collecting payments from airlines let me tell you – mergers are a pain, but bankruptcies worse. And airlines that simply cease to exist are worse still.
The Check is in the Mail
My former colleague over in the Parking Department has it pretty easy when it comes to collections – any company or person who doesn’t pay for their parking pass has their access turned off. Funny how fast people decide to pay the bill when they realize they can’t get into the lot! On the airline side of the house it isn’t that simple. Because our airports receive federal funding, they cannot restrict who lands there. So it doesn’t matter how much an airline owes, it can continue to fly in and land any time it wants and there’s nothing the airport can do about it. Well… almost nothing.
General aviation so… no bill for you!
Disclaimer
Before I go into more detail about my semi-creative collecting strategies, let me drop a couple of disclaimers. First, I HATE collections. Seriously. I don’t mind sending an email or making a quick call to remind someone to pay their bill, but going after someone repeatedly to collect past due accounts isn’t my thing. Second, the vast majority of airlines were great to work with and never gave me any trouble. All the major carriers at our airports are signatory which means they’ve signed operating agreements which spell out payment terms that they were good at following. Most of the challenges came from small charter companies that were periodic visitors. Third, every airport is different. My experiences don’t necessarily reflect how things are handled at other airports.
Who are you? Who? Who?
Sometimes the biggest hurdle in collections was figuring out who to bill in the first place. The Operations team uses tail numbers and tracking software to determine who a plane belongs to, but then you have to find contact information for the owner. Sometimes that’s as easy as going to the comany’s website. But sometimes there is no website, or there’s no contact info on it, or there’s contact information but no one will talk to you, or they’ll talk to you but tell you that the company who chartered the flight is paying the bill and then you have to track THEM down. You get the idea.
In case you were wondering, many of these charter companies land and go directly to the FBO so there is no interaction with the Airport Authority. There’s no requirement for them to tell the Authority that they are coming in. And at our Passenger Airport, there is no agreement with the FBOs to collect landing fees – that has to be done by the Authority. So while the FBOs knows who they’re handling and who to bill, the airport doesn’t. (Different story at the Cargo Airport – see below.)
Warbird! No bill for you either.
No Gate for You!
Sometimes the larger charter companies will need to go to the terminal to pick up/drop off passengers rather than the FBO. Since the Airport Aithority owns the gates, this is one place where I had a little leverage. I could let the Operations Department know which charter companies were on the naughty list and they’d make sure someone at the company spoke to me before any gates were assigned. Fortunately, I never had to use this tactic, although I got close once.
F B Oh No You Don’t!
As mentioned above, the Airport Authority runs the FBO at the cargo airport. This gave me a lot more leverage than I had at the Passenger Airport. No payment? No unloading cargo and no fuel. Thankfully we never actually got to the point of refusing service. Instead we’d have airlines with delinquent accounts pay for all their charges (fuel, turn fees, landing fees, etc.) via credit card when they arrived. Easy-peezy! Sometimes the FBO would get them to pay for any unpaid charges the carrier had at the passenger airport too. Double win!
There were at least two and maybe three companies that operated as “Eastern” during my time at the airport.
Bankrupties
Airports naturally want all their customers to be successful and profitable. But hard times can happen to anyone. As the collections person, I often went out of my way to try work with airlines that were in financial trouble. I set up payment plans which allowed them to take more time to pay off balances. As long as the airline paid something on a regular basis and were good at keeping in touch, I could give them a fair amount of leeway.
But when the financial strain becomes too much, bankruptcy becomes inevitable. Any time I recieved a bankruptcy notice, all collections stopped immediately on invoices for services provided prior to the filing date. It is up to the court to decide how much (if anything) the airport will get paid. Some airlines, like Miami Air, file bankruptcy then cease operations. (I was so sad! Long-time readers may remember I spent months stalking them for a decent pic.) Other airlines, like iAero, continue operating. So I couldn’t collect on the old invoices, but still had to collect on the newer ones. Ugh! Headache!
Awwww – Miami Air.
Vanishing Act
Then you have airlines like Elite Airways who simply cease to exist. No bankruptcy filing, no warning, – one day they just stop operating. *Poof* Gone. That’s a bummer because then there’s no hope of collecting any payment. Of course, there have been rumors that it might return. However, Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport siezed everything that Elite left behind (including at least one airplane) and auctioned it all off. Then they sold the hangar. That plus the fact that the DOT has revoked their operating license makes it highly unlikely that Elite will return any time soon.
Don’t Worry – Be Military!
You know who I never had to worry about? Military planes! That’s because we didn’t invoice the military. So not only are military planes super cool, but they were also low stress. Now that I’m no longer at the airport, I don’t see the military planes as much, which makes me sad. But then again, when I receive a JetTip notification about a new airline scheduled to fly in, I can be excited to go see it, without having to worry about figuring out who to bill. And that works for me!
When I walked in the door of the airport nine years ago, I was sure that this was the last job I’d ever have. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to work anywhere else. There were airplanes outside the office – what more could an avgeek like me want?
But I’ve learned that what happens inside the office has a huge impact on how I experience what happens outside the office… or if I experience it at all. Eventually it reached the point where I barely noticed the airport around me. Finally I made the difficult decision to move on.
I could go into the gritty details of all the things that led to this decision. However, I think it would be a lot more fun to look back at some of the amazing adventures I got to have. It is hard to rank them, but I’m going to try. Cue the countdown theme music!
5. Visiting ARFF
Back in 2019 my deparment took an afternoon off to head next door and visit our friends over at the ARFF station. For those who don’t know, ARFF stands for Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting. They are the crews tasked with responding to emergencies on the airfield. We got to tour the station, see where they sleep, eat and train. We also got to sit in the fire trucks. Your inner three-year-old is absolutely correct: fire trucks are cool! The ARFF team did a demonstration for us, including how they are able to penetrate the skin of an aircraft to spray foam or retardent on the inside.
4. Time on the Taxiway
Photo by Andrew Stricker
In late 2017 Delta began to recieve the first A350s into their fleet. The plane itself was still fairly new having entered service only a couple of years before. Designed primarily for long-haul flights, it isn’t the sort of plane that would be used at my airport. However, Delta decided to fly in as part of a series of acceptance and training flights. I, of course, had plans to be on the garage so I could get plenty of pics. Imagine my surprise when one of the Operations Managers appeared at my desk and asked if I’d like to ride out onto the airfield and watch from there instead. Would I? Are you kidding me? We parked on a taxiway and I got to watch the plane land right in front of me. It was amazing! And then when it was time to depart we parked on a different taxiway off the end of the runway so the plane took off right over us. Again, amazing.
3. Time on the Runway
The first time I ever went on one of the runways as an airport employee I was in a passenger shuttle. Someone from airfield maintenance was driving around trying to find one of the pavement sensors. Since then I’ve been on the runway many times. I worked at the water station during the Runway 5Ks which was located about half-way down Runway 28 Right. I was even allowed to drive a shuttle up and down that runway. (What on earth were they thinking?!) The runways are the heart of any airport. They are central to the airport’s existence. As a non-pilot who doesn’t travel that much, being able to be on the runway and get close to the lights, the markings and yes, the pavement sensors, was a real treat for me.
2. Four ATC Towers and a Tracon
The Airport Authority manages three airports which have four towers between them. I had the pleasure of visiting all four. Two are contract towers – one at the cargo airport and one at the general aviation airport. One is a former ATC tower, now used as a base of operations during snow events. And one is an FAA tower with a tracon. Being able to visit these facilities and see the controlers at work was quite an adventure. Seeing several types of towers at multiple airports with different levels of traffic gave me a much better understanding of the ATC system. And let’s face it – ATC towers are cool. I could never get tired of the view.
1. Working on the De-ice Pad
Of all the amazing avgeek things I got to see and do while working at the airport, this was hands-down the most exciting and unexpected. In the fall of 2016 I was approached about whether I’d like to train to assist on the de-ice pad. Uh… are you serious? Heck yes!!! At the passenger airport the Operations Department is responsible for managing the flow of traffic into and out of the pad on frosty mornings and during snow events. This is done by driving an airport vehicle around the pad and communicating with pilots, ATC and others via the radio. As a humble accountant I never in my wildest imaginings ever thought I’d get to do something like this. I got to tell pilots what to do. And they listened to me! I got to drive around on the ramp. And somehow everyone survived!
So, what’s next for me? That’s a good question. I’m taking some time to decompress. Then I’ll be doing some part-time freelance bookkeeping work for a friend while I look for my next big adventure. If you know anyone who is looking for an accountant with avgeek tendencies (or an avgeek with accounting tendencies), let me know.
And what about the blog? The blog will definitely continue. You can take me out of the airport, but you’ll never take the airport out of me. Interesting things are going on at airports everywhere and I have nearly a decade of experience that will allow me to bring them to you with a critical eye. Plus I have stories still to tell and plenty of aviation adventures ahead. Stay tuned!
I’ve left the airport, but my Spirit remains! Seriously. I left this plane at my desk. No idea what my co-workers have done with it. If you fly out of gate 21 let me know if it is still in the window.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas. It’s Airventure 2023! My happy place. Where I can geek out over aircraft and no one thinks I’m strange. (At least, not for geeking out over aircraft.)
Dragon Lady
I arrived on Saturday and spent the bulk of the afternoon as well as most of Sunday sitting along the runway in the North 40. Not sure how busy this runway is normally, but during Osh it is incredibly busy. Lots of people flying in for the show plus lots of warbirds. Of course, lots of flying means lots of “interesting” landings, lots of go-arounds and sometimes also an incident or two.
Once such incident involved a Cessna 180 amphibian with landing gear issues. I’ve heard a couple versions of what happened – some say the gear didn’t come down until late and some say it came down but didn’t deploy properly. I didn’t see the plane until it was down and rolling out along the runway. It was apparent that it was at an odd angle – nose tilted down. At first I was afraid it would fall forward and smash its prop onto the ground. It stopped on the runway and the pilot reported that he believed he had a flat tire and he was unable to move off the runway.
Of course everyone on downwind and final for the runway had to go around. The airport then shifted to single runway ops while ARFF, the Airport Operations department and a dozen EAA personnel surrounded the plane to figure out what to do with it. Eventually they had several people sit on the back of the pontoons to lift the front of the plane. They were apparently able to lower the front gear and pin it in place. It was towed off the runway but later we saw it taxiing under its own power over to the FBO.
I wandered over to Boeing Plaza Sunday evening, expecting to see the usual display of military might. What I saw instead made me wonder if someone had spiked my drink. First thing to come into view was the Dream Lifter. I had seen pictures of it before, but it is far more impressive (and oddball) in person. It looks like someone wrapped a large metal blanket around a 747.
As I walked past the Dream Lifter my eyes beheld a sight even more bizzare – the Super Guppy. At first glance it doesn’t look like an airplane. It doesn’t look like it can fly at all. It is the ultimate “Frankenstine’s Monster” of airplanes. Bulbous head (that opens sideways on a hinge), wings that seem too short with propellors that appear to have been stolen from a C-130. It’s preposterous. Ridiculous. An abomination. And yet… kinda cool.
Those two planes alone were enough to make me question my sanity. But then I saw the F-16. A lovely airplane, as all F-16s are. But this one was YELLOW. You read that correctly. Yellow with blue trim. I took a million pictures of it because my brain hurt and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t. That plane is as yellow as the sunflowers in my yard. But the color doesn’t make it any less mean.
Couple of fun facts about Osh so far:
– There were 2,143 airplane operations at KOSH on Sunday. This is on par with last year, which saw record-breaking attendance.
– EAA currently has around 280,000 members. I must say, I’m proud to be one of them. Not only does EAA throw one heck of an aviation party, but they are also strong advocates for general aviation,
So what’s next? Well the week is young and there is a lot of aviation magic still to come. I’ll keep you posted.
Ah, summer! The pace is slower and it’s time to relax, right? Not in my world! Sure, I’m able to spend some time chilling on the porch swing, but I’m also super busy with all the fun events that come along with sunshine and warm weather. This year those events include an air show at the cargo airport, a ginormous car show and, of course, Airventure at Oshkosh.
We found out a couple of years ago that the cargo airport was going to host the first air show in the area since 2007. That’s kind-of a big deal! An outside company handled most of the details, but airport staff still had a lot of work to do to prepare for all the planes and attendees. Fortunately, I had no responsibilites whatsoever – all I had to do was show up with my free ticket and enjoy!
The show was completely sold out for both Saturday and Sunday. It was strange to see so many people at an airport that is usually rather quiet. I didn’t expect there to be many static displays so I was pleasantly surprised to see F-35s, F-16s, a C-5, a C-17, a C47 and an A-10. The air show performers were amazing and included the likes of Mike Goulian, Rob Holland and Mike Pietsch.
There were also various warbird flight formations, the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team, a jet truck and STOL drag racing. I’ve seen STOL competions many times, but STOL drag racing was new to me. It was basically a STOL competion with flying back and forth between two points. It was actually a lot of fun to watch. The air show wrapped up with the power and precision of the Blue Angels. For being the first air show in the area in such a long time I’d have to say they did a pretty good job. Rumor has it they plan to come back again next year.
The next big event involved wheels rather than wings. The Good Guys Hot Rod Association came to town bringing with them over 6,000 very cool old cars. I was under the impression that the show was for American cars only. When I found out any make could attend, I really wanted to take our 1954 MG TF 1500. It’s a beautiful old car, but it is NOT a hot rod. The MG surrounded by hot rods is like Dame Judy Dench hanging out with Motley Crue – kinda crazy but also totally awesome.
Just getting to the show was a challenge. For one thing, we don’t take the car on the highway. Ever. It is too small, too open and too low to the ground. Plus it has no seatbelts. We had to make our way to the event via back roads and side streets. Figuring out where to pick up our registration and actually get into the show was also a challenge. Once we sorted it out and joined the queue to enter the show grounds… woah! People lined the streets to watch the cars come in. I realized right then that car people love cars – even small British roadsters with only 69 horsepower.
After we got inside we found a spot to park and began the completely overwhelming process of trying to see as many of the cars as we could. We walked through the lot we were in and the lot next to it. Then we saw more cars ahead so we walked through there. Then we saw multiple covered display areas so we walked through there, which emptied us into another lot with more cars… OK, what the heck is this place? Osh for cars? Actually, that’s exactly what it is.
The show area stretched on and on and on. In addition to all the show cars there was an auto-cross course, a vendor area with everything automotive for sale, food trucks everywhere and a flea market. And a craft area. And even MORE cars on display inside. Did I mention Osh for cars?
The only downside is that a line of storms rolled in so we left earlier than we would have liked. We got stuck in a downpour a few minutes later. Fortunately we had the top up and the side windows in. Unfortunately the windshield wipers don’t work. We disconnected them last year, because they liked to run randomly for no reason and refused to turn off. Fortunately we can manipulate the wipers manually. Unfortunately, the wipers are useless, which is another reason why we disconnected them. All in all it was an excellent adventure and we will definitely be back.
Speaking of Osh, in just a few days I’ll be headed to Airventure 2023. I’ll be blogging, as usual. I’ll also be posting tons of pics and videos over on Twitter (@Jen_Niffer). At least, I’ll post as many as Mr. Space X will allow. If you still have an account, give me a follow. Otherwise you can find me on Instagram (@talesfromtheterminal). If you think I should join Threads, comment here and let me know. Maybe I’ll set up an account and drop some content there also. Hope to see you in Wisconsin!
Well look at this – a blog post from me. Surprise! Sorry it has been so long. Life has been… well, let’s just say it has been complicated. I haven’t had much free time and, frankly, I’ve been too exhausted at the end of each day to even think about writing. But I’m trying to change that so hopefully you’ll see posts more regularly.
So what have I been up to? Work mostly. Lots of work. So much, in fact, I have done almost no plane spotting in the last 7 months. The only time I see airplanes at work is if they happen to taxi by my desk at the same time I happen to look up. I’ll snap a pic if I can, but let’s face it – photos taken through a window aren’t the highest quality. That said, I have managed to take a few decent ones here and there.
I DROVE ON THE RUNWAY!
Last fall I volunteered to help out at the annual Runway 5 K. I usually assist with the water station located at the half-way point of the course. This year I was handed the keys to a shuttle and asked if I would drive the water crew and supplies out to our spot. Wait… what? You are asking me to drive a shuttle ON THE RUNWAY??? Oh heck yeah!
Outside of work I have moved to a new house. I love it because I’m surrounded by several acres of fields and forest. The downside, however, is I am no longer on the approach path to the airport so I don’t get to see those big beautiful cargo planes flying over. I miss them. But I do get to see lots of Cessnas and other small planes. I often see student pilots overhead too. If you happen to do your flight training north of the city and find yourself flying over what looks like a Christmas Tree farm – you might see me down there waving. Or taking pictures of you. Or both.
There have been some aviation events in the news over the last few months that are worth mentioning. You may recall the story of a ground crew worker who got sucked into an engine in Alabama. That haunts me. I see ground crews outside my window all the time. I can’t open my window which is a good thing because I’d probably be opening it constantly to yell words of caution. Not because they don’t do a good job – from what I can see they are careful. But OMG if anyone gets sucked into an engine in front of me… That would be worse than horrible.
You probably also remember the great Southwest Holdiay Meltdown of 2022. They are our largest carrier so of course it impacted my airport a great deal. I walked down to baggage just to witness for myself the giant mass of bags which were piled up everywhere. It was truly impressive – and not in a good way. But perhaps the Southwest employees took some comfort from noting that United also had a substantial collection of bags stacked by their baggage office. After all, misery loves company.
So many bags.
Since it has been awhile, you might be wondering how the airport itself is doing. The passenger airport is doing quite well. In fact, we’re getting a new airline later this spring – Sun County. Well, not entirely new – they fly charter flights pretty regularly. But new as a scheduled airline. We have ZERO available ticket counter space, so I’m curious to see how the miracle workers down in building maintenance are going to find a place for them. No word yet on what gate they’ll be using, but hopefully one near my desk.
The cargo airport, on the other hand, is struggling. The war in Ukraine, covid, inflation and other factors have taken a huge bite out of our cargo traffic. A number of regular carriers haven’t been in for months, including Turkish Air, Korean Air, Etihad and China Air. Business Development is working hard to bring in new carriers. In the meantime, one small bright spot arrives in June in the form of an air show. This will be the first one held at the airport in over ten years. I’m already getting excited!
Special visitors!
Well that’s it for now. Not sure when my next post will be, but I will try not to be such a stranger. After all, spring is coming which means air show season is almost here. And I’m hoping to visit some aviation museums too. Stay tuned!
I looked at my Apple Watch fitness challenge for August and nearly fell over – I need to walk 171 miles this month to achieve the goal. What? Where in the heck did it come up with such a ridiculous goal? Then I realized that I walked 60 miles in 6 days during the last week of July, which apparently convinced my watch that I’m suddenly into massive amounts of walking. No, I’m not. It’s called Airventure. Even with riding trams and buses as much as possible, I still walk a lot. Everyone knows Osh is a marathon. Well, everyone except for my watch.
Osh is always an epic adventure and this year was no exception. The weather was perfect. The crowds were large. The aircraft were impressive. My feet are still tired. In a week that features one amazing event after the next, it is hard to single anything out as better than the rest, but here are a few of my favorites.
Hawkeyes!
I’ve never seen a Hawkeye in person before, so standing on the flight line as two of them flew in was definitely a special moment. I always love seeing something new! The also performed during one of the airshows.
F-18 Growlers
I can hear some of you now: “But Jenn – F-18s are nothing new. They’ve been doing airshow demonstrations for years. They aren’t special.” I know. I don’t care. I just like F-18s!
MiG-29
I nearly passed out when a MiG-29 showed up on Friday. Talk about something I never thought I’d see! It arrived with a team of L-159s and a business jet, all painted in variations of grey and white cammo. The planes belong to Draken International, founded by Jared Isaacman. The bizjet and L-159s landed fairly quickly but the MiG put on a bit of a show. First time I’ve witnessed a plane use a parachute upon landing.
Memorial Brick
Glen Towler knew pretty much everyone at Airventure, which was why he was known as the “Mayor of Oshkosh.” He traveled all the way from New Zealand to attend every year. Sadly, Glen passed away from cancer in May. Thanks to generous donations by friends, a memorial brick was unveiled by the Brown Arch. It is a fitting tribute to someone who loved the place so much.
Mid-day at the Oasis
Airventure unveiled a new perk for Lifetime Members this year – the Oasis. It’s a building just off the main walkway along the flightline where Lifetime Members and one guest each could go to relax, grab a snack and use the potty trailer. It was really, really nice. It quickly became our go-to meeting location and we often spent time there recharging batteries and resting our feet.
Night Air Show
The night air shows are always spectacular. Every time I see one I think they can’t possibly get any better. Airplanes with lights and sparklers at night? Amazing! Fireworks? Super! Airplanes with sparklers and fireworks at the same time? Jaw dropping!!
Maverick!
We wrapped up Osh 22 by attending a showing of Top Gun Maverick at the Fly-In Theater. Later estimates indicated an attendance of roughly 7,000 people. All I know is that the place was packed! The event kicked off with a fly-over and a presentation by Kevin LaRosa, the aerial coordinator for the movie. Kevin had never attended Osh before and admitted to being a bit blown away by the whole event. I had seen Top Gun Maverick twice in the theater, but seeing it again with a huge crowd of aviation enthusiasts was something special.
The end of Osh always makes me a little sad. It’s hard to say goodbye to my friends, most of whom I only see at Airventure. My feet are happy for the break, though. And, of course, it is never too early to start thinking ahead to Osh23. Hope to see you there!
Tales from the Terminal 