airport operations

How the Spirit Bankruptcy Impacts Airports

/ niffer90 / 2 Comments

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!

Airport News Review – 11/3-11/9 2024

/ niffer90 / 6 Comments

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.

————————————————————-

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!

Sitting in one of the ARFF firetrucks.

Crazy at the Airport

/ niffer90 / Leave a comment
The Beer Flight (brewery tour) has arrived!

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.

Plane spotting at CLT!

Attention in the Terminal!

/ niffer90 / 7 Comments
Except where noted, all photos in this blog are stills from one of the best aviation movies of all time – Airplane!

If you have followed this blog for any length of time then you know that there are certain things at the airport I shouldn’t be given access to. The ATC tower, for example. If I could go up there whenever I wanted then I’d show up unannounced, commandeer a desk and refuse to leave. Some of my coworkers have clearly caught on, which is why the stairs trucks continue to be off-limits. But there are some co-workers who remain blissfully unaware.

A few months back there was a notice in the weekly staff email that the Customer Service Department was looking for volunteers to help them re-record the airport public announcements. You know the ones – they remind you not to leave bags unattended and to have your ID ready before you get to the checkpoint. We’ve had the same PAs for a very long time so the decision was made to refresh them.

I considered signing up. I mean come on – who doesn’t want to record airport PAs? I’ve been secretly plotting to access the system and page Captain Oveur for years. (And if you don’t recognize the reference then you haven’t seen the movie Airplane!, in which case we can’t be friends.) Unfortunately my job has been ridiculously busy and I completely forgot all about this golden opportunity until well past the deadline.

Then a couple weeks ago the fire alarm went off. This is not an unusual occurence – sometimes little kids escape from their parents and pull the alarm, sometimes one of the restaraunts burns someone’s lunch and sets off the smoke sensors. Any time the alarm goes off we are required to leave the office and stand out on the ramp near the tug drive. My coworkers congregated in groups. I hid myself around the corner where I could avoid small talk and watch airplanes.

But then I saw the Customer Service Manager waking my way. She said hello and asked how I was. Then she asked if I would be interested in recording some of the airport PAs. They had gotten several volunteers, but she was hoping to get someone from accounting. Of course I agreed to help out. I mean, we can’t let the accounting department go unrepresented, now can we!

The next day I got an email with a copy of the annoucements and a request to select a time slot to do the recording. I selected one of the last slots available. I then reviewed the verbiage I’d be required to read. *Yawn* Airport announcements are pretty darn boring. There has got to be a better way to remind people about all the things they should probably already know. “Yo! Listen up people! Keep an eye on your bags. Don’t take guns through the checkpoint. Find your ID. And for the love of God find your kids so they don’t pull the damn fire alarm again.”

One week later I showed up at my appointed time with a print-out of the announcements in hand. The Customer Service Manager was there. So was a tech who was in charge of the recording. They sat me in front of a microphone and explained that when I was ready the tech would start the recording, wait two seconds to capture the background noise, then he’d point at me to begin speaking. We would go through the announcements in order, beginning with the one about unattended bags and ending with the one about curbside lanes.

Things went pretty smoothly. The tech pointed, I read and we made small talk between takes until the tech was ready for me to read the next one. We worked our way through the list until we got to the last one. The curbside annoucement is supposed to be about lanes being restricted and unattended vehicles being towed. But I didn’t read it. Oh no. I was not about to pass up an opportunity to make the announcement I’ve waited my whole career to make. I took a breath, waited for my cue, leaned in to the microphone and said:

“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone.”

I watched the Customer Service Manager out of the corner of my eye as I was speaking. She looked confused. She checked the paper with the announcements. Then a look of recognition dawned and she began to laugh. Then the tech began to laugh. And by the end, I was also laughing. Bucket list item – complete!

Of course, I had to go back and record the actual curbside announcement. However, the decision was made to save the white zone announcement too, although I’m not sure what they plan to do with it. If you ever fly through a medium-sized midwestern airport late at night and hear an announcement about not stopping in the red zone, you aren’t imagining things. And if you need to use a courtesy phone, be sure to use a white one.

A Starship stopped by recently. So glad I happened to be watching when it left.

Parking Airplanes & Feeling Fisk-y

/ niffer90 / 2 Comments
Civil Air Patrol identifies and records every plane that lands.

It’s that time of year again! The annual gathering of the aviation faithful begins today at EAA’s Airventure in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Once again I arrived early to soak in the atmosphere and to volunteer with Flight Line Ops parking airplanes in the North 40.

Last year I assisted in the camping area. I asked for a simple assignment and they gave it to me – stand on the taxiway and point airplanes down whatever row they were filling. Easy! This year, however, my friend Hillel, his son Jacob and I were assigned to park planes in the Aircraft Parking Area. Located near the Weeks Hangar, this is a grassy, no-camping area for those who have accommodations elsewhere and just need a place to park.

This was a very different operation from parking planes in camping. For one thing, our team was much smaller. For another, the parking rows are shorter and planes don’t get packed in as tightly. I mostly stood out near the taxiway and directed planes down a row to Hillel and Jacob, who either positioned them in a parking spot or stopped them and pushed the plane in tail-first. (Known as “tailing” this method allow for many more airplanes to be parked together in a row. )

The EAA plane has an entourage.

However, there was one instance where both Jacob and Hillel were busy and an airplane arrived to be parked. One of the other team members pointed it down a row and I realized I was going to have to marshal it into a spot. By myself. Me. Um… wait, what? How is this happening??? I didn’t have time to think about it – I just stood where the plane needed to be and started motioning them forward. I stopped them when they were in position, signaled for them to cut the engine. Then I did a little happy dance when I realized that the were in the right place and no one died. Yay! Go me!

I parked this plane!

After our parking shift we decided to make the pilgrimage to Fisk. I had never been there before and was super exicted to see it. For those who aren’t familiar with the process for flying into Oshkosh during Airventure, it’s unique. Whitman Field transforms from a smallish airfield to one of the busiest airports in the country. 10,000 airplanes fly in for the week. That much traffic would quickly overwhelm radio frequencies and become a huge burden on local controllers. So the FAA brings in controllers to manage the event. They take over the tower for the week. They also manage the approach to Osh from a hut in the middle of a field. Yes, I’m serious. (And don’t call me Shirley.)

The amazing pink-shirts!

I won’t go into the whole procedure – I encourage you to read the Airventure Notice and watch some videos posted by those who have flown in. The last step before arriving at Osh is to cross over Fisk. Controllers with binoculars and a radio identify each plane as it approaches. They call on the radio ask the pilot to acknowledge by rocking their wings. Then they give instructions about what to do next. Sometimes they clear planes to continue the approach. Or sometimes they’ll turn them and send them back into one of the holds to get back in line.

Being able to sit in the grass, listen the the controllers and watch the planes on approach rock their wings was nothing short of amazing. Getting so many airplanes through the airspace and to the airport is a masterpiece of choreography. I have listened the frequency on LiveATC, but being there, listening and watching gave me a whole new appreciation for what they do and the challenges they face.

That’s a lot of airplanes!

Now I’m off to explore all the amazing things scheduled for Day One. Or at least, as many as I can. No one can see it all. Trust me – I’ve tried. Stayed tuned for more LIVE from Osh 2022!

F-16 at sunset.

A World Away Close to Home

/ niffer90 / 2 Comments

As everyone knows by now, there is a war going on in Ukraine. It’s a war that affects us all to one degree or another. But I didn’t really expect it to impact me at work very much. After all, our traffic is mostly domestic, with a few flights to Canada and Mexico mixed in. At least that’s the case at the passenger airport where my office is. Just down the road, however, is our cargo airport. It accepts flights from all over the world – including Ukraine and Russia.

When it comes to airplanes, I do not discriminate – I love them all! I marvel at the engineering and their capabilities. Flying is magic! I love seeing the different liveries and configurations and people who fly them. This is why I love the cargo airport so much. And why I need to get down there more often.

The most challenging aspect of my job typically involves invoicing – figuring out who to bill and how to get the invoice to them. In this regard I’ve run into issues with Ukraine and Russia before. There used to be an airline called Ruslan which was run jointly by the two countries. It ceased to exist in late 2016 leaving me scrambling to figure out who to bill for their final charges.

Since then both Antonov (Ukraine) and Volga Dnepr (Russia) have been fairly regular visitors. I love to see them come in because they both fly the AN-124, which is an incredibly impressive airplane. I’ve gotten up close and personal with a couple of them and have been awe-struck every time.

During the pandemic, however, their visits stopped. Perhaps they didn’t have any cargo for our area. Or maybe covid restrictions kept them away. Whatever the cause, the plane spotting community missed them. So you can imagine the excitement in mid-February when Volga Dnepr returned.

Then Russia attacked Ukraine. And sanctions were imposed upon Russia. Suddenly things got complicated. And in the midst of it all I had to send an invoice for FBO services to a Russian airline. Um… awkward!

At most airports the FBOs are independent operators. At our cargo airport, however, the airport authority runs the FBO. How does the billing work? Well the FBO keeps track of all the flights and the services provided. This includes things like turn fees (the cost of unloading cargo and then loading the outbound freight), lavatory services, de-icing, GPU usage, pushback services and fueling. The FBO also arranges catering for outbound flights and transportation to and from hotels for the crews. The details are compiled into a spreadsheet and sent to me at the end of the month. I then create invoices and send them to the responsible parties.

In the case of Volga Dnepr, we bill them directly for FBO services, but their fuel billing goes through another provider. We received an email from the fuel provider last week reminding us that they are required to abide by all laws and sanctions that have been imposed as a result of the conflict.

So what does all this mean? Well… I’m not holding my breath on receiving payment from either Volga or the third party fueling company any time soon. Perhaps not ever. I put a poll up on twitter about this situation. The results suggest most people agree with my assessment. I’ll have to send another invoice to Volga later this month for landing fees. In the meantime, I’ll be praying for peace.

💙💛🌻💙💛🌻💙💛

Lessons from the Window

/ niffer90 / 8 Comments

It has been almost a year since I moved to my desk by the window. As expected, it has been AMAZING. Even though I’m no stranger to the activity on the airfield, there are still some things I’ve learned from this new perspective.

Yes, I CAN Get My Work Done

Let’s get this out of the way first. It has been suggested that I might be so fascinated by the airfield activity that I won’t get anything done. Nope. I’m actually a good multitasker – I can work and keep an eye outside at the same time. Plus I’ve perfected my camera grabbing technique so I can go from tedious spreadsheet to amazing airplane pics in just a couple seconds.

Airbuses and RJs and Boeings… Oh My!

My desk is right behind gate 21 and I can also see gate 19, both of which are leased by American Airlines. They mostly park A319s and E175s out there. However every now and then a CRJ shows up. The CRJ200 is probably my favorite because compared to the others it looks like a little toy plane. To connect to the jetbridge they have to lower the steps, which makes it look even more like a toy. As passenger numbers have increased American has started to bring back the 737s. It makes for a nice mix of planes through-out the day.

I Hope It’s Worth the NOISE!

It’s no secret that the airfield is a noisy place, but I have a whole new appreciation of what that means. Let’s start with the jetbridges. Every time they move, alarms go off that sound just like old fire alarms or school bells. Then there are the APUs. Most aren’t noticeable, but every now and then a plane shows up with a loud, whiny APU. Of all the airfield noises, this one makes me the most crazy. Ground support vehicles aren’t exactly quiet either. The Air Start Cart can make quite a racket. And did you know tugs have horns? Oh yes. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeep!

Special Liveries

I see a lot of American and Southwest airplanes from my desk because both have gates on the south side of the airfield. By happy coincidence, both airlines also have a number of special liveries. Southwest has the most flights so it isn’t surprising that I see multiple special liveries a week. They have a new one called Freedom One that I’m quite fond of. My favorite thing, however, is when American’s PSA livery parks at gate 21. It’s hard not to smile back when there’s an airplane smiling in the window at you.

The South Side is the Best Side

My desk looks out at the south runway, which is the longer of the two and both FBOs are on this side of the airfield. This makes for a wide variety of airplanes for me to enjoy. Even when the south runway is closed, if 28 Right is in use then most planes will have to taxi by my desk to get to it. Win-win! This dramatically increases my ability to catch the resident P-51. Nothing makes a work day better than a warbird!

Mighty Military

When I combine a desk view with Flight Radar 24 or ADSB Exchange plus Live ATC, then not even the military can sneak by me. A few months ago I managed to catch a C-130 and a KC-135 doing practice approaches, followed by a C-17 and TWO C-5s which landed at the airport to pick up cargo. All this in ONE DAY!

Snow Cool

If you’ve looked at my older posts then you know I’m fascinated by winter operations. Now I have a front row seat to watch the snow warriors get it done. From plows on the runways to deice trucks to mini snow pushers on the ramp, I get to see all the action.

Upside Downside

If you ask my coworkers what they don’t like about being by the windows they’ll tell you two things – it can get very cold on cloudy winter days and every now and then it smells like jet fuel. They have a point about the cold. I keep a stack of extra sweaters, jackets and even gloves to wear at my desk. As for the jet fuel… well you know me – I love the smell of Jet A in the morning!

Osh21: Service and Inspiration

/ niffer90 / 2 Comments
Photo courtesy of Hillel Glazer

It has been over a week since I returned from Airventure 2021 and I’m still in recovery mode. Osh is like that. It overwhelms your senses. It’s not just every type of airplane you ever wanted to see all in one place at the same time, it’s 10 or 15 examples of every type of airplane you ever wanted to see. Plus hundreds of other planes you didn’t realize you wanted to see. It’s exhausting – but in the best way possible.

Service emerged as a major theme for me this year. This is perhaps in part because I volunteered for the first time. I got an up-close look at some of the people who put in countless hours of work to make Airventure happen. Trust me, for every volunteer you see – parking cars, on the flight line, driving trams – there are many more behind the scenes that you know nothing about. Airventure would not happen without them.

Service was also front and center on Boeing Plaza. Many of the aircraft on display belong to non-profit organizations providing care around the globe. The Orbis Flying Eye Hospital (MD-10) is not just a place where sight-restoring surgeries take place, but it is also an education center where doctors in remote locations are trained to treat various eye problems.

Samaritan’s Purse (DC-8) delivers portable hospital facilities and personnel where ever help is needed. You can find them assisting during natural disasters and they even helped out in covid hotspots during the worst of the pandemic. Samaritan Air (sea plane) transports people from remote parts of Indonesia to medical facilities for treatment. A five day journey by canoe becomes a two hour ride by plane.

This year marked the first time that Airventure allowed anyone 18 and under to attend for free. Think about that for a moment. How many other events do the same? I guarantee you there aren’t many. The benefits to the aviation community are huge. Where will future pilots, mechanics, controllers, flight attendants, airport operations personnel, etc. come from if children aren’t exposed to the industry? And what better place to learn about every facet of aviation than Airventure?

But perhaps what stood out to me the most are ordinary people doing ordinary things which turn out to be extraordinary. For example, take Jennifer Duffer who is a teacher at Montgomery HS in Texas. Her engineering students built an airplane. No, not a model. Not a piece of a plane. An entire functioning airplane. And Ms. Duffer flew it to Oshkosh!

Her school is participating in the Eagles Nest Project which provided a Vans RV 12 light aircraft kit for the students to assemble. Ms. Duffer, along with a group of mentors, helped her students learn the principals of aviation as well as how to use tools, how to work together, how to read schematics, how to communicate, etc. Eventually the plane will be sold to buy the next kit for the next round of students to build. How cool is that? And what an amazing thing to put on a resume or a college application!

As you can tell, after two years away it was beyond good to be at Osh again. I missed my aviation family so much! Yes, the airplanes were amazing, but only because PEOPLE made them so. Likewise it is the people – old friends, new friends, volunteers, ambassadors and even passionate school teachers that make Airventure special. If you’ve never experienced that kind of aviation community magic, don’t put it off any longer. Make plans now for Osh22. Hope to see you there!

Want more stories from Osh21? Check out the Flying and Life Podcast for additional coverage!

FLO and the Moose: Osh is BACK!

/ niffer90 / 4 Comments

After two years of waiting, EAA’s Airventure is back! And if the Osh pre-game is any indication, it’s going to be one heck of a week. First of all, someone was crazy enough to allow me on the airfield with marshalling wands. And someone else was crazy enough to allow me on the flight deck of a very large airplane while it was under tow. Yes, you read that correctly!

A few weeks ago my friend Hillel helped me sign up to volunteer on the flight line, parking aircraft in the North 40. I’ve always wanted to give it a try, but have been a little bit hesitant. I mean we’re talking about being in close proximity to spinning propellers! But I reviewed the training materials and reported for duty on Sunday morning. We attended a pre-shift briefing, then hustled out to get into position before the Mooney mass arrival.

The more experienced crew took charge of actually positioning planes into the parking spaces. They also placed experienced volunteers at the entrance to the parking area to guide planes in. My responsibility was to stand at the end of a row and, when instructed, marshal planes into the row so they could be parked.

Once the Mooneys were in we switched to parking general camping airplanes. Since the available spaces were pretty far down, I stood about half-way between where the planes exited the taxiway and where the available spaces were. Another volunteer turned the plane towards me, and I pointed them down towards Hillel, who then turned them into the appropriate row to be parked.

It was sunny, the airplanes were amazing, I was in the heart of the action… I LOVED it! I will definitely do it again. If you’ve ever thought about volunteering, I highly recommend it.

But something EVEN COOLER happened on Saturday, and it also involved marshalling an airplane. Well… sort-of. Shortly before Osh I found out that the C-17 going on display on Boeing Plaza was from my friend Rick’s unit – and he was going to be flying it in. He knew that Hillel and I were FLO volunteers and jokingly told us that if we were going to marshal him in to be sure to use giant foam fingers.

So what did I do? I acquired a pair of large, red, foam fingers, of course! As luck would have it, I arrived at Osh just at the same moment the C-17 did. I got to the plaza in time to see the plane stop so they could hook up a tug. I couldn’t marshal it, but I COULD put on the foam fingers and wave. So that’s what I did. I waved and hollered and just generally made a fool of myself.

Suddenly a young man in uniform appeared. “Are you Jennifer?” Uh-oh! Am I in trouble? “Rick says you can come with me.” So I followed him over to the airplane. The steps were down and I expected to see Rick waiting outside. He wasn’t. The young man gestured to the steps and told me to go on up. I climbed into the cargo area. The young man gestured to another set of steps and again told me to go on up. Next thing I knew I was in the cockpit of the C-17!

Rick greeted me from the captain’s chair and told me to have a seat. Sit… here? In the cockpit? Of a C-17? While the plane is being towed? Eeeeeeee!!!! The crew was at work so I sat down, kept quiet and stayed out of the way, but inside I was completely freaking out. I got to ride along as the 911th Air Wing and EAA put a really big airplane into a not-so-big space.

Being able to watch the coordination that happens on the flight deck was fascinating. I have a whole new appreciation for the trust that goes into being pushed back. The pilots cannot see a thing so they count on the crews to be on their game. I also got to take a really good look at the avionics and controls in the cockpit. I was impressed by how modern it is and also how roomy.

I have to give a HUGE shout-out to Major Rick Bell and the entire C-17 crew for allowing me to ride along. It was definitely one of those only-at-Osh moments that I will truly never forget. With a beginning like this, what could possibly happen next? Stay tuned!

Osh Returns

/ niffer90 / 8 Comments

As I write this we are less than two weeks away from Airventure Oshkosh 2021. With covid still a factor, Osh is going to look a little different this year. Even so, I’m super excited to get back to what is always THE aviation event of the summer.

Travel Plans

If all goes well I intend to head out on the 23rd. I’ll spend the night somewhere along the way and should arrive on the Airventure grounds in the early afternoon of the 24th. My first stop is always the Quonset Hut to grab my media credentials. From there I’ll drop my gear off at my room and then head out to begin the adventure.

Osh Plans

I have compiled a tight schedule packed with specific events I plan to attend… JUST KIDDING! I have tried to stick to a schedule in the past and tossed my plans out the window ten seconds after arrival. Why? For me the magic of Osh is in all those unexpected moments that I never thought I’d get to experience. Like the time I interviewed one of the Blue Angels. And the time I visited the tower. And the time I got to be a passenger as a friend flew the Fisk Arrival. I’ve learned to keep my plans to a minimum and allow myself the freedom to jump into whatever opportunities come my way.

The Activity

That said, there are some things I’m hoping to do while I’m there. (But no promises!) I’ve been wanting to try volunteering on the flight line. Perhaps this will be the year I make that happen. There is a presentation about the Space Shuttle that I’m hoping to attend. I’m looking forward to seeing some of this year’s featured airplanes including the Orbis Flying Eye MD-10 and the Samaritan’s Purse DC-8. I know one of the pilots of the C-17 that is flying in on Saturday. I hope I can be there to watch his landing! And, of course, I’m especially excited to see the A-10 demonstration team.

The People

What really makes Osh special, however, are the people. It’s the one place where I can totally geek out and be surrounded by people who feel the same way. I have friends who I only see once a year at Airventure and I’m really looking forward to seeing them again. It truly is an aviation family reunion.

That said, there are a number of international friends who won’t be able to attend this year. It won’t be the same without them – they will be missed! So will Launchpad Marzari, who hosted the annual Podapalooza event at the Pipistrel booth. Launchpad passed away recently in a plane crash. Aviation is a small community and he was such a big part of it. His passing leaves a hole that will be hard to fill.

The Shoes

Oshkosh involves a lot of walking. I mean A LOT. Even when I take shuttles and trams as much as possible, I still find myself walking many, many miles. So even though I’m not one of those people who starts packing weeks (or days, or even too many hours) in advance, I HAVE been thinking a bit about my shoes. I’m breaking in some new pairs and I’m seeking out some new insoles. Hopefully when Osh week arrives, I’ll be ready.

The Question

So what about you? Will you be attending Airventure this year? If so, I hope to see you there! If you can’t make it this year, keep an eye on the many camera feeds that EAA puts up. I know it’s not the same as being there, but it will at least allow you to see some of the action. Also, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram for lots of pics and videos. And stairs trucks. Of course!