9 2024

November 12, 2024November 12, 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.

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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!

Changes

February 28, 2024February 29, 2024 / niffer90 / 7 Comments

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

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.

Osh 23! Pre-game and Day 1

July 25, 2023July 25, 2023 / niffer90 / 2 Comments

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.)

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.

Five years!

December 16, 2019 / niffer90 / Leave a comment

December 1, 2019 marked five years since I started working for the airport. That’s right – I’ve been running around like a kid in a candy store for five whole years now. How is that even possible? I knew I was going to love working in aviation, but I didn’t anticipate how much I was going to fall in love with the airport itself. And I never dreamed that I would get to see and do as much as I have.

ATC

I have always wanted to sneak my way into an ATC tower. This probably explains why the FAA added another set of “No Trespassing” signs around the tower fence right after I started my job. To my surprise, however, in the last five years I’ve visited all four towers at the three airports where I work plus the tower at Oshkosh. ATC towers are every bit as cool as I thought they would be. The only thing cooler than the towers? The TRACON! I’m still shocked that they not only let me in, but showed me around and explained what they were doing.

Being the avgeek that I am, I bring my scanner to work every day so I can listen when I’m plane spotting during my breaks. I sometimes listen to Live ATC at my desk too – I just really like knowing what is going on. At this point I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of ATC communications dealing with all kinds of scenarios in all kinds of weather. Some of the most memorable conversations have also been the most amusing, like the pilot who threatened to do donuts on the uncontrolled ramp and another who was afraid of his 666 squawk code and requested a new one.

Airport Vehicles

Airport ground vehicles for the win! Who knew they were so cool? From belt loaders to tugs to baggage trolleys and deice trucks – I’m a fan. The really crazy thing is how many I’ve been allowed to examine up close. I’ve been able to sit in a snow plow and a fire truck, gotten to take a close look at a deicing rig and I’ve ridden around in broom truck. I haven’t driven a stairs truck yet (the coolest of all airport vehicles), but I’ve sat behind the wheel and that’s a start!

Airplanes!

I’m not going to lie – being around airplanes every day is awesome. It doesn’t matter how many take-offs and landings I’ve seen – flying is still magic. I knew I’d see a lot of RJs and 737s around, but I had no idea I’d also get to see the occasional B767 and A330 as well. Plus I’ve seen an incredible assortment of military airplanes including T-38s, A10s, F18s, KC135s, and C130s. I’ve even seen Airforce One on multiple occasions. I also didn’t anticipate how much I was going to fall in love with business aviation. Gulfstreams, Globals, Falcons… they stop me in my tracks every time I see them because they are just so darn gorgeous.

Really BIG Airplanes!

When I accepted the job with the airport authority I was excited to be working at a passenger airport, however I was even more excited to be affiliated with a cargo airport. Why? Because 747s! And 777s! And Antonovs! There is ALWAYS something interesting to see. On my very first visit I got to stand on the ramp and watch an Emirates 777 land and then taxi over to be unloaded. I’ve gotten up close and personal with an An124 more than once now. Oh yes, I LOVE big planes!

Missed Approaches and other “Emergencies”

The first time I saw an airplane go around it was fascinating. Five years later I’ve seen dozens of missed approaches I have to say… they are STILL really fascinating. They happen for all kinds of reasons, most of them entirely mundane. Same with aborted take-offs. I’ve seen several and they were far less dramatic than I expected. I have also witnessed several emergency landings over the years. They’re a bit more intense, but thanks to the efforts of ATC, ARFF, Airport Ops and the pilots, they all ended smoothly and uneventfully.

Favorite Experience

It is hard for me to single out a favorite moment from the past five years because there have been so many. As a general rule, the coolest experiences happen out on the airfield. That’s where all the action is. It’s also where the ground support vehicles hang out. And it’s where the airplanes are! If I absolutely HAD to pick a favorite, it would be the winter I trained to assist Ops with managing the flow of traffic into the deice pad. I got to drive around on the ramp in an ops vehicle and talk to airplanes and ATC on the radio. I mean seriously – it doesn’t get much cooler than that! It was a mild winter so I never got signed off to manage the pad by myself but who knows – maybe one of these days I’ll get another chance.

On the Wish List

What would I like to do that I haven’t done yet? Well I still haven’t driven a snow plow or gone out with the airfield team during a snow event. I’d really love to go up in the bucket of a deice rig just once. Of course driving a stairs truck remains a goal. And I still really, really want to ride around on the baggage belt. However, I’ve recently added a new item to my wish list: making an airport-wide page. If you ever find yourself wandering through the terminal and you hear someone paging Captain Oveur to the white courtesy phone… let’s just say I’ll deny all knowledge.

Texts from the Airport

January 16, 2017 / niffer90 / 7 Comments

Have you ever had one of those needy friends who only contacts you when things are going wrong? They’ll be silent for months and then all of a sudden you’ll get a flurry of texts about this issue or that problem. I have a friend kind-of like that. It’s called the airport. The texts are actually part of an employee notification system designed to keep us up-to-date on matters that could impact us. A friend who only texts when there are problems is somewhat annoying. The airport’s texts, however, are both informative and interesting.

Weather Warnings

The first time the airport ever texted me it was to send me a tornado warning. This would have been useful had I not already taken refuge in one of the airport hotels. (I sat a bit too long in the parking lot watching airplanes dodge the storm clouds and nearly got blown off the road when I tried to leave.)

More recently I got this:

Fortunately for passengers it came in the wee hours of the morning when there weren’t any flights scheduled anyway. Unfortunately for me, I was awake to receive this text because I was due in for deice pad training in just a couple of hours. Ultimately the training ended up being canceled.

While I’m Away

Have you ever noticed that things tend to happen whenever you’re out of town? That happens to me a lot. The airport is no exception. While I was in Oshkosh last summer I got this text during one of the afternoon airshows:

Well a blown tire is certainly inconvenient, especially considering the airport only had one runway at that time. However, since I was at Osh I had more important things to attend to. I hoped that would be the end of the texts, but in the middle of the night I got yet another message:

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A fire alarm in the ATC tower? That’s definitely a bummer, but its 01:40 and I’m nowhere near the tower. I’m going back to sleep!

K9 on Patrol

Its no secret that I’m a big fan of the airport K9s. As a result, this text definitely caught my attention.

I received several other texts after this one with updates on the situation. It took more than two hours to finally get the all-clear. Fortunately the cargo facility isn’t attached to the terminal so the passengers were unaffected and no flights were disrupted.

Oops!

One day I was busily working away at my desk when the fire alarm went off. There had been no announcement ahead of time to tell us this was a drill so we took it seriously and evacuated the building. We stood out on the ramp and watched as ARFF came zipping up in fire trucks and entered Concourse A in full gear. We all wondered what on earth was going on. Finally we got the all-clear to go back inside. Later the airport texted this explanation:

DOH! I have to imagine the poor chef at Chili’s was just a wee bit embarrassed!

Good To Know

As luck would have it I had not one but two pilot friends at the airport the day this text came through:

Since both fly out of the concourse that is serviced by the South Matrix I was able to give them a heads up about the potential for delays with baggage. Fortunately the problem was quickly resolved and neither were affected.

OK, I admit it – I like getting texts from the airport. It gives me an interesting glimpse into some of the things going on behind the scenes. Plus it’s a good reminder about all the people (and K9s) who are working hard around the clock to monitor operations and make sure everything is going smoothly. But just once it would be nice to get a text message that’s a little more upbeat. Something like: “Hey Jenn, how are you? Just wanted you to know we’re using runways 10L and 10R this morning. Have a nice day!” Is that really so much to ask?

Note: I finished the rough draft of this post on a Sunday with the intent to publish the next day. I suppose it should come as no surprise that I woke in the wee hours of Monday morning to discover I had a text. You’ll never guess who it was from!

Feeling the Love

February 11, 2016 / niffer90 / 11 Comments

Soon after I started this blog several people mentioned that it reminded them of how much they used to enjoy the airport… before they had to deal with it every day. After months/years of the “daily grind”, the airport lost its magic somehow. I remember being a bit dismayed. Lose its magic? Oh dear! Will that happen to me too? Well fear not intrepid readers – I’m happy to report that after over a year on the job I still love the airport as much as I did the day I first walked in the door!

The Airplanes

I don’t care how much of a grind my job gets to be, I don’t see anything ever changing my love of airplanes. I’ve seen more planes take off, land and taxi by the window than I can possibly count and I still get just as excited every time. Airplanes are never boring to me. Besides, I never know what might fly in. F-18s, T-38s, KC-135s, and AirForce 2 have all “dropped by” while I’ve been there. Plus I’ve seen some really cool business jets. And you never know what chartered airplane might be sitting on the ramp. There is always something new and interesting to see.

The Ground Equipment

Thought I might not like snowplows as much now that I’ve sat in one? Wrong!!! Sure, I sat in one, but not while it was snowing. Or on a runway. Or in a convoy. Or at night. I still love broom trucks too. And I still love deicing rigs. And ARFF equipment. And mobile conveyors. Basically, if it gets to go tooling around the airfield then I’m a fan. Well… OK, I’m not a fan of the honey wagons (aka lav trucks). Sorry, but I’ve gotta draw the line somewhere!

The Mobile Stairs

Be honest – when I didn’t mention the mobile stairs in that last paragraph you thought maybe, just maybe, I’d gotten over my thing for stairs trucks. Nope! They are still my favorite piece of ground equipment! About a year ago someone with a sick sense of humor parked a set of motorized stairs outside my office where I would have to see it day after day. Can you believe it is STILL parked there – nearly a year later? That’s cruel and unusual punishment! I found out recently that the airport conducts auctions periodically to sell off assets that are no longer needed. I asked if we ever sell stairs trucks and I got a blank stare in return. I had to explain what a stairs truck is. Again. Clearly, I still have work to do!

Things to Look Forward to

I love that the newest K-9 got his picture in the newsletter, just like every other new employee!

There are some interesting events ahead this year. We’re getting a new airline in May. Well, sort-of new. They used to fly to my airport but then stopped a couple years ago. But now they’re coming back and I’m sure there will be quite a bit of fanfare over their return. Speaking of fanfare, we’re just about done with all the construction. Hooray! There is going to be quite a celebration, including the opening of a new gallery featuring interesting artifacts and pieces of airport history. Resurfacing the north runway is scheduled to begin in just a couple months. That means the south runway is going to be a busy place. Right now I do a lot of running back and forth trying to catch as much of the action on both runways as possible, but for 6 months all the action will be going on right outside the department windows. Yay! We are still hoping to make a trip over to Flight Safety to see the simulators. I can’t tell you how awesome that would be! I get super excited just thinking about it. Keep your fingers crossed – I promise I’ll keep you posted!

ARFF To The Rescue

December 17, 2015 / niffer90 / 4 Comments

I have mentioned in previous posts that it’s common to see ARFF (Airplane Rescue and Fire Fighting) out on the airfield. In fact, there are days when it seems like ARFF is EVERYWHERE. And no, it isn’t because they are protecting the mobile stairs from me. (The airport police handle that.) Although I’ve seen ARFF providing medical assistance inside the terminal, I’d never seen them assisting an airplane in trouble until recently. And then it happened twice in 24 hours!

Emergency #1 (Maybe?)

About a month ago I was enjoying my lunch break as I often do – plane spotting on top of the parking garage. I happened to see an airplane on approach to runway 28L. I looked down to fiddle with my camera when suddenly something didn’t sound right. I looked back up in time to see that the plane on approach had decided to abort and go around – right over my head!

Much to my disappointment, my airport is not on LiveATC, nor do I have a functioning scanner so I am not able to listen to communications with the tower. Otherwise I would have had a better idea about what was going on. I decided to hang around a bit and wait for the plane to come back in and land. By now I had lost sight of it, but I figured it would likely try again on 28L so I walked over to that side of the garage and I waited. And waited. And waited. I’ve been watching airplanes come and go long enough now that I have a pretty good idea of how long it should take to get back on final. This seemed to be taking quite a bit longer than usual.

image1 (1) Just as I was thinking I would have to give up because my lunch break was almost over, several ARFF vehicles came blasting out of their facility on the eastern edge of the airfield and took up positions along 28L. One fire truck was near the start of the runway, one was along taxiway C1 and another was along taxiway C3. Then there was an ambulance and a smaller ARFF vehicle waiting on the ramp.

At long last the plane appeared once again on approach to 28L. It seemed to take forever before it finally got its wheels on the ground and then it made the shortest stop I have ever seen an airplane that size make. As soon as it got stopped the ARFF vehicles quickly surrounded it. I couldn’t tell from my vantage point exactly what they were doing, but the airplane sat on the runway for several minutes. Then finally it began to taxi down the runway, with the ARFF vehicles following behind. I expected it to turn towards the terminal and head to a gate to let the passengers off. Instead it went directly to a maintenance hangar. I realized then that the plane had been able to stop so quickly because it didn’t have any passengers or luggage on board. I never did find out what exactly happened with this airplane, or even whether it officially declared an emergency. However, given the ARFF response it seems likely that it did.

Emergency #2 (Here We Go Again!)

The next morning I was chatting with a coworker when we heard sirens which grew louder and louder. Sure enough ARFF went blasting down the ramp and took up the EXACT same positions as they had the day before. My coworker is one of those lucky souls whose cubicle is along the windows, so she has a clear view of 10R-28L from her desk. Several of us crowded around to watch out the window. About that time the department manager appeared. He gets text messages whenever there are emergencies at the airport. He told us that the plane coming in had reported brake problems and a possible flat tire. He noted that if the landing went horribly wrong the plane could easily careen into our office. Then he wished us a nice day and left. (Have I mentioned that he has an incredibly dry sense of humor?)

Undeterred we continued to watch out the window. As before, the plane landed and managed to stop very quickly. Not quite as fast as the plane from the previous afternoon, but still much more quickly than usual. Once again the plane was immediately surrounded by ARFF vehicles. Once again it sat on the runway for several minutes. This time, however, when it finally started to taxi it turned towards the terminal and headed for a gate with all the ARFF vehicles in tow.

Closing The North Runway

During both of these events planes continued to land as usual on the north runway, which allowed airport operations to continue without too much disruption. However, all that will change next spring when the north runway will be closed for 6 months for resurfacing. During that time we’ll be operating as a one-runway airport.

As you can imagine, this involves a LOT of extra planning. If there is an emergency that forces the closure of the south runway, flights will have to be diverted. We are extremely lucky to have the cargo airport nearby. It has parallel runways and can easily handle whatever passenger traffic needs to be sent there. Even something as basic as airfield mowing has to be carefully scheduled. You can’t mow near an active runway, and if there is only one runway you can’t shut it down for mowing. So all mowing and regular maintenance activities will have to happen in the wee hours of the morning when there aren’t any regularly scheduled flights. Since it’s

The view from Concourse C! At last!

not exactly very sunny here in the middle of the night, the airport is going to have to bring in special lights so the maintenance crews can see what they are doing. Airlines that operate out of gates near the closed runway will have longer taxi times, which will impact the amount of fuel they’ll use. For all these reasons, the decision to close a runway is not made lightly. But in this case the resurfacing is needed and in the end it will be worth the hassle.

I, of course, am unreasonably excited about the closure because it means the south runway will be very busy. I happen to be a I park next to it. My department windows look out on it. There should be lots of good plane spotting opportunities next summer. And when ARFF gets called to the rescue again, I’ll have a front row seat! I promise to keep you posted.

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Tales from the Terminal

adventures at the airport and other random musings

ARFF