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:
For me Osh 2024 ended Thursday morning as I packed up and headed home a couple days earlier than planned. My spirit really wanted to stay, but physically I just couldn’t. That said, I’m super glad I was able to attend for as long as I did.
Fireworks and Drones
One of the highlights of Airventure is the night air show. There are two of them, actually – one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. Every year the audience is left in awe by an amazing display of flying and fireworks. We walk away convinced that there’s no way EAA can possibly top it. And then somehow they do. This year they added drones. I envisioned extra twinkling lights in the sky perhaps forming some patterns. But this was so much more!
Rosie!
The drones created pictures which highlighted and complimented the spirit of Airventure. We saw Rosie the Riveter, an A-10, a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Air Force and a reenactment of a Coast Guard rescue. At the same time fireworks were going off and planes with more fireworks were circling above. It was mind-blowing – truly one of the coolest celebrations of aviation I have ever seen.
Drones and fireworks
My early departure meant that I didn’t get to see some things that I was really looking forward to. I didn’t get to see the Canadian F-18 or the full Snowbird performance. The Thunderbirds and Blue Angels did additional fly-bys, which I missed. Thankfully, I had a correspondent on the ground who stayed through the end of the day on Saturday and he was able to capture some of these things for me to share.
The Thunderbirds break over the B-52 on Boeing Plaza. Photo by Logan LynchThe Blue Angels in formation. Photo by Logan LynchCanadian Heritage Flight! (Wow – that F-18 is GORGEOUS!!!) Photo by Logan LynchWow. Just… wow! Photo by Logan LynchOK – that’s just showing off! And we love it! Photo by Logan LynchHarrier!!! So sorry I didn’t get to see this! Photo by Logan LynchOtto Pilot made an appearance! Photo by Logan LynchCloud 9 indeed! Photo by Logan LynchWater cannon salute for the Honor Flight. Photo by Logan Lynch
We P In C
If you’ve been to Airventure before then you know that there are a lot of porta potties. I mean A LOT. Some are very basic. Some are fancy with running water. Not sure how EAA does it, but they manage to keep them all quite clean and not stinky. I usually go out of my way to avoid porta potties, but Osh is the one place I’m willing to use them. That said, if I can get to the real toilets with running water and sinks in Hangar C, I prefer to go there. Usually they are air conditioned as well, which makes them extra-enticing. (The AC was broken this year, sadly.) I’m not the only one with a preference for C so we decided it would be amusing to make t-shirts to celebrate our choice.
We P in C! Photo by David Abbey.
About Camping
Let me start by saying that I know people who stay in Camp Scholler every year and they love it. They enjoy the vibe and being near the Airventure grounds and with their friends. It’s an affordable option for those who enjoy camping. However, it just isn’t for me. I don’t mind sleeping in a tent/my car or schlepping to the showers, but being crowded in with so many people all around was not my cup of tea. That said, if I ever get a camper with a shower and toilet that can allow me to bring my bike then I might try it again. In the meantime, I hope I can get back into the dorms next year.
A small portion of Scholler.
Only at Osh
Airventure is filled with opportunities to see and do and learn things that you can’t anywhere else. I have to give a big shout-out to Logan for not only taking lots of pics for me, but for making the very most of his time at Osh. He spent an entire afternoon on a photo tower. He set up right in the middle of Boeing plaza to capture the night show, then ran over to capture pics of the fireworks over the Lancaster. His pics will be featured in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s upcoming magazine. And he got a personal tour of the Lancaster from the Director of Marketing. Wow!
Inside the Lanc. Photo by Logan Lynch
Well, that’s it for this year. As always, I miss Airventure already and am looking forward to Osh25. Hope to see you there!
Back in mid June I crawled into bed one night and realized that I was freezing. Which was strange because it had been a very warm day. It only took a moment for me to realize that I had a fever. My very first thought was, thank goodness this is happening now! I’ll have plenty of time to recover before heading to Airventure.
Wrong!
I felt kinda lousy for about a week and a half, but by July 4th I felt good and was relieved to have recovered well before Osh. Then a week before I was to leave I started feeling poorly again. I told myself it was just allergies, but then I felt worse. I realized my trip to Airventure was in serious jeopardy so I booked an appointment at Urgent Care. The doc diagnosed me with bronchitis, prescribed antibiotics and told me not to worry – I’d make it to my vacation.
Sunday afternoon plane spotting.
Don’t pack with a fever
I started the meds right away but I have to tell you, that night I felt worse than ever. I tried to do some packing but I had no energy and ended up on the couch. It really looked like my Osh trip would have to be canceled. I went to bed early and prayed I’d wake up feeling better. Friday I called off work and slept in. By the afternoon I started feeling human again. I double-checked the stuff I had packed the night before (don’t ever pack when you have a fever – I had shoved some very strange items into my suitcase) then I loaded up the car and headed to Lafayette IN where I stopped for the night.
Saturday afternoon plane spotting
Camping
I woke up Saturday feeling tired but better so I decided to continue on to Osh – and here I am! I met up with friends, spent some time at the North 40, then met up with Mike Karrels and went to find a camping spot at Camp Scholler. That was… an adventure. I’ve been in the campground before and I knew it was huge. But it is more than huge – it is ginormous and it was already really full. We drove around a good 15 minutes before finally finding a spot to pitch our tents. If you are also camping and would like to find us… actually, don’t bother trying. We’re practically at the Seaplane base. Or as Mike likes to say, we’re at the corner of 24th and really far away. LOL!
Photo by Logan Lynch
I’ve been feeling a little better every day. My tent has been up over 24 hours and it hasn’t collapsed yet! Yay! On the down side, I’ve developed sun sensitivity from the antibiotics and am having to be really careful about sun exposure. Not an easy task at a large outdoor event.
Photo by Logan Lynch
Pre-game
Sunday afternoon was spent watching arrivals. As always we saw a lot of really cool planes. It is impossible to come to Osh and NOT see cool planes. Even though this is my 10th year, I’m still surprised by the variety.
My favorite moment was when the B-52 arrived. I’ve seen them on the ground many times, but I have never seen one in flight, nor have I ever seen one land. And I had no idea about the parachute! (Please don’t take away my avgeek creds!)
Parachute deploying… Photo by Logan Lynch
This will probably be a short week for me, but I intend to pack in as much avgeek goodness as I can while I’m here. Stay tuned!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
Tales from the Terminal 