Air Travel

Souvenir Sunday: Will Rogers World Airport

Air Travel, Airport shops, Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs,

Oklahoma City Airport

The airport in Oklahoma City is called the Will Rogers World Airport, in honor of Will Rogers, a cowboy who became famous in the 1920s and 1930s as an actor, columnist, humorist, vaudeville performer, and world traveler who died, with his buddy Wiley Post, in a plane crash near Barrow, Alaska in 1935.

I like that the airport is named for this Oklahoma native and I’d like to think that he’d get a kick out of the souvenirs Clark Massad found for sale last time he was in town.

Massad told me he was looking for the Oklahoma Rose Rock that used to be sold at the airport, “but apparently they’ve mined them all and sold them all off.”

Instead he found “delicacies” – chocolates and candy – with classic names such as Oklahoma Cow Poop, Oklahoma Cow Patties, Oklahoma Oil and Tornado Seeds.

“I even managed to come across real Oklahoma Dream Catchers made by one of the local tribes.”

Next time you’re stuck at the airport, please take a moment to poke around the shops. If you find some great souvenirs that are inexpensive (around $10), “of” the city or region and, ideally, a bit offbeat, please snap some photos and send them along.  If your souvenirs are featured here on StuckatTheAirport.com, I’ll send you a special aviation-related souvenir.

Terminal 2 at RDU

Air Travel, Airport shops, Airports, Architecture, Art, Events,

Terminal 2 Raleigh Durham Airport

When Continental Airlines and US Airways begin operating from Concourse D on Sunday, January 23rd, Raleigh-Durham International Airport will have completed the construction of Terminal 2.

Concourse C opened in October, 2008 and now everyone gets to move freely through a lovely new one million square foot building that has 40 shops and restaurants, 36 gates and eight works of art and architecture.

New venues include Carolina Vintages, a wine bar offering North Carolina wines and produce,  Jason’s Deli, Five Guys Burgers & Fries and Flavours, a gourmet market.

New shops include Brighton Collectibles, PGA Tour Shop, Hudson News and 2nd Ed. Booksellers, a locally-based used bookstore.

The eight works of art include Robert Kushner’s Welcome, installed along the arrivals corridor;

Lydia Rubio’s Gate of Air, the companion pieces to Gate of Earth, which was installed in 2008;

RDU_Lydia Rubio's Gate of Earth

Gate of Earth, by Lydia Rubio

Mei-ling Hom’s Cloudscape and Ed Carpenter’s Triplet.

Carpenters Triplet is the large sculpture with wood masts and dichroic glass and LED lighting suspended from stainless steel cables in the atrium.

Style in the aisle: exhibit of vintage flight attendant fashions

Air Travel, Airlines, Aviation history, Exhibits, Museums, ,

This should be fun:

At the end of January, Seattle’s Museum of Flight will open up the clothes closet again for a fresh new exhibit of vintage flight attendant uniforms and airline memorabilia.

Museum of Flight Style in the Aisle

‘Most of the uniforms on display in the exhibit are from the flamboyant 1960s and 1970s. The collection includes creations by Parisian designer Jean Louis, Italian designer Emilio Pucci, and Hollywood designer Oleg Cassini. Trans World Airlines, Western Airlines and Braniff International represent a few of the airlines that flew the groovy garb featured in the exhibit. Rare articles also include a 1936 United Air Lines uniform, and a 1945 Northwest Airlines ensemble accented with a mink stole.”

The Museum of Flight had a similar exhibit back in 2008 that included “stewardess” uniforms ranging from “nurse togs” from the 1930s to the fab fashions from the 1960s and 1970s. So many flight attendants who visited that first exhibit Donated memorabilia and uniforms they’d saved that the museum decided to expand and bring back the display.

Museum of Flight Style in the Aisle

Style in the Aisle will be at Seattle’s Museum of Flight (a short bus or taxi-ride runs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) from January 29 through May 30, 2011.

Check back soon for a slide-show featuring more fashions from the exhibit.

All photos courtesy the Museum of Flight

At the airport: snow happens.

Air Travel, Airports, Closings, Weather, , , , , , , ,

In February 2010, snowstorms so inundated Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport that outside help was needed to cart all the snow away.

Luckily the snow-moving experts at Liberty Mountain Resort and Conference Center were willing to come over and help out with their Bully 600 ski slope and trail grooming vehicle.

BWI AIRPORT snow removal

A creative solution to an icy problem and, as I found out for this column in USATODAY.com – Winter survival strategies from [some of ] the USA’s snowiest airports – not unlike the snow-situations airports around the country must face each winter.

Pittsburgh Airport clearing snow


Clearing snow at Pittsburgh International Airport

Like the plowed snow at many airports, registrations for the 45th annual International Aviation Snow Symposium are beginning to pile up.

Held each April, most often in snowstorm-prone Buffalo, the symposium bestows awards on airports that excel in battling the white stuff and offers airport staff a chance to chill out and swap war stories about what went right or wrong, weather-wise, during the previous winter.

So far this season, storms have triggered the cancellation of thousands of flights and forced the temporary closing of many airports. That means there’ll be plenty to talk about at this year’s conference, as attendees try to take in tactics to make you less likely to get stuck at an airport next winter.

But when it comes to operations in unforgiving winter weather, not all airports are created equal.

Art. Not science.

“It’s not a science. There’s no book out there called Airport Snow Removal for Dummies,” says Paul Hoback, maintenance director for the Pittsburgh International and Allegheny County airports. “It’s more of an art.”

“Experience helps,” adds Hoback. “Our people have to know how to treat different types of precipitation and how to react to wind speed and wind direction so they don’t push the snow off the runway and have it blow right back on. They also have to understand what different types of ice and snow might do when they hit the ground.”

That knowledge, good planning and communication and the right equipment were all in place at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) last February 5th when a storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow at the airport.

“The storm was too much for many airports in the Northeast,” says Hoback, “And even we ended up closing for 17 hours. Our crews took that as a defeat but fought to get the airfield back open so that one or two airplanes with transplant organs aboard could land.”

For its efforts during that storm, Pittsburgh airport won one of a coveted Balchen/Post Awards at last year’s International Aviation Snow Symposium. Dulles International Airport, Chicago O’Hare and the Greater Rochester International Airport took home first-place awards as well.

Equipment helps

Boston Logan Vammas snow machines

Boston Logan International Airports Vammas machines in action

At Boston Logan International Airport, which won a Balchen/Post Award in 2009, airport spokesperson Richard Walsh says, “We consider snow a four letter word. We go out there and battle storms to the end.”

Logan was closed for a just a few hours last Wednesday during a storm that dumped heavy snow on parts of New England. In Logan’s corner during that storm: a snow plan, determination and eleven, 68-foot long Vammas snow machines, each a giant plow, sweeper and blower rolled-into-one. When working in unison, airport officials boast that the Vammas fleet can clear a 10,000 foot runway in less than 15 minutes.

Buffalo Niagara International Airport snow plow

Snow plow shoot plumes of snow at Buffalo Niagara International Airport

Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, which hosts the annual aviation snow symposium, has won the Balchen/Post award multiple times. And although it gets an average of more than 8 feet of snow a year, it’s been more than three years since BUF has had to close due to snow.

“At the first snowflake we’ll send out a whole fleet of broom trucks to immediately begin brushing the pavement,” says airfield superintendent Tom Dames. “When snow piles up, we also have monster truck snow blowers that churn up snow and spit it out into the fields away from the runway. It looks a lot like fireboats shooting out plumes of water; except these are huge plumes of snow.”

Do-over in Denver

A few years back, Denver International Airport learned some important snow lessons the hard way.

Denver Airport clearing snow

Denver Airport has a new approach to snow removal

In 2006, just days before Christmas, Denver got hit with a blizzard that dumped 22 inches of snow in a 24-hour period. “The airport was closed for 22 hours,” says Mark Nagel, Denver Airport’s Acting Deputy Manager of Aviation. “It took us that long to clean up and get a couple of runways and our ramps clear.”

3,000 passengers spent their Christmas stranded at Denver airport that year. Nagel says “No one was too thrilled. We did kind of receive a black eye for that because it took us so long to recover.”

The problem was too big to sweep under a pile of snow. Instead, a consultant was hired; a study was conducted and DIA learned that, when it came to snow, the airport was inefficient, unorganized, understaffed and armed with not enough equipment.

The fixes included retraining, reorganizing and reassessing snow removal priorities. And now, like other airports, DIA has a snow committee that meets year-round with airlines, the FAA and other airport stakeholders to make sure the snow control plan is realistic and up-to-date.

Denver International Airport has also invested millions of dollars in new equipment and switched from single-function to more modern multi-function machinery that can plow and sweep at the same time. “So instead of taking 45-minutes to an hour to clear a runway, we can now do it in less than 15 minutes” says Ron Morin, Denver Airport’s Director of Aviation Field Maintenance.

And instead of having a single snow team, the Denver airport now has eight; each with a dedicated function. Team members were offered the chance to name their machines, but they asked instead to name their teams. Now, whenever it snows, you’ll see the Snow Cats, the Marauders, the Taxi Way Tuxedoes, the Blizzard Busters, the Deice Men Cometh, the Ramp Rats and the Snow Dawgs taking care of business.

Advice from Anchorage Airport and Mother Nature

Anchorage Airport

Anchorage Airport has never closed due to snow


Anchorage International Airport has won the Balchen/Post award four times and is always ready for snow. “Our snow season lasts from October through mid-April,” says Airfield Maintenance manager Dan Frisby. “At other airports it will snow and then melt. Here, the snow can stick around all year long.”

Frisby and assistant manager Zaramie Lindseth know the airport has been closed due to volcanic ash, a windstorm, the 1964 earthquake and, like other U.S. airports, for a few days after 9/11. But they can find no records that show the airport has ever been closed due to ice or snow.

In addition to having the right equipment, Frisby says it’s important that airports maintain their equipment and not skimp on the cost of crews and supplies. “Some airports try and hold back on the chemicals. And it just bites you. You’ve got to go into attack mode when a storm starts and use the chemicals as they were designed.”

No matter how well an airport prepares, though, sometimes snow happens and there’s really nothing anyone can do.

“When Denver International Airport opened, it was touted as the all-weather airport,” says DIA’s Mark Nagel. “They said ‘We’ll never close.’ But we’ve learned the hard way that you have to respect Mother Nature and balance safety with the goal of staying open.”

All photos courtesy of the featured airports. Thank-you.

Do you know an airport that does really well in the snow?  Let us know!

James Bond Airport? Sort of.

Air Travel, Airports, Celebrities, , ,

John Wayne has his name on one in California; there’s one named for John Lennon in Liverpool; and one named for John F. Kennedy near New York City.

Now, like Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. and George H. Bush in Houston, the author of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the creator of James Bond spy series has an airport with his name on it.

This week, after a $3 million makeover and a rebranding, Jamaica’s former Bosocobel Aerodrome was officially reopened as the Ian Fleming International Airport.  The airport is about five miles from the resort town of Ocho Rios and near Goldeneye, the estate where Fleming lived in the 1950s and 1960s and worked on his series of books and short stories about the spy known as 007.

Dedication, Ian Fleming Int'l Airport

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (left), unveils a plaque at the official opening of the Ian Fleming International Airport, with Ian Fleming’s niece, Lucy Fleming, and a variety of government officials.

Tourism officials hope the airport will attract jet-setters and wealthy visitors like singer/songwriter and businessman Jimmy Buffet, who flew in on a single engine private jet back in May to become the first international passenger to arrive at the new airport.

Jimmy Buffet arriving on the first international flight into the Boscobel Aerodrome, now the Ian Fleming International Airport.  To the left of Jimmy Buffet is Jamaica’s Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Olivia Grange; to his right is Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records and the owner of Fleming’s Goldeneye property, which is now a hotel and resort.

Airport photos courtesy: Jamaican Information Service.


Cellphones on airplanes? Debate continues.

Air Travel, Airline policies, Airplanes, Celebrities, Cell Phones, , ,

Should passengers be allowed to use their cellphones on airplanes? In the U.S. it’s not allowed. Outside the United States, some carriers already allow it.

Here’s my recent msnbc.com article on the topic.  After you read it, please add your vote to the on-line survey .

(Last time I checked, 85% of voters said “On airplanes, everyone should just shut up and fly.”

What do media magnate Arianna Huffington and Hollywood heartthrob Josh Duhamel have in common? They’ve both been busted for using their cell phones on airplanes.

Over the weekend, on a New York-bound flight from Washington, D.C., Huffington reportedly failed to turn off her mobile device, inciting the ire of an unimpressed cabin mate. Last month, Josh Duhamel was escorted off a plane in New York because he wouldn’t turn off his BlackBerry.

These high-profile skirmishes are two of the latest examples in the debate over whether to allow in-flight cell phone conversations.

In Europe, the Middle East and Asia, airlines that wire planes for connectivity can install special equipment to allow passengers to use their own cell phones to make and receive calls.

Domestic airlines own about 90 percent of the world’s connected planes, but federal regulations still ban the use of in-flight mobile calls.

And while Uncle Sam doesn’t outlaw mid-air communications made using Skype or other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, every U.S. carrier offering broadband has directed service providers such as Aircell/Gogo and Row 44 to block all voice calls and disable the VoIP function.

The disconnection may get wider.

At the end of 2010, more than 2,000 airplanes were wired for connectivity. “We expect that number to increase by 50 percent this year, to roughly 3,000 planes worldwide,” said Amy Cravens, a market analyst for In-Stat.

With more international carriers jumping on the connectivity bandwagon, much of that growth will likely be represented by jets owned by airlines planning to, or already providing, mobile phone service.

And unless something changes in the U.S., some analysts worry the only travelers who will be unreachable by mobile phone will be those flying in U.S. airspace.

International travelers chat away


After deciding that mobile phones posed no threat to safety, the European Aviation Safety Agency lifted its ban on in-flight cell phone use in 2007.

Since then, OnAir, AeroMobile and a variety of their equipment partners have been working with many international airlines to install equipment that allows mobile phone calls in addition to other entertainment and communication services.

Oman Air, Egypt Air, Libyan Airlines, Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian are among the airlines that currently offer in-flight voice calls on many of its aircraft. British Airways allows mobile phone use on a single route: an all-business class flight between London and New York. Malaysia Airlines and others are conducting trials before committing to a formal rollout of a mobile phone service.

“Emirates is the airline everyone is watching with regard to passenger acceptance of in-flight calls; and of course, whether the service is commercially viable,” said Raymond Kollau, a market and trend analyst for Airlinetrends.com. The carrier operates 90 jets equipped with in-flight connectivity.

“People have been able to use their mobile phones on our planes for about three years now,” said Patrick Brannelly, Emirates’ vice president for product, publishing, digital and events.

Cell phone users made between 15,000 and 20,000 calls per month from Emirates flights in 2010, Brannelly said. “Each call averaged about two minutes. And during that year we had only one complaint,” he said. “Now the complaint we’re hearing from passengers is why we don’t have the mobile phone service on every aircraft.”

But not all international carriers are rushing to provide the service.

Based on feedback from a 2008 test of in-flight mobile phone service, Air France spokesperson Karen Gillo said the airline now considers mobile phone calling “a future option … [We] don’t have any current plans to implement it fleet-wide.”

Ryanair offered in-flight mobile calling for a while on 50 aircraft, Kollau said. “However, OnAir, who provided the service, decided to stop the partnership reportedly because of a dispute in revenue sharing.”

While Lufthansa recently relaunched its FlyNet onboard Internet system, which could allow voice communication, the airline’s research suggests it’s not a good idea. “Repeated surveys among our customers show that our passengers value a quiet environment without cell phone usage,” said spokesperson Christina Semmel.

Cathay Pacific Airways, though, is determined to offer voice calling to passengers. The airline offers broadband Internet service, and supports BlackBerrys and other smartphones. “When we tested this suite of services with our passengers, all were popular, but voice calling was certainly the most polarized,” said Alex McGowan, head of product for the airline. “We recognize that some passengers are against the concept, and we will ensure that their fears around the ‘nuisance’ factor are not realized.”

Calling U.S. carriers


Back in the states, the regulatory ban and public debate over in-flight phone calls continues, but opposition may be waning.

In 2005, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics asked about 1,000 households if, barring safety issues, cell phones should be allowed on airplanes. Thirty-nine percent said “definitely” or “probably.” Four years later, nearly 48 percent of respondents gave the same answers.

The “Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace” Act of 2008, the so-called Hang-Up Act, was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee but never became law. However, parts of that proposal, which sought “to establish prohibitions against voice communications using a mobile communications device on commercial airline flights” could end up in another bill that comes before the new Congress.

The Association of Flight Attendants opposes the use of cell phones in the cabin. “As first responders, we must be able to assess the cabin for any suspicious activity. If 50 passengers are on their cell phones, holding 50 separate conversations, it makes it increasingly difficult to identify any potential threat to the safety and security of the cabin,” said Veda Shook, president of AFA International.

Those phone conversations may be taking place before the jet takes off, but Mary Kirby, senior editor for Flight International, said flight attendants won’t have to deal with them in the air. “There are a finite number of communication lines — typically six to 12 lines per aircraft — which limits the number of simultaneous calls at any one time,” she said. “And aircraft noise drowns out much of the sound.”

As for passengers worried about having to listen to a seatmate yapping away on the phone, costly roaming charges usually dissuade long phone calls. And although a Southwest passenger was recently charged with misdemeanor battery for striking a teenager who didn’t turn off his iPhone when requested, Kirby said: “I am not aware of a single issue of air rage due to in-flight cell phone use.”

What I’m watching, reading..instead of working

Air Travel, Airlines, Airplanes, aviation, Aviation history, Exhibits, Fun Stuff, History, Kids, Museums, Space, Sports, Unusual places, , , , , , , , ,

Don’t tell me this hasn’t happened to you.

You have stuff to do.  Deadlines.  Work someone will pay you for if you just, you know, do it.

So you pour a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer.

But then, dang, the Internet happens.

Here’s a bit of what got me distracted today.

Air New Zealand posted time-lapse video footage of its first new domestic A320 being built and painted with all black livery.

The paint job has something to do with the All Blacks rugby team, so of course I had to visit that site and then the Small Blacks site as well.

As long as I was visiting the Air New Zealand site, I had to check in on what that wild and crazy furry creature, Rico, was up to. I found this reel of bloopers.

A quick check of email and Twitter sent me off in new directions.

Florida’s Dali Museum was opening in its snazzy new building in St. Petersburg, FL. And as someone who first came upon that museum collection, by accident, when it shared space with a factory in Cleveland, Ohio, I of course had to visit.

While there, I came across this clip of Salvador Dali as a guest on the old TV show, What’s My Line?

Then, of course, it was time to check email and Twitter and catch up on my RSS feed.

A blog post by the folks at the  Smithsonian Air and Space Museum – 5 Cool Things at the Udvar-Hazy Center You May Have Missed – caught my eye because the Udvar-Hazy Center is just down the road Dulles International Airport.

And then I really got tangled up in the web. A comment on the museum blog post mentioned Anita, “the spider from Skylab.”  I didn’t know about Anita so had to follow that thread.

It turns out that Anita and a companion spider, Arabella, were part of an experiment flown on Skylab, a space station launched in May 1973.

According the Smithsonian website:

Scientists and students interested in the growth, development, behavior, and adaptation of organisms in weightlessness provided a variety of biology experiments for flight in the orbital research laboratory. A common Cross spider, “Anita” participated in a web formation experiment suggested by a high school student. The experiment was carried out on the Skylab 3 mission, which lasted 59 days from July 28-September 25, 1973. Astronauts Alan Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott carried out the scientific research in space, reported the results, and returned this specimen at the end of their mission. NASA then sent Anita, a companion spider “Arabella,” and the experiment equipment to the Museum.

Anita is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Anita Skylab Space Station spider

Arabella is in storage.

Souvenir Sunday: ice from Edmonton International Airport

Air Travel, Airports, Art, Events, Exhibits, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, , , , ,

It’s Souvenir Sunday, but this souvenirs would be difficult to put in your pocket.

On Friday, a mysterious 8 ft. by 4 ft. box filled with a 4,500 lb. block of snow was deposited outside Canada’s Edmonton International Airport.

Edmonton Airport ice carving

What's in that box?

Who sent it? What was it for? And who would come and claim it?

Saturday, the mystery was solved.

During a raging snowstorm, four Chinese sculptors armed only with hand tools ( no chain saws…) showed up and spent their day transforming the block of snow into a work of art featuring images from the Beijing Opera.

Edmonton Airport ice carving

Harbin ice carvers at Edmonton Airport

Turns out the sculptors are from Harbin, China, which is Edmonton’s sister city, and the snow sculpture was created to kick off Edmonton’s Ice on Whyte ice-carving festival, which runs through January 23rd.

Harbin, China ice carvers at Edmonton Airport

This year’s festival has a Chinese theme and nine ice and snow carvers from Harbin, China (famous for hosting the largest ice-carving festivals in the world) will work with Canadian artists to fill a local park with ice and snow creations that include a Giant Ice Dragon Slide, Ice Pagodas, a Great Wall, a Children’s Play area and more.

Bundle up and go!

(All photos courtesy of Edmonton International Airport)

Airport food tips from Foodie International

Air Travel, Airports, Food, , ,

Elyse Pasquale, a blogger who calls herself Foodie International (www.foodieinternational.com), is finishing up her quest to travel 100,000 miles and consume 100 of the world’s best meals – in just one year.

Looks like she’s going to succeed.

As of Wednesday evening, Elyse has traveled 94,490 miles – and certainly eaten more than 100 great meals – and there are still a few days left in 2010.

As she nears the end of her project, this well-traveled foodie was kind enough to take a few minutes to share her tips for finding a great meal when you’re stuck at the airport:

As someone who loves to dine around the world, I make it a point to seek out traditional cuisine in international airports. An airport layover in a foreign city is a great opportunity to sample the local fare. In Oslo, grab an open-faced smørrebrød at the Salmon House Seafood Bar, at Tokyo’s Narita airport, try the conveyer-belt sushi at Ganso, and at Frankfurt’s Goethe Bar wash your weisswurst and pretzels down with a fine German brew.

Oslo Airport meal

Salmon smørrebrød in OSL (Oslo Airport) from the Salmon House Seafood Bar


Copenhagen Airport - breakfast

Breakfast at Copenhagen Airport

Photos courtesy Elyse Pasquale. THANKS!