Dallas Love Field

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

Airports, , , ,

Drama at Dallas Love Field

Operations resumed late Monday afternoon at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) after a frightening incident involving shots fired inside the terminal building.

According to Dallas police, a woman entered the airport near the ticket counter, went into a bathroom, and exited wearing a hoodie and brandishing a gun. She began shooting at the ceiling and was taken into custody after being wounded by a Dallas police officer on duty.

No one else was injured, but flights were grounded for several hours. All passengers had to be rescreened, more than 1000 flights were delayed, and more than 100 flights were canceled as a result of the incident.

Portland International Airport roof report

Portland International Airport (PDX) is getting a new timber roof and it’s both quite impressive and quite a complicated undertaking.

Here’s a short video showing one of the important steps it takes to install a 9-acre mass timber roof over an existing terminal.

Here’s what it will look like when the project is done.

Meanwhile, over at PIT Airport

As long as we’re looking at time-lapse construction videos, here’s one from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), where they’re building a new terminal.

Airport Amenity of the Week: HeART CART at Dallas Love Field Airport

Kids travel, ,

Here’s a great airport amenity created for kids that will make parents happy. Especially on those travel days when kids are antsy and flights may be delayed.

There’s now a mobile HeArt Cart, at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) that brings free arts and crafts projects to young travelers.

The cart might show up at a gate where there are a large number of passengers. It may stay near the airport’s music stage, where crowds naturally gather, Guy Bruggeman, of the DAL Art & Programming Team, told Stuck at the Airport.

“We’ve done a Lovey where the kids could color and cut out different body parts and glue them to the doll. It’s like a Mr. Potato Head, but flat,” says Bruggeman. “We also use our button-maker and we have a few other art-based activities, including an upcoming event for “World Music Day” (June 21) where the kids can make their own maraca out of a water bottle.”

We think adults will be thankful that kids will have something fun to do at the airport. And we think kids of all ages will want to make art at the DAL airport’s HeART CART.

So we are declaring this the Airport Amenity of the Week.

Have a nomination for next week’s Airport Amenity of the Week? Drop a note in the comments section and we’ll check it out.

Travel Tidbits from airports near you

Art, , ,

Please tune in Tuesday to part 2 of my ‘appearance’ on the Dallas Love Field podcast, Love Field Stories. We’ll be chatting about the great art collection at the airport and learning the stories behind some of the pieces.

Airport traditions are back: Flowers on Mother’s Day

Since 2009 (except for a pandemic pause) Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) has been handling out carnations to moms traveling through the airport on Mother’s Day. We’re glad to see the tradition continued this year.

Discounts for Military at O’Hare

During May active, retired, and veteran members of the US Military will be eligible for discounts at both O’Hare and Midway Airports.

What I learned about Dallas Love Field Airport

Aviation history, History, , ,

The team that produces “Love Field Stories,” the official podcast of Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL), was kind enough to include me as a guest for two upcoming episodes.

The two-parter delves into the unique history of the airport and highlights some of the wonderful art that can be spotted in and around the terminal.

The episodes will be live-streamed on Tuesday, April 12, and on May 10 at 12:30 p.m. (Central) on Love Field’s Facebook and YouTube and will include images of many of the historical events and artwork we discuss.

The podcast can also be heard on Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Pandora.

To produce the podcast, DAL teamed me up with Bruce Bleakley, who is an aviation historian and co-author of The Love Evolution: A Centennial Celebration of Love Field Airport and Its Art.

We called it a conversation. But really, it’s me getting to pick the brain of the airport’s historian. I asked Bleakley about how, in 1958, Dallas Love Field’s new terminal building came to have the first moving walkway at any airport in the world. And why there was an ice-skating rink in the terminal. And about the role that Dallas Love Filed played on that day in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on the DAL tarmac.

In this two-part podcast, we also learn the stories behind some of the great art that passengers walk over and walk by at DAL.

And I get Bleakley to tell us which city’s name is spelled wrong in the airport’s first commissioned piece of art. A detail he didn’t even share in his book.

I hope you’ll tune in!

Courtesy Frontiers of Flight Museum, Dallas

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

Free Stuff, , ,

Discounts at Boston Logan Airport in honor of the Boston Marathon – plus free socks

To celebrate the return of athletes to Boston for the Boston Marathon, passengers who use the online ordering platform BOS2GO at Boston Logan Airport (BOS) for express pick-up or delivery direct to their gate will receive 26.2% off their order. The discount amount is linked to the length of the marathon – 26.2 miles – and is good through October 13.

Use the code RUNBOS at checkout on the BOS2GO website or scan the QR code on the dedicated signage. Anyone who chooses delivery instead of pickup will also receive a pair of complimentary BOS2GO branded athletic socks.

Colorful Canopies at ATL in honor the Pride Flag

Animated art tour of Dallas Love Field

Here’s a short video tour of some of the art at Dallas Love Field. It seems to be designed for kids but anyone will enjoy seeing and learning about some of the great artwork at DAL Love Field.

If/Then: Women in Aviation Statues at Dallas Love Field

Exhibits, , ,

In 2021. Dallas’ NorthPark Center will present #IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit, which will feature 123 3-D printed statues of contemporary women working in the STEM professions of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

In the meantime, 15 of those statues are on display through March 9, 2021, at Dallas Love Field. Included in the group are 10 statues that portray women who work in aviation or aerospace-related fields, including astrophysicists, a rocket scientist, and an aviation maintenance technician.

To create the statues each subject stands in a scanning booth that uses 89 cameras and 25 projectors to generate a 3D image. A special machine then takes up to ten hours to slowly build up the layers of acrylic gel that make the statue.

Here’s a list of the women whose statues are in the DAL pop-up exhibit.

1. Adriana Bailey – Atmospheric Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research
2. Charita Castro – Social Science Researcher, Office of the US Trade Representative
3. Xyla Foxlin – Engineer, Entrepreneur, and Nonprofit Director, Beauty and the Bolt
4. Miriam Fuchs – Telescope Systems Specialist, East Asian Observatory
5. Joyonna Gamble-George – Health Scientist, National Institutes of Health
6. Erika Hamden – Professor of Astrophysics, University of Arizona
7. Kelly Korreck – Astrophysicist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8. Adele Luta – Scientist and Innovator, Oceaneering
9. Jenn Makins – STEM Educator and Inventor, Parish Episcopal School
10. Amanda Masino – Biologist, Professor and Research Director, Huston-Tillotson University
11. Tiffany Panko – Women’s Health Researcher, Rochester Institute of Technology
12. Jasmine Sadler – Dancing Rocket Scientist and STEAM Entrepreneur, The STEAM Collaborative
13. Nikki Sereika – Aviation Maintenance Technician, Southwest Airlines
14. Nicole Sharp – Aerospace Engineer and Science Communicator, Sharp Science Communication Consulting
15. Mary Beth Westmoreland – Vice President, Amazon

And here’s a short time-lapse video of the statues being installed.

More (musical) reasons to love Dallas Love Field

Music,

Dallas Love field Jon Christopher David

Here’s another reason to love Dallas Love Field Airport: free weekday concerts from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The airport is working with the Texas Music Project, which is organizing the Texas Singer/Songwriter Series.

Jon Christopher Davis (pictured here) kicked off the series and will back again this Friday. See the current schedule here.

And, while you’re at the airport, be sure to check out the permanent artwork collection and the temporary exhibitions the Love Field Art Program puts together.

 

DAL LOVE FIELD

Love stamp dedicated at Dallas Love Field

Events, , , ,

LOVE STAMP

A first-day of issue ceremony for the 2016 Forever Love Stamp is taking place today at, appropriately enough – Dallas Love Field Airport.

(A great reminder to get some Valentines to mail out this year…}

This Forever stamp heart design was created by artist Yulia Brodskaya, who made the heart using the ancient art of quilling – also called paper filigree— which involves rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper, laying them on their edges, and gluing them in place to form intricate designs.

Giant coloring wall at Dallas Love Field

family travel, , ,

Dallas Love Field _coloring wall

Here’s a great amenity for holiday travelers:

Michaels craft stores has put up giant coloring book page of the city skyline at Dallas Love Field Airport.

“Adult coloring books are one of the season’s hottest trends,” notes Steve Carlotti, Michaels Executive Vice President – Marketing, “The idea is that travelers can stop by the wall between flights or on their way in or out of the airport and pass some time with an entertaining, creative activity that is a nice change from sitting at the gate with a smart phone, laptop or tablet.”

The wall will be up through the holidays and into the New Year and colorers are encouraged to use the hastag #ColoringwithMichaels to share images of how well they can color in, beyond or between the lines.

What happens when the picture is all colored in? They just wipe it clean and start over.