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 ..read more

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 ..read more

Over the years you’ve heard me mention “only at Osh” moments. This refers to things that can only happen at Airventure. Every year there are at least one or two of these moments. This year’s “only at Osh” moment involved Corsairs and a Connie. And oh my goodness was it amazing! I love the Corsair. It is easily my favorite WWII Navy aircraft. There’s just something about that bent wing. And the deep, throaty sound of the engine. While many of the remaining Corsairs are museum pieces, there are still a few that are flying, although it is unusual to see more than one or two at any given time. B ..read more

I love planes with growly face. 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-a ..read more

Ah, summer! The pace is slower and it’s time to relax, right? Not in my world! Sure, I’m able to spend some time chilling on the porch swing, but I’m also super busy with all the fun events that come along with sunshine and warm weather. This year those events include an air show at the cargo airport, a ginormous car show and, of course, Airventure at Oshkosh. We found out a couple of years ago that the cargo airport was going to host the first air show in the area since 2007. That’s kind-of a big deal! An outside company handled most of the details, but airport staff still had a lot of work ..read more

A trip to Pensacola Florida usually means a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum. Can you say F-14s? (Talk to me Goose!) Unfortunately, an incident that happened at NAS Pensacola in late 2019 forced the closure of the museum to the public – only Department of Defense ID holders can visit. I have a family member with that clearance who could escort me, but coordinating with them hasn’t been possible. So I found myself searching for an alternative. A friend mentioned a museum near Destin. She couldn’t remember the name of it, but recalled that they had a lot of airplanes. That got my att ..read more

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 w ..read more

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

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 airpla ..read more

So you’ve been looking for a non-stop flight to your favorie vacation destination and discovered, to your dismay, that none exist. What? How can this be? Lots of people travel to this place. Surely the airport can just ask the airlines to offer non-stop service, right? Uh… well, no. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. The process of establishing new non-stop service can require quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work that can take years to complete. Although I don’t get involved until it is time to start billing, I’ve asked my friends in Business Development a million questions which they h ..read more