Teller1900
En-Route
I had a very unique opportunity during an 8 hour delay yesterday to go up to the Dulles ramp tower. The storm that was passing overhead was incredible. I don't think I've been that close to that much cloud-to-ground lightning, probably ever (and I was born and raised in the mid-west)! The wind was hellacious and the rain coming down in sheets, so with no movement on the field (no arrivals and the ramp was closed for almost 3 hours) the controllers (Metro Washington Airport Authority, not FAA) had plenty of time to chat with us.
The only bit of excitement came when a United Airbus holding abeam his gate reported a runaway baggage cart. The controller handed me some binoculars...sure enough, a huge bag cart, the type they load in the bottom of heavies, had found its way onto the Charlie taxi line. The quick thinking controller had one of the Jurassic looking mobile lounges that was ambling around the ramp go over and block it in until a metro authority vehicle could come retrieve it.
As the storm moved off field we watched the action slowly begin to build on the ramp as every plane at the gate was late to push, every plane on the ground needed a gate, and all the arrivals who had been holding (including more than a dozen international heavies) starting landing with min fuel.
It all started with two United 777s (Greg?) landing simultaneously on parallel runways. That's when the havoc began. But the MWAA guys in the ramp tower handled it with aplomb. At one point they had 23 aircraft holding on the ramp, waiting for the ramp personnel to return to marshal them in, with another 15 ready (or almost ready) for push. Despite the backup, they neither looked nor sounded any more stressed than they had 10 minutes before when they had their feet up on the desk as they cracked jokes at the guy who just ran in from the driving rain.
About 20 minutes after the ramp reopened, the supervisor who had been working the south ramp went on break, and offered us a tour of the airport. That's an offer you can't refuse! For forty minutes he drove us around the airport, with the majority of our tour focusing on the remnants of the Dulles Jet Center.
As I'm sure most everyone remembers, multiple hangars at the Dulles Jet Center collapsed under the weight of the snow during a rare blizzard last winter. They are still working slowly but diligently to clean up the mess. As they unearth the aircraft from under the rubble they black out the tail numbers and park them around the ramp. It appears to be a painstakingly slow process, but they are making steady and obvious progress toward removing the twisted metal beams and prying the multi-million dollar paper weights from their tomb. They're not the best pictures I've ever taken, but I'll blame that on being in a moving vehicle. It really was an amazing sight.
Interestingly, the only part of the hangar complex at the Jet Center that didn't collapse was the part that housed no aircraft that night. Go figure.
I attached a few pictures as a teaser, but the rest of them are at this link. You SHOULD NOT need a Facebook account to see them, but if this doesn't work please let me know and I'll figure something else out.
The only bit of excitement came when a United Airbus holding abeam his gate reported a runaway baggage cart. The controller handed me some binoculars...sure enough, a huge bag cart, the type they load in the bottom of heavies, had found its way onto the Charlie taxi line. The quick thinking controller had one of the Jurassic looking mobile lounges that was ambling around the ramp go over and block it in until a metro authority vehicle could come retrieve it.
As the storm moved off field we watched the action slowly begin to build on the ramp as every plane at the gate was late to push, every plane on the ground needed a gate, and all the arrivals who had been holding (including more than a dozen international heavies) starting landing with min fuel.
It all started with two United 777s (Greg?) landing simultaneously on parallel runways. That's when the havoc began. But the MWAA guys in the ramp tower handled it with aplomb. At one point they had 23 aircraft holding on the ramp, waiting for the ramp personnel to return to marshal them in, with another 15 ready (or almost ready) for push. Despite the backup, they neither looked nor sounded any more stressed than they had 10 minutes before when they had their feet up on the desk as they cracked jokes at the guy who just ran in from the driving rain.
About 20 minutes after the ramp reopened, the supervisor who had been working the south ramp went on break, and offered us a tour of the airport. That's an offer you can't refuse! For forty minutes he drove us around the airport, with the majority of our tour focusing on the remnants of the Dulles Jet Center.
As I'm sure most everyone remembers, multiple hangars at the Dulles Jet Center collapsed under the weight of the snow during a rare blizzard last winter. They are still working slowly but diligently to clean up the mess. As they unearth the aircraft from under the rubble they black out the tail numbers and park them around the ramp. It appears to be a painstakingly slow process, but they are making steady and obvious progress toward removing the twisted metal beams and prying the multi-million dollar paper weights from their tomb. They're not the best pictures I've ever taken, but I'll blame that on being in a moving vehicle. It really was an amazing sight.
Interestingly, the only part of the hangar complex at the Jet Center that didn't collapse was the part that housed no aircraft that night. Go figure.
I attached a few pictures as a teaser, but the rest of them are at this link. You SHOULD NOT need a Facebook account to see them, but if this doesn't work please let me know and I'll figure something else out.
