Internship: Day 8

Today was spent in the control room.  This is where all the cameras in the whole entire airport are monitored.  It's the place where  accidents, spills, and emergencies are reported and called in, and then the people who work in the control room dispatch the maitenance, janitorial, police, paramedics, etc. to respond to the area where they are needed.  It was such a busy and fun experience, there are always interesting and weird things happening.  I was given a headset and I listened in on most of the calls, and I got to see how they responded and what special codes where given for specific incidents.  As I sat there and listened, we also were looking at about 7 computer screens, each with something different and important on them.  Part of the day was pretty slow so they turned on the Olympics and we watched that in the background while we sat and waited for calls. 
Working in the control room is considered one of the entry level jobs.  I think that I would really enjoy getting a job like that to start off at the airport.  Everyone I talked to said it was super helpful to start out there because you learned all about the airport and you become familiar with all the different places and spaces. 

FOD competition poster

I forgot to post this little gem from Thursday when I found it...
This picture seriously makes me laugh everytime I see it.

*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 7 Off to Hogwarts!

Today was spent in the wildlife department at the airport. Not many people know about it but it is an extremely important aspect of the airport. We knew last Thursday that we would be spending the day outside working with the wildlife people so we came dressed in our working shoes and jeans. We spent the day driving around, checking the traps with Mike. He is the Airport Wildlife Biologist. The second trap we checked held this beauty...
She was this beautiful barn owl that was seriously the softest thing ever. They let us pet her feathers and get really close to her. They asked if we wanted to hold her but at the time I was a little bit afraid to do that. After that we rode around to check other traps. We went to the ARFF (Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting) building because they
had an owl nesting trap on the balcony there. They gave me the net and told me to sneak around the corner and put it over the opening. That made me a little bit nervous but I did it, and unfortunately, there weren't any owls inside. So we left. Braden got to hold the owl. We had to wrap her up in a towel like this when we were in the car for obvious reasons, because if she decided to flap her wings and try to get away, we would all be whacked with her giant wings, also, that would be hilariously terrifying.

We went back to the wildlife building and took her into the back room where they banded her leg and recorded some information about her. After that we went out riding around again, looking for large birds that were too close to the runway. We saw a couple of hawks flying around so we had to use the "Bird Banger" bullet type things that when fired from a small hand gun, make this annoying whistling sound and then make a little popping exposion noise when they get near the bird. (Don't worry, they don't hit the bird, and also, those birds are so darn stubborn that the noise hardly even phases them.) I felt like I was one of those "Storm Watcher" people that chase tornadoes. Imagine us riding wildly around the airport on the taxiways and also in the grass, all the windows down so that we didn't lose sight of the birds. Driving very fast, and Mike holding the gun out the window, shooting the noise bullets at the birds. It was highly entertaining. We also found some little pheasants and we hopped out of the vehicle again and I was handed the net and we chased them. They ended up flying up and over the fence so they weren't an issue anymore. I'm sure it was quite the site to see me running down the road along the fence with a giant net, chasing birds...

We went out and rode around the "duck club" area, it's just outside the outer boundary of the airport. Lots of rich people pay money for the land and pretty much preserve it for ducks and duck hunting. The main problem out there is the massive amount of pelicans. They are causing there to be less ducks and also they fly almost right in the middle of the arrival flight plan of the planes flying in. Most of the day was spent driving around looking for birds and animals, and it was quite enjoyable. Towards the end of the day, we set a live trap, with a little mouse in the bottom of a cage and traps that would ensnare a hawk if it came down to pick the mouse up. We drove out to where we knew there was a hawk sitting in it's nest and we dropped the trap and drove away to where we didn't look suspicious, yet we were far enough away that we could still see the trap. We could only leave the trap out in the open for about 5 minutes because it was so hot out that we didn't want the mouse to die. We watched the hawk and just when we thought she was going to leave her nest, we looked up and saw that she was sitting on her baby, keeping the sun off of it. So we drove over and picked up the trap and went back to the main building. I asked if I could hold the owl. I realized after we dropped the owl off the first time that that was probably my once in a life time chance to hold an owl. They gladly said yes and we went back, pulled her out of the cage and I put a giant thick glove on and grabbed a hold of her.

It was one of the coolest things ever. She wasn't very heavy and she was pretty mellow. Each of us took turns holding onto her and of course, taking lots of pictures. I also snapped a picture of this other little creature, it's called a kestrel. He wasn't very happy that I was getting close to him. I kinda wanted to hold him but then I looked at what he had done to a sparrow, a.k.a. lunch... That was pretty much the whole day, counting, chasing, and capturing birds. It was fascinating and I learned a whole lot.

*peace out girls scout*

Internship: Day 6

Today we were able to go and visit the other General Aviation airports that are run by Salt Lake.  The Tooele Valley airport was our first stop.  Paige drove us out there and showed us around.  We were going to inspect the fuel and other things but he accidentally left his keys so we just drove around and watched the parachuters jump out of a plane and land back at the airport.  After that, we drove out to the South Valley Regional airport.  We met up with the  man who managed that airport, as well as the Tooele one, and the General Aviation portion at SLC.  He talked to us for awhile about all of his duties as a manager for those 3 airports.  He is a busy man with a lot of responsibilities.  We drove around that airport for a little bit and spotted a sneaky little fox wandering around the airport.
We finally got back to SLC Int. at about 1:45 and we were starving at that point.  By the time we got our lunch and finally sat down, it was 2 PM and we inhaled our lunch in less than 15 minutes.  We found Dave after we ate and he told us we could go home early.  We were all really happy about that, plus it meant that I would beat the traffic and get home early enough to nap before my midnight showing of Batman :)
We aren't meeting next Tuesday because of Pioneer Day but I am pretty excited for next Thursday.  We will be working with the Wildlife Department :)
*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 5

Today started out pretty rough...you see I am supposed to be at the airport by 8:30AM, and when I woke up today at about 8:15AM, that posed quite the problem.  The first thing I could think of to do was to call Dave's office and tell him that I was obviously going to be late, and apologize over and over and over again.  I got ready in a flash and was on my way and I ended up being just over an hour late, and when I arrived, I apologized some more, to which Dave replied with a chuckle and reassuring me it was ok, these things happen. (Yeah, and "these things" seem to always happen to me at the most inconvenient times)  I called up Braden and found out where they were and we helped "direct traffic" in the terminal, there were a lot of people trying to get through security and for some reason, some of them were having trouble keeping the line moving. 
While standing there, a young girl was leaving her grandma and going back home to Maryland.  She was only 13 and she was considered an "unaccompanied minor" and she had no idea where she needed to go.  So Phil, Jordan and I escorted her to her gate.  This brought back memories of the good old days when I, myself was an unaccompanied minor.  When I was younger, starting at the age of 6, I was flying all by myself between my parents and also to visit my grandparents.  Sometimes, I had to be guided by a gate agent to where I needed to be, but when I got old enough, I could pretty much do it myself.  I had the SLC, Detroit, Denver and now San Diego airports practically memorized.  Though I will always remember my very first flight by myself. I sobbed the whole flight. I'm sure it was only from SLC to Denver but I remember sitting in an aisle seat and burying my head in my lap and crying for the roughly 1-1 1/2 hr flight.  Looking back now, this is funny to me because it wasn't the first time I had flown.  I had flown numerous times, I probably had more frequent flyer miles at my young age than most normal traveling people get in their whole lives.  The only thing that was different about all the times I had flown before, was that I usually had my dad or grandma with me, someone to chat with and lean my head on their shoulder to take a nap, and this time I was very aware that I was by myself and if the plane crashed, I would be alone when I died. (very morbid thoughts for a child don't ya think?)  Of course we all know how often large plane crashes occur, very rarely.

One of the dark, long hallways.

Anyway...back to the story.  When we got back we got back with Jeremey and he showed us even more secret tunnels and passageways.  We found the boiler room, boy was it hot in there, and very loud, and kinda scary.  We went in this tunnel from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 and it was made of concrete and very large pipes and it was extremely long.  I definitely wouldn't want to go there alone, it was kinda creepy and as you walked the hallway got narrower and narrower and also shorter.  Jeremey showed us the final painting we had been on a quest to find since day 1, it was in the Rental Car place (of course, the only other place we hadn't been to yet) and he asked us about the Hiney Hiders and I was right! It is the brand name that makes the stalls and locks for bathrooms but apparently he didn't hear me give that answer the first time he asked.
We also learned about the Blue Angels, and they are not the Blue Angels you are thinking of.  I. NEVER. WANT. TO. BE. ONE. EVER. Talk about nasty...
After that we learned about the new taxi driver requirements that are going to be put into action soon.  It's a very interesting concept, and if you are honestly curious, ask me and I will tell you about it sometime.
After lunch we got to go to the police station.  I LOVED it over there, it was so fascinating and John was a very animated guy when he was telling us all these funny stories.  Hopefully we will get to spend another day in the police station.  We really wanted to see the bomb dogs :)
*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 4

Today was a pretty slow day for me.  The three of us were all split up into different areas.  I was sent with Gary, who is an Airport Operations Manager.  We started off the morning (once I found my way through the secret passages) by sitting in on an interview.  They let me look at all of the questions they ask during the process before the person being interviewed arrived.  Honestly, that relieved a lot of the anxiety I would probably feel if I happen to get an interview with them soon.  It's not too scary and they gave me some pointers to follow.
After that, Gary and I had a special assignment....ok not really too special, but it was still fun.  We had to supervise this group of people as they filmed a commercial/did a photo shoot inside the airport, near the A gates.  They pretty much filmed all day that I was there, from 11-3:30.  So we sat and watched and I'm pretty sure the back of my head will probably be in some of the shots so that could be exciting.
The company is called Goal Zero.  We got a sneak peek at a new product that they are about to release but you can check out their products here: http://www.goalzero.com/
Not too much to report, I was actually pretty grateful for the slow day.  Barely 3 miles were walked, lots of liquid consumed.
Surprisingly, I got cold.  Imagine that, its nearly 103 degrees outside and I was inside all day with goose bumps, not bad compared to Tuesday when I was outside most of the day, the ambient temperature was 107, and the surface temperature was around 125 degrees...that is TOO HOT!

*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 3 "The Eagle has Landed"

Today has been by far the most fascinating day.  I really just want to start by telling about the end of my day but I guess I will start at the very beginning...it's a very good place to start, or so they tell me.

We started out the day out in Airfield Operations.  Basically we just drove around inspecting the fences and picking up FOD (foreign object debris) with our tour guide of the day, Darwin.  One of the other Operations managers, Dave called up saying he needed some help putting up some signs up for the SIDA (Secure Identification Display Area) doors at the SkyWest hangar.  When he arrived he asked for me to help him out, I was a little excited, I got to go on a special assignment.  Ok not really, I was picked because I was the only one who had fingernails that were able to pull the plastic covering off of the giant stickers.  So I went with Dave and he asked if I had another job I was doing on top of this internship so I told him I work at a fabric store, and from then on, our little sticker outing was known as “Arts & Crafts time”.  I didn’t mind being used for my lovely fingernails, it was actually a good experience and I at least got to walk around (even though it was well over 100 degrees outside) instead of riding around in the car some more.  Dave and I went back inside to cool down and get a drink and I met a few more people while we were inside.  Dave even said “We need to get this girl a job here” (referring to me of course), so maybe there is hope?

Dave handed me off to Troy to take me back to the rest of the group and we got there just in time to do the daily runway inspection.  They close the runways one at a time for a few minutes so that the fleet of 3-4 vehicles can drive down the length of it to check for FOD or cracks or other damage that may have occurred.  It was pretty cool driving down the middle of a runway at about 50 mph.  No worries, we didn’t find anything, so we continued to the other side of the airport so that we could go to lunch.  As we were driving back I spotted some plastic tarp thing that could potentially cause some problems so I asked Darwin to stop and I would go get it.  I got out of the car and told him not to leave me and as I walked out and bent down to pick up the garbage, he drove off….only a little bit.  I figured, if they leave me out there, I won’t be stuck out there for long.  Surely someone will spot a random stranger walking around out at the end of the runway…that doesn’t look suspicious at all…  Darwin stopped and I walked back to the car and he was mostly surprised that I hadn’t flinched one bit when he drove off.

Lunch was uneventful.  We usually sit down in the terminal so that we can do some people watching while we eat, that is always a little bit entertaining.  Our “boss”, the other Dave walked by us and informed us that there is an actual break room that we could use.  Who knew? Haha he will be showing us where that is next time.

After lunch we called Darwin and he drove around to pick us up.  So earlier in the day we were informed that the Vice President would be flying in and that if we wanted to, we could help and observe.  Of course we wanted to.  The time between lunch and when we were switched over to the other Dave, the new shift manager for the evening’s events is a blur, other than we drove really close to the back of some planes and I got some cool pictures, that is what I remember.

So the time that the VP was to arrive was delayed an hour, then 2 hours, then back 30 minutes and it just kept going back and forth.  So we didn’t really know when to expect him but we decided to ride around the airport anyway to look for suspicious behavior in the area he was supposed to be in.  Dave told us when we first got in the car that when he finally did arrive that we shouldn’t make any sudden movements or get out of the vehicle and if there were lasers pointing at us that we were probably goners, that’s a happy thought.  Oh did I mention that by this point we had picked up the head Secret Service Agent and one of the head police officers and we were driving around the airport with them.  SO FREAKING COOL!!  The Secret Agent even had that cool little earpiece thing with the curly cord going down his neck into his dark suit coat and he had the little microphone hidden in his sleeve that he kept talking into, like this…

Courtesy of the wonderful Google

And the Police Officer was a big guy…and very attractive… I thought about snapping a picture of them from the very back seat of the Ford Explorer but I voted against that because I didn’t know if that would get me killed or worse, kicked out of the car.  The whole experience was very surreal.  I felt like I was in a movie with the VPresident arriving and the secret agents scattered around, and the police, highway patrol, bomb squad, and members of SWAT everywhere.  I’ll say it again, it was FREAKING COOL!

We took a secret agent to the control tower so that he could observe from there.  We drove around and found some “suspicious looking vehicles” parked in random places.  You wouldn’t believe how quickly they left the premises once they were approached by the Secret Agent and the Police Officer.  Oh and funny little fact, when the Secret Agent goes to ask people to leave, he will only say, “We have a visitor coming and we need you to move” or something like that, but I find it funny that they don’t ever say exactly who is coming, just a visitor…not like he is the Vice President of the freaking United States or anything, no big deal.  We only have 50+ people here to protect him and we have a sniper on the roof but no big deal.

We waited and waited and took a break in TacAir where all the security people were waiting, I tried to snap a picture so that you could get an idea of exactly how many people with guns there were but it was a little frightening and intimidating and I didn’t want to get caught so please excuse the terrible picture.

Right before he arrived we had to inspect the runway and after we inspected it, nobody else could land or takeoff from it until he had landed.  So we drove down the runway like we did earlier that day and everything looked good to go.  I forgot to mention that by this time, I was the only intern left.  The other two had to leave and I just couldn’t keep myself away from this, I mean come on, how many times does something like this actually happen? I’ll answer that for you, it doesn’t happen often at all, and I was not going to miss it. 

Air Force 2 Landing

Deplaning

We inspected the runway and then we were forced to go back inside the building away from all of the excitement.  There were no regular civilians allowed outside in the area.  I said to Dave, “I knew I should have worn my Secret Agent suit today” It kind of sucked from inside, but I watched as Air Force 2 came in and touched down on the runway, it was beautiful.  We were supposed to stay inside until the motorcade left but we couldn’t actually see the motorcade which consisted of probably 10 vehicles.  Black Limos, Escalades, red Dodge Charger, Ambulance, Bomb Squad, and Police Cars, all sleek and shiny and newly inspected by the bomb dogs :)  So we got to sneak outside, with permission from the Chief Police Officer.  I’m sure at some point I saw Biden from a far, but we were too far away to see which one was actually him.  When the motorcade left, we drove a bit closer and I snapped a couple pictures of that big, beautiful plane.

What a fascinating, long day.  I got there at 8:30 AM and I didn’t leave until after 7 PM that evening.  That is a dedicated, unpaid intern my friends. This is one exhausted and hungry girl.  I bought a pedometer for the job because I was curious as to how much walking I do on the days I go up there.  The end count for my day at the airport is 4 miles.  Now I’m going to go put my blistered feet up and relax.

*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 2

Oh Heavens we did a lot of walking today, I'm pretty sure it was around 5-10 miles. I'm going to have to invest in some new walking shoes because I just wanted a wheelchair by the end of the day.  The only times we sat down were at lunch and when I used the ladies room (I know, TMI).We spent the first half of the day with Phil, who was the Terminal Operations Specialist.  He showed us even more secret passages and hallways, including what they call the "Disneyland Hall" which had metal protective stuff all the way up the sides of the hall.  Why? because it is the hallway that is used for all of the food vendors to bring their garbage and other junk in and out.  The metal just shines and sparkles, thus the name "Disneyland Hall".
We got a tour of the Delta employee lounges, starting off in the pilots lounge which had a giant TV and huge lazy boy recliner chairs everywhere.  Then as you move down, going to the flight attendant lounge, which had a couple small couches and a smaller TV, and then finally the ramp agent lounge with a small TV and something slightly better than a folding chair with a little bit of padding.  It was quite fascinating to see the difference from the pilots to the ramp agent lounge.  I know where I want to be ;)
We also got to go up in the Delta Tower, which is the tower you can see on top of the airport.  That is where all the Delta flights are controlled once the Air Traffic Controllers are done with them.  Getting up to this tower, we also got to go on the roof of the airport which was pretty cool.
So not too long ago, the airport had a contest to make a poster that they could use for FOD, which is Foreign Object Debris.  There are signs all over the airport for those working the airfield for people to pick up anything they see lying around because FOD can be deadly to aircraft.  We had the opportunity to see the winning poster, made by a young boy, and boy oh boy was it funny.  The original headline on it "Who foded?"  "FOD stinks!" This boy is going places with his catchy phrase :)
When we go back behind the main terminal, back where they send all the luggage, there are tons of conveyor belts, and I can't help but think about Toy Story 2 every single time.  It also makes me want to jump on and take a ride...maybe someday...
So probably my favorite story of the day was when we had a mission to complete: Find an 80 year old man that had 2 carry-on bags, one of them being green, we had his name and were told he might be in the C concourse, maybe by the bathrooms...
It was highly entertaining, like trying to find Waldo in all those books.  We eventually found him.  The reason we were looking for him is because he got separated from his wife, he was in the sterile area of security and she was on the other, she went to gather their other bags and couldn't get back through security because he had the tickets and her ID and everything else.  They were an adorable old couple and we ended up helping them carry all of their stuff  and helped them get to where they needed to be.  During this entire process they were extremely confused about everything.  And sadly this happened at about 11 AM and their flight for Alaska didn't leave until 5 PM that evening...
I am surprised at the amount of medical emergencies that happen on a daily basis at the airport.  We responded to 2 of them.  One of them being a woman that we think she had taken some medication or drugs or something because she kept passing out, and then she was hysterically crying.  The other was a guy that we can only guess got stung by a bee and was having a slight reaction.  Sadly, being interns, we don't usually get the whole story.  We usually just respond to keep passengers and other on-lookers away from the scene.
By this time, we were ready for lunch, and by that I mean we were ready to sit down for the first time.  So backtracking a bit, I put my purse and lunch in a locker and one of the ladies in the office let me use her lock.  The problem?  After locking the lock, she realized she didn't have the key...
So it was time for lunch and Greg, the guy who was in his office told me he had the master key and he could help me out, turns out the master key was a giant pair of bolt cutters.  The lock was busted open and I could retrieve my pitiful little lunch.  I feel kinda bad, like I might have to buy a new lock to replace the one I caused the damage to.
After lunch we were passed off to another guy named Brian, he is a Terminal/Landside Operations Specialist too.  We continued to walk back and forth through all of the terminals.  We just so happened to be walking by Wendy's when their fire alarm went off.  After about a minute of it going off, Brian went in to tell the employees to evacuate...no offense but they weren't the brightest crayons in the box.  Hello, your fire alarm is going off, if you don't know why, wouldn't you want to get out of there?  Turns out no fire and business went back to normal.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, just A LOT of walking around, Jordan and I were contemplating using the excuse that we had to go to the bathroom just so we could sit down for a minute.
I should point out that we have technically been on a sort of scavenger hunt since our first day.  There is an artist, Anton Rasmussen that has 3 paintings throughout the airport.  We have found 2 of them and we have been challenged to find the last one.  I swear it doesn't exist.  I think that some of the guys just tell us stuff as a joke because we are interns and we know nothing, it's actually quite funny.
They told us that we will have to bring them a yard of flight line, and a gallon of prop wash and things like that (probably only aviation people will think that's funny).  We are also on the hunt for Hiney Hiders (who the heck knows what that is).  Also, as part of our initiation, we are supposed to push a penny down the runway with our nose...the runway is 12,000 feet long...
So it's safe to say we have fun.  I am learning a whole lot and enjoying every bit of it. Holy cow, sorry for the long post but I don't want to forget the adventures I am having.  I feel bad for the lack of pictures this time around but hopefully I will make up for it later.  Thanks for enduring and reading :)

*peace out girl scout*

Internship: Day 1

Ok so apparently I am TERRIBLE at remembering to blog...I am going to try to do better...  Anyway,  I started my new internship at Salt Lake International Airport today!  I am doing a 5-6 week long internship in Airport Operations.  What does that mean you ask?  Every Tuesday and Thursday for the next coming weeks I will be put into different areas of the airport to learn more and explore the options available for an Airport Management career.  I will be working in: Access Control Operations, Airport Control Center, Landside Operations, Airport Rescue Firefighting (ARFF), Airport Police, Airport Shuttle Operations, Emergency Program Management, General Aviation Management, and Human Resources. 
There are 3 interns, Jordan, Braden, and myself.  As we were given a "taste" of what we will be learning and doing in the next month, it was overwhelming how much there is to learn and I was left wondering how we will possibly be able to pack it all in in such a short amount of time!
We started out meeting in Dave's office, he is in a sense, our "boss", and we will report directly to him each day we meet.  We were given our parking passes, and then we went for a walk to learn where the employee lot was, and how to make it back to the terminal (there are a lot of what I would call secret doors and secret passages).  From there, we met Brian, and he was a supervisor for landside and terminal operations.  We sat in the first booth and watched as all of the traffic flowed into the airport, pick-ups, drop-offs, taxi's, busses, the works.  We also watched as a car was about to get towed and boy was that guy mad!  We went into the International terminal and saw where they do customs, we responded to an "emergency" call...there was a dog bite incident and when we arrived on the scene, there was no dog in sight, that was kind of disappointing haha.
After Brian and Jeremey finished showing us around, they sent us off to lunch! It was nice to be able to sit down for awhile and get something to drink.  Then we were off again, Dave had more meetings to attend to so he sent us off with another guy (we met SOOO many new people, I'm having a hard time remembering all of their names) and this other guy arranged for us to ride around the airport with the Landside/Grounds Manager (? I'm unsure of his exact title), anyway, he is the guy that drives around the airport and makes sure the fences and everything is secure.  His vehicle is basically his office.  We went to a couple of the firehouses (there are 3) and in the second one, the guy asked if we wanted to take the truck out for a spin....our response... "Ummm, YEAH!" that should have been a no-brainer.

Above is a picture of me all buckled in in the firetruck, the thing is massive my friends, hopefully I will get another chance to take some pictures of it.  We went for a short drive and he fired the water out the front and it was pretty darn fantastic, probably one of my favorite parts of the day :)
Fact: This can shoot water like 80 feet! And, you can completely empty the water tank in 3 minutes when you fire it at the highest pressure.  These trucks aren't actually made to put fires out, just to secure the exits to the planes if they happen to be on fire, so that the passengers have some time to get out.
We visited the Wildlife Conservation place, basically the place where they are constantly working on new traps to catch the large amount of birds that are at the airport. 
Fact: they use gerbils, mice and pigeons as bait.  We said goodbye to a nice little pigeon that was about to be released as bait...
One of the last places we visited was the SkyWest maintenance hangar where we saw a lot of cool stuff, and a lot of really expensive engines.  There was a room full of them that were ready to go if needed, probably like 8 of them, checking in at about $3 million each.
We seriously never stopped moving.  Everything was so fast paced and constantly changing and it's hard to remember everything that we did.  I am so excited and happy for each day I get to spend up there, learning new things and living part of my dream.  Like I've said before, as long as I get to go to an airport every day, I will be happy :)
*peace out girl scout*