Vistor at our doorstep

This has nothing to do with the airport, but I thought I would share it with you. The other day we had a visitor on our doorstep. This young moose came by to eat some of our tree by the deck. Moose are common in my neighborhood and this guy has been coming by every few days for the last couple months.

All Lined up With No Place to go

Wonder if any of these DC-3's flew over France on D-Day? Not sure who has bought these aircraft, but they have been parked here for a couple months now.

Museum donation

Hey everyone, sorry it has been so long since I made a post. Been busy with life in general and have been having a hard time getting some good photos with the short days up here.

What we have here is an Alaska Airlines 737-200 series aircraft. This aircraft is being retired and donated to the Aviation Heritage Museum. The photos above show the removal of the good engines which are being replaced with non-serviceable ones. Since the aircraft will just be sitting on display, there is no need to have valuable parts wasting away. Enjoy the photos!

The Fire Trucks Came Running!

Had some excitement yesterday. An Alaska Airlines flight landed and was told by another aircraft that they had a smoking brake.

The Airport Fire Dept. swung into action and escorted the flight to the gate where mechanics inspected the brake in question. Turns out that a small hydraulic leak and made its way to the brake and caused the smoke. The line was repaired, the brake cleaned up and everything was fine.

Got to admire the speed in which the Airport Fire dept can respond. Those guys are fast!

Fighting traffic

When working at the airport, you tend to fight traffic of a different kind.

Rather than dodge other cars and trucks, we have to be on the alert for aircraft as they approach and leave the gates. Anything from small commuter airdraft like this PennAir flight to a 747 can cross your path as you drive around.

The last of its kind

Behold the C-133A Cargomaster. This is the last airworthy Cargomaster left in the world. It does not fly very often, but when it does, the whole airport knows about it.

With an 18 foot prop turn, this fine aircraft makes a lot of noise when it takes off and everyone stops to take a look.

This aircraft is only allowed to fly under special provision. It hauls large items for the state to remote parts of Alaska. Some of its cargo in the last couple years have been school busses, two dump trucks, a road grater and other such large and heavy items.

Here is a good site that documents the history of this lone giant. http://www.ruudleeuw.com/c-133_by_sibitzky.htm

If you are ever in Anchorage and are lucky enough to see this bird fly, you are a witness to a very rare sight indeed!

Ever wonder where your bags go?

When you check your bags for a flight, do you ever wonder where they go?

After they are placed on the conveyor belt and vanish from sight, your luggage goes into a room where the TSA x-rays it and sometimes opens it up for a visual inspection.

From there, it goes here:

Welcome to the bagwell. In the upper right of the photo, you can see where the bags come down from the TSA screening room. After that they go on the conveyor that is simply a larger version of the one you see at the baggage claim area. As the bags go around, people check the location tags and place the bags into the correct carts that are lined up (you can see them in the left of the photo.

Carts for each flight have a clipboard where the bag count is logged. When it is time for departure, a Ramper simply hooks a tug up to the carts and drives them out to the aircraft for loading.

It sounds simple, but during the tourist season and holidays, this is one of the busiest places at the airport. These photos were taken at 0330 on a Monday. Not much action this time of the morning.

Here is another shot of one of the belts in the bagwell:

Changes over the years....

The above photo hangs in the break room of what is now the Alaska Airlines Hangar at Anchorage International. As you can see, the hangar was once the home to Northern Consolidated Airlines back in 1954. From what I have been told, the hangar was build in 1951, the same year ANC officially opened. After Northern Consolidated, the hangar was owned by Wein Airlines, MarkAir, and now Alaska Airlines. There may be another owner or two in there somewhere, but these are the ones that I am aware of.

This is a recent shot of the same hangar thanks to Google Maps. Things have changed from the dirt and gravel around the hangar to the pavement and smooth painted lines we see today. The large building at the top of the photo is the Alaska Airlines Cargo Facility. The hangar is currently having some work done on the roof support system. Some of the beams have cracked in recent years due to the winter snow load.

Many things have changed during the last 50 odd years, but the hangar is still there. Look for it next time you are at the airport.