March Rain

We've shifted back into more typical March weather (WX). There's something reassuring about it. Cold rain, raw temperatures; about as cold as it gets without snowing. Last week I was driving around the airfield with the windows down. Go figure.

There were two flights after the tower closed this evening, Colgan 3256 (Continental Express, Bombardier Dash 8 Q 400)and JetBlue 128 (Airbus A320). Late flights are a welcome distraction for airport operations, providing a task to focus on as the airport grows quiet in the late evening hours. This time of the year, we simply watch the aircraft land. With the tower closed and Boston Center vectoring the flight into Burlington airspace, we have little to do but serve as silent witness to an aircraft landing safely. Should an aircraft not land safely, we initiate our emergency plan.

Listening to Boston Center on frequency (120.350), I await Boston to authorize the frequency change approval to CTAF (118.300) and for Colgan to begin advisory statements on their full ILS approach to RWY 15. Without incident, they land on the soaked runway. The Dash 8 kicks up a large plume of moisture, making for a dramatic entrance. Over on the ramp, the ground crew stands at attention. I've been there and I've done that and I can say without any hesitation that there is nothing more miserable in ground operations than standing in the pouring rain, waiting for an aircraft to taxi into gate. The dry heated cab of the operations truck further reaffirms my decision in defecting to the airport operations side of the business.

Later, after JB 128 lands, a quick stroll through the terminal reveals a small mob formed in front of the "Delta" ticket counter, apparently upset about missing bags from JFK. Although the sign above the ticket counter reads "Delta," it is operated by a regional carrier (Comair) and the counter folks are contracted through another company called Regional Elite. Contracted regional carriers and ground crews are the reality at smaller airports like BTV. One look at Paul (shift leader) from Regional Elite and I offer to call for police assistance...just to stand in back of the ticket counter...to look official. A uniformed officer almost always does the trick. Almost always. Officer Ray arrives.

"Okay, who's the problem here?" he says, loud enough for the crowd to hear. He's looking at nobody in particular, but the offending parties speaking in loud voices only moments ago, know his message is directed at them. They quietly look at the floor. Model citizens. I smile, saying, "Nobody's being a problem right now. Maybe you could just hang out here for a while."

As we wait for Paul to process the missing bag claims, Officer Ray leans up against the TSA screening table, describing the unusually busy night for airport police. A 17 year old runaway, six weeks from being 18 years old, is upstairs with Officer Paul. The runaway is booked on a flight to Alabama in the morning. The police have no ability to stop her from going to Alabama, without placing her in foster care (until her 18th birthday). Tough project to start at 2AM. At that very moment, the runaway's mother is traveling to BTV from the Northeast Kingdom on a mission to persuade her daughter to come home. The rain can only be adding to the misery of her car drive. It appears to be a situation without a reasonably good ending. The weather does funny things to people this time of year in Vermont. I wonder if the runaway took off when it was 63 degrees and sunny last week... Just a presumption. The crowd at Delta has mostly subsided. Officer Ray heads upstairs to see how things are sugaring out with the runaway. Her mother has just arrived.

Back in the operations office, the rain-spattered windows reveal a fleet of sleeping aircraft, getting a few last winks before the morning shift arrives. The pilots and flight attendants are probably asleep in their hotel beds. I decide it's too late for coffee. Glancing outside, the rain shows no signs of letting up. Maybe I'll have that coffee after all.