Hurry, expedite this!

Streakn1 · Nov 17, 2008

We were recently on a load to Chicago's Ohare Airport when we got a call to stop in Indianapolis and wait at the airport while a Winglet was removed from a jet, crated and loaded onto our deck and rushed to a jet sitting at Chicago's Midway Airport.

Since the jet in Indy was down for maintenance it could afford to wait on a Winglet to be built and shipped from the manufacturer. on the other hand the jet in Chicago was loosing tons of money sitting in a hanger with a damaged Winglet. The jet was loaded with passengers ready to depart Midway when the Winglet was accidentally damaged by the de-icing truck. The jet had to be immediately put out of sevice, taken back to the terminal and off loaded. Another jet had to be found to get the passengers to their destination.

This is a lot of what we do from day to day.

Jack_Berry · Nov 17, 2008

midway with a semi.

that must have been fun!!

Streakn1 · Nov 17, 2008

Since Leo asked questions about the Winglet,etc on the now locked thread "Setting the record straight" I'm answering his question here since it applies.

Winglets look small when they are on the plane from a distance. The one we carried was almost 14' tall and loaded onto a special built pallet that was approximately 6' wide x 15' long. This obviously will not fit in a C-unit and since it is carried on the forklift from the side only it must be loaded from the side of the deck. They do not like to slide items like this into a box. So they use open step decks that require the piece to be tarped to protect it while in transit or step decks with roll-tite curtains.

Basically, we haul all of the parts that can't be loaded into a box truck for a variety of reasons. A good example would be be two elevators for a FedEx Freight Cargo jet that we loaded after delivering the winglet and took to FedEx's main maintenance facility. Each elevator was approximately 24' long and packed in crates over 30' long. They were stacked on our deck and eight straps, two tarps and about 200' of shock cord later, down the rode we went.

Other than talking with drivers that do what we do I'm not sure where else one would research this industry. Its rather small. I will say this, if you like working out in the elements snow, rain, extreme desert heat, chasing snakes and bugs, getting filthy dirty sweaty while tarping or untarping and securing a load, then this might be the job for you! LOL Thank God for large sleeper trucks with showers!!!

Oh, while we were at Ohare our President Elect flew in on his way home.