Welcome to the Ambassablog! We're the front-line employee bloggers of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority and participants in the Airport Authority's Goodwill Ambassador Program.
Here you'll find our continually updated posts about life at historic San Diego International Airport (Lindbergh Field). It's the nation's busiest, single-runway commercial airport and pumps some $10 billion a year into the regional economy.
Take a look around, and
Email us if there's something you'd like to see added to the Ambassablog or covered in future posts.
Meet the Ambassabloggers
To find out more about them, just click on their pictures above.
For questions or information about this blog and other social media tools used by San Diego International Airport, contact: Steven Shultz, M.S.
Deputy Director, Public & Community Relations /
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority: ambassablog@gmail.com
A 'worm's eye view' of the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Traffic Control Tower at San Diego International Airport
Do you ever have one of those days when you just can’t believe what you have to do for your job … or have you ever walked into work, sat at your desk and asked yourself, “Why Me?” Well, there isn’t enough room in this post to describe what my job duties were one day a few months ago; I had to take pictures for proof, as you can see:
I knew that lead-in would reel you all in!
I recently had the chance to visit the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Traffic Control Tower at San Diego International Airport. You know – the tower you can see on the other side of the runway from the terminals.
I went over to collect information for a project I’m working on and was offered the opportunity to go out on the tower’s catwalk … and – voilà! – this Ambassablog post was born. Do I know when to latch onto a great opportunity when I’m presented with one, or what? While taking pictures, I learned all kinds of interesting tidbits of information from the air traffic controllers.
This stuff just doesn’t happen every day … well, not for me anyway! I’d like to thank the air traffic controllers that work in the tower – they play such an important role in running an airport.
And, since I like to have an “educational” spin to my posts, I’m including this link of way cool stuff for those of you who are curious about what they do up there in that bubble at the top of the world.
I hope you all enjoy the view as much as I did. It always amazes me what a beautiful city we live in. And, Mom, the picture with the flag, below, is for you. Don’t worry – my feet were planted squarely on the ground for that shot!
Here’s a link to a handy, one-page summary of major results for the aviation industry from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last month. It’s from the current (January 2010) edition of Green Sky magazine. It also serves as a concise overview of how the aviation industry is aiming to be more sustainable in the months and years ahead:
Last month I spent seven glorious days in the southeast Caribbean. One of my favorite parts of the trip was viewing all the different airports on the islands. In fact, on Maho Beach in St. Maarten (the Dutch side of the island), two of my favorite activities — relaxing on the beach and watching airplanes — were combined into one!
Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA), like San Diego International Airport (SDIA), has just one runway which handles 30–40 operations per hour. Recently PJIA underwent an expansion that included a new terminal with 11 boarding gates, four jet bridges and 46 check-in ticket counters. PJIA has an average of 1.7 million passengers annually and 174 chartered and scheduled daily flights — including seven U.S. nonstop flights. Because PJIA’s one runway is very short at 7,107 feet (compared to SDIA’s runway at 9,401 feet) all aircraft must land and take off at the end of the runway, which is situated right next to Maho Beach.
This makes for one of the most exciting plane-spotting locations in the world! I took the picture above to prove it. Most people tend to recognize PJIA because its runway ends in such close proximity to Maho Beach. This is one of the only airports in the world where you can view aircraft so close to, and directly underneath, the arrival and departure path. In the brief video below you can see the people on the beach almost being blown away as an American Airlines 757 departs just a few feet away from the beach.
“When the San Diego Airport Authority launched its online employee blogging service last year, a door opened to a world of Web-related public relations opportunities…”
Thus begins an article called “Harnessing the Web” in this month’s Airport Business magazine about the Ambassablog and San Diego International Airport’s other social media and Web-based communications tools.
The San Diego Business Journal knows all the ways to stay in touch with San Diego Airport. Do you? http://bit.ly/aTGZ2l3 hours ago
Hi-tech trash? Watch the video at http://bit.ly/bIeOXP and see how San Diego Airport and Waste Management are riding the solar-power wave. 3 days ago
The San Diego region has many airports. This plan is looking at how they can be optimized to better serve the region: http://bit.ly/bv2tlV5 days ago
Flu Information
Click here for information from the Centers for Disease Control on the H1N1 flu and travel.
Ambassa-Praise
"The stories are interesting and the bloggers write very well ... it’s great PR initiatives like this that reflect well on San Diego and make us even prouder to live here." – Love Zubiller, San Diego
"I've totally and immediately fallen in love with this blog..." - Cleared for Takeoff
"... a unique glimpse into the work days of employees; a great way for ... employees to voice their opinions..." - PR PRep blog
I went over to collect information for a project I’m working on and was offered the opportunity to go out on the tower’s catwalk … and – voilà! – this Ambassablog post was born. Do I know when to latch onto a great opportunity when I’m presented with one, or what? While taking pictures, I learned all kinds of interesting tidbits of information from the air traffic controllers.
