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!

SDIA Airport Traffic Control Tower

Filed under: Airport Employees, Aviation education, Aviation Industry, DENNISE (Information Technology Department), Get to Know Your Airport, Slideshows ]]> http://ambassablog.com/2010/02/02/top-of-the-tower/feed/ 1 Steve Worms eye view FAA Seal dennise Tower http://ambassablog.com/2010/01/28/the-retrn-of-nonstop-service-between-san-diego-and-toronto/ http://ambassablog.com/2010/01/28/the-retrn-of-nonstop-service-between-san-diego-and-toronto/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:46:20 +0000 Steven Shultz http://ambassablog.com/?p=2186 ]]>

Toronto beckons, thanks to new nonstop service from San Diego on Air Canada, starting in June.

Starting in June, Toronto will be just one nonstop flight away from San Diego, thanks to new service from Air Canada.

Click here to read a news release about this exciting new service.

And find out more about the significance of this service to San Diego over at SDIA’s Facebook Fan Page.

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:

Aviation and COP 15

What's going on here?

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.

Can you cook?  SAN sure can!

The Airport Authority’s first-ever employee cookbook is on sale, with proceeds supporting the Authority’s United Way campaign.  Titled SAN Can Cook!, the book features over 125 recipes from more than 50 contributors.  Here’s a mouthwatering sampling:

• Home Coffee Bean Roasting
• Apricot Chipotle Spread
• Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze
• Green Chili Cheese Tamales
• Pasta Sauce Fabulosa
• Butter Crunch
• Mum’s Old Fashioned Bread Pudding

Are you hungry yet?  There’s something for everyone in this cookbook:  recipes that have been passed down for generations,  personally invented dishes, and super quick and easy offerings.  Also, there are dishes from around the world that celebrate the Airport Authority’s employee diversity – Mexican, Indian, Italian, Filipino and more.

The cookbook even includes recipes generously shared by celebrity chef Martin Yan, of Yan Can Cook. Have you checked out his restaurant, YAN CAN Asian Bistro & Bar, in Terminal 1 here at San Diego  International Airport?  Good eats!

Cookbooks are $12 each. To order yours, just visit the Airport Authority’s Intranet site (if you’re an Airport Authority employee). If you’re not an Airport Authority employee, just email sancook@san.org, and someone will get back to you to complete your oder.

In honor of the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place December 7-18, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Ambassablog offers this special video presentation of Aim to Sustain, a thought-provoking short program about how Airport Authority employees can turn things around for the environment with practical decisions on the job.

Note:  If you are having trouble viewing the video above, youmay need to have an updated version of Flash installed on your computer.

How San Diego International Airport will help the environment — and the local economy — with The Green Build expansion program.

Home Treat Alert! The special feature above may not be accessible at work. But you can view the Ambassablog at home & check it out there.

Airport Authority President/CEO Thella F. Bowens discusses the importance of airport infrastructure projects in a down economy in a new CNBC Guest Blog.  Click the headline below to read it:

“Downturn is Prime Time for Airport Infrastructure Projects.”

These days, everyone seems focused on jobs. Turn on the TV or open up the newspaper, and stories try to identify “recession-proof” or otherwise attractive fields that should appeal to anxious job-seekers. Consider one of the age-old conversation icebreakers: “What do you do?”

Not too long ago, I went to lunch with a coworker, and I was casually asked by our server where I worked and what I did. You could tell by the server’s facial expressions that she genuinely found the exchange interesting, and that the “wheels were turning,” as they say. It was apparent that she was considering career options she might not otherwise have thought of herself.

This happens more often than you think. Last year, my fellow Ambassablogger, Ryan, was hosting one of our ever-popular ‘Terminals to Tarmac’ Tours of the airport. In his group was a student who wasn’t even thinking about aviation as a career field. Yet Ryan casually mentioned our Summer Internship program — and lo and behold — that student wound up being in our intern program last summer! Even though he wasn’t a “plane buff” per se, the student discovered that his field of study and career focus had important utility in airport settings. Fields like accounting, marketing and human resources — just to name a few examples — cut across the business world.

Consider my own experience of how I got my position with the Airport Authority. I have a master’s degree in community and regional planning, and I’d worked for both county and municipal planning departments in California and my native state of Texas. In between jobs, I did a temporary office assignment that happened to be at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Not having any background in aviation, I’d never thought about land use planners working at airports. But, as luck would have it, the Airport Authority had a planner position open up, and I soon found myself joining a great team of workers! Now I know that land use planning is a really big part of airports — and I can even write about it here on the Ambassablog for the masses! Who knew?

So, fellow colleagues who enjoy this employee blog, I ask you this question: What do you do at the Authority in your job? How did you discover that your skill-set might work for an airport?

Not everyone can fly a plane, but there is a LOT people can do to make the airport work. Please share your story — using the “comment” link below — and see if you too might plant some inspirational seeds in the minds of some hopeful job-seekers out there.