It’s been a month, and a month it’s been. When I arrived on the Ice it was after a delay. The delay was mostly weather and apparently a lot. The crew on the airfield could barely keep up and it showed. I arrived to one to two foot berms of snow along both sides of the runway. That’s two miles times two of snow (four miles for those of you that can’t math!) that had also accumulated drifting on both sides.
Now, times that by the amount of snow that will drift on both sides of the burn… I can’t math that! On top of that, the town site out at the airfield had drifts on both sides of the buildings; the leading and tailing sides. I have never, in my one season, seen the airfield in such a state. (Meaning I’m no professional, but damn, there has been a lot of work to do.) AND to make matters worse, flights keep on coming and coming… more than coming than any gay porn ever made!!
The saving grace… for reasons unknown we had a catastrophic pavement (this is what the top layer of compacted snow is called) failure. While nothing went wrong with the incoming and departing flight, it was a hell of a lot of work to repair. We had a few days to make those repairs then the flights came and haven’t stopped since.
Meaning work on the runway stops when a flight is incoming or on the ground. This puts things that were behind… behind. I’m not sure how that math works, but we have been so far behind it’s been a nightmare. Ruffles has gotten a few phone calls with my extraordinarily high level of frustration. I appreciate him for listening to me and allowing me to vent over things I call “STUPID”!!
I do realize that a lot for this program rides on the flights arriving; however when the airfield is in such a state of disrepair, there should be a pause, right?! I guess not!! The damage to the pavement was the only thing that stopped the flights, but it also didn’t allow enough time for us to get things where they needed to be. It only allowed time to repair the damage and receive more flights. Keep the program moving forward.
I get it, but DAMN it makes things hard. When one, me, is passionate about doing good work, and not given the tools or time, it makes the situation less desirable to be in. I actually told my supervisor I was thinking about not being on the airfield any longer due to upper management making poor… nope, stupid decisions and not letting us do our job to correct their mistakes.
But, as Ruffles would say, I digress! Anger out and past, I see the big picture. But, I believe that the big picture is abstract art!!
Okay, back down from the upset mindset I’ll try logic. We got the airfield back operational, but with ongoing issues, like the burns of snow that accumulate more snow with each storm. This is an issue that perpetuates and makes the job much harder. A month later, we have finally been able to knock those down and no longer create big drifts.
But, the damage is done. But this is positive damage. Meaning it’s on top of the pavement and not below. Like a road; damage below, a pot hole, is a much bigger fix and takes more time. But, something on top of the pavement, is generally easier to deal with and remediate. And this is where we are now. A runway is supposed to be flat and level. Our’s is concave from edge to edge . Low in the middle and high on the edges. So next step is getting those now incorporated high sides down. This will make the surface of the runway flat/level, as it should be.
While I didn’t handle the initial month of frustration well, I’m hoping to change that moving forward. I… we were thrown to the wolves. We have been making slow progress, working a butt load of extra hours to get things into a much more manageable position. I have re-realized that I can only control what I can control and do what I am told. It took me a bit to remember that.
Just because I’ve done this before, doesn’t mean I know better than someone that has never done the job… (That was a brief jab at management!)
But, anyway. I still like it here. Just have to keep in mind that there is indeed a bigger operation than an airfield. The airfield services a lot and it’s a lot of pressure to be working out there keeping things running to the best of our ability. I will continue to do that, keep it running to the best of our ability. It’s just the beginning of the season and things will smooth out. I know this. But damn, what a different start this year compared to last!
I wanted to do a couple things here. Get the shit off my chest and also let you all know all is well here. Even with the stress.
I am also trying to sort out a communication problem between my phone and computer. Once I do that I’ll be able to upload photos again. But for the time being APPLE SUCKS!!
