The Airport

     So I just started a new job working at the Denver International Airport in Colorado with my two brothers and my cousin. We all live together, eat together, work together, go to church together, watch movies together, jump in the pool together, and sing together. It has really been a lot of fun. I really love our apartment. It feels like home. My parents really hooked us up too, they bought us furniture (the big stuff like couches, a table, chairs, etc) and they bought us groceries. We have our own washer and dryer which is so nice and two bedrooms/bathrooms. Our kitchen is small but cozy. Mostly, I just love the feeling we have there. Sure there is some contention; but, overall it makes me feel loved and there is always laughter.
          I also love our new job. There was a LOT to learn but I am finally done with training which makes me graduate from a trainee to a newb! Ha! I have to wear a yellow vest which makes everyone else (with orange vest's) instantly judge my talent and abilities but I like proving them wrong. We all trained for about a week and a half and will be on probation for a while but I don't care so much. We were trained in three major areas: commo, ramp, and bags.
          Commo is really easy, but for some reason not a lot of people like it. You are assigned two gates for one day and basically you are in charge of re-stocking every plane that comes into those gates. You recieve an order form from the Flight Attendant's requesting certain things. Usually, they want pop, juice, water, napkins etc. But it can range anywhere from liquor to handiwipes. It can take some time when they need a lot but it's just busy work. You empty the trash and refill the ice and its no problem. The only hard thing about commo is opening the doors. Maybe its just because I'm so weak (being a girl and everything), but some of the older planes are really hard to get into. There are a set of red stairs and a commo cart at every gate. When the plane pulls in the gate, you move the stairs up to the door and get the order form. I don't mind commo so much.
          Next, is ramp. Ramp is a lot harder and a LOT more physically demanding; yet, most people prefer the ramp. Ramp includes a lot of different jobs. Being on ramp,  you are usually in charge of 2 gates; but, you can sometimes be in charge of 3 gates. The typical ratio is two people per gate so it can get intense. If you are the wingwalker, then you work the back of the plane. You cut off traffic for the VSR (vehicle service road) and signal the pilot to start taxing into the gate. Then you set up cones around the plane-known as the safety diamond. Fuel trucks and other bag runners must be outside of the diamond at all times. Then you chock the back wheels, drive the belt loader over, chock those wheels and bring the carry on cart over. Then, you crawl in the pit and unload the bags-first the carry on's then the regular checked bags. The sucky thing is you have to scan the bags before you send them down one at a time. After all the bags are scanned and done, you scan all the new bags and load them back up the belt loader. Then you go over to the elevator and bring down the carry on's, load them up, move the cones, shut the door and wingwalk the plane out of the gate.
          When you work the front of the plane, you stand at the very front of the gate to marshall the pilot in; essentially, you are parking the plane. Once you stop the plane, you chock the front wheels, connect ground power and air if needed. Then you move the jet bridge over (which is how passengers get on and off the plane), then you go get the carry on's, and bring them up to the passengers. The last thing you do is hook up the tow bar to the tug and plane; then, you go to the back and help unload the bags. When it's time for departure, then the person who works the front has to fill out a CLR (Cargo Load Report). The CLR tells the pilot how many bags there are: heavy, regular, standard chekced, carry on, etc and what compartment they are in:forward or back. It also has the flight number, destination city, passenger count, and special packages: dry ice, animals, wheelchairs, etc. Then you help load the back and walk inside the jet bridge to get the carry ons from passengers, talk to the gate agent, move the jet bridge and walk around the plane to see if it's ready to push back. Then, the real hard part starts:pushing back the plane. Literally, backing up the plane is super hard. I look drunk when I try to do it;but, you push it back and set the brakes, disconnect the tow bar, saloute the pilot and that's about it. Quite a lot of work for one plane. The hard thing about ramp is there are MSTs and quick turns. A MST means you only have 24 minutes to unload, load and send out the plane. Quick turns are awful too. Quick turns are when you have planes back to back to back within like a 30 minute period. It's so hard! But, I like the physical challenge of it all.
          The last thing we were trained on is bags. Bags is really not too hard most of the time-if you know where you're going. We have 95 gates on the B terminal alone and when you first start out its super intimidating! Once you grab yourself a map and get to know the tunnels, it's nothing. When you are on TOB (running bags), you are assigned a tug for the day. First thing's first, you inspect your tug checklist, get a scanner and a radio and then check in at the bubble. After you have checked in, they will give you a 'run.' It's basically an assignment to a gate number. You program the gate into the scanner and it tells you if the plane is in range, on the ground, or chocked at the gate. Typically, people go over once the plane is chocked, but I go over when the plane is on the ground and try to help out the rampers. Then, you pick up and scan all of the bags that come off of that plane. Once they are scanned, you switch to drop off mode and take the bags to their next destination. This can be city bags (ending in Denver), international bags (have to be taken into the tunnels to be x-rayed) or connecting flight bags (which can go to the make up's, drop zone, or other gates). The only hard thing about TOB is managing your time. Once the plane has landed, you only have a certain amount of time to deliver the 'hot' bags. Hot bags have connecting flights within an hour. Other bags are dropped off to make ups that will deliver them to their gate closer to the flight. It can really take quite a while when you pick up the bags from gate 45 and have to go down to the drop zone (by gate 16) as well as go to gate 91. It really takes some good time management to do the job right. The tunnels can be a little confusing at first, but it's not too bad overall.
          I really like my job because it's so diverse. You hardly ever do the same thing two days in a row and even if you do-the experience is completely different every time. There is always someone new to meet, something else to learn, and some new experience to have. I really like the people out in Denver. I have found that they are typically pretty nice, highly sarcastic, hilarious, and fun. I really like working with my brothers and cousin though. Its awfully fun when you are driving down the road and look up to see a familiar face. Its also  nice at the end of the day to have someone to ride on the shuttle with or jam out with. We have lunch together as often as we can and we talk about our days on the ride home. Its always interesting and entertaining. We have SIDA (security identification display area) badges and they are pretty legit. They can open doors that are not for the public and we have to have them on at all times. We get to go through employee security which is much faster and easier. I really have loved my new adventure in Denver so far and I hope it will continue to be fun. I really like the flight benefits we get; however, flying standby can certainly take a while sometimes (it took me 14 hours to get to Utah yesterday...worth every minute). I love working at the Airport-goofy hearing protection and all.