As a lover of aviation, I was pleased to discover an organization called Airliners International, which annually hosts what’s billed as “the world’s largest airline collectibles show and convention.” The event moves to a different US city each year and after bringing it to the attention of another avowed AvGeek friend at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, we decided to attend this year’s gathering from June 23 through 25 in Chicago. This city is one of the greatest aviation centers on the globe. With one of the world's busiest airports, over forty passenger airlines and countless more cargo carriers, O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) provide some of the best aircraft spotting in the US. The show‘s trade floor brought in sellers of aviation memorabilia from all over the world and the education seminar program was designed to augment attendees’ knowledge of aviation and Chicago's contributions to its history.
The convention staff worked out a great hotel rate at the conveniently located Hilton Rosemont where the majority of the trade show took place. The room block offered a rate of $119 for Wednesday, June 22 and $109 for the remaining convention dates. Just one mile east of the O’Hare Airport, half of the sleeping rooms at this hotel face the westbound approach pattern. The Hilton provided a complimentary 24 hour shuttle to and from all terminals at O’Hare and the Chicago Transit Authority’s “L” Rosemont Station was merely s a few block away. Hotel dining options included a relaxed restaurant serving classic American dishes as well as a cocktail lounge and Starbucks Café. Other amenities offered were a 24/7 fitness center and a heated indoor pool with panoramic views. The conference registration fee was $65. Attendees were also charged a modest $20 for each tour selected and $60 for the Saturday evening banquet. Unfortunately, the tours did not open up until about six weeks prior to the conference and several sold out almost immediately. My friend and I were able to secure places on the O’Hare Ramp Tour at 2:00 PM on Thursday, June 25 and the American Airlines Operations Tour scheduled for 9:00 AM the next morning.
While they say “getting there is half the fun,” I’m not so sure that was the case for us on this trip. To begin with, we waited too long to make our airfare reservations and ended up booking a Southwest flight to Midway Airport. If all had gone according to plan, we would’ve had plenty of time to get to the Hilton after landing and still make the 2:00 PM Ramp Tour without rushing. But, after everyone had boarded our B737-800 aircraft, the pilot announced there was a maintenance issue with the cockpit’s left side window. Aircraft mechanics soon came aboard and after a twenty-minute delay, the pilot informed us we’d be airborne in five to ten minutes. Well, that wasn’t the case as we were delayed for one hour and twenty-five minutes! Our flight arrived at Midway at 12:40 in the afternoon. Luckily, our Uber driver showed up in less than two minutes’ time and we arrived at the Hilton at 1:50. After rushing inside and completing the hotel's registration formalities, we quickly found the convention desk where conference organizer Bill Demarest kindly held the bus for us while we dropped the our bags in our rooms. We might not have been the most popular duo when we walked on that bus about ten minutes past the hour, but we made the tour! Whew.
That first bus took us to the Airport Maintenance Complex (AMC) where we transferred onto an O’Hare ramp bus and met Pete, our airport guide. We were escorted around the ramp side of the airport, passing any number of aircraft in an “up close and personal” style. Of particular interest to me were those arriving and parked at the International Terminal 5. We saw an Iberia A330 from Madrid, an Emirates B777 from Dubai, a British Airways A380 from London Heathrow, as well as any number of aircraft in American and United liveries which had arrived from overseas. We soon stopped at the Central Deicing Facility (CDF). Accommodating up to twenty narrow-body or five wide-body aircraft at once, O’Hare’s CDF is the largest of its kind in the United States. The state-of-the-art facility helps improve safety and efficiency for more than fifty airlines serving O’Hare. It also increases the efficiency of the current deicing operations at individual gates, improves gate utilization and terminal capacity, eliminates secondary deicing for departing planes, and enhances runway safety while improving airfield operations. Although we were touring this facility in June, it was very impressive. So were the huge snow removal vehicles operated by the City of Chicago. They’re called Boschung Jetbrooms and the airport has sixty-five, each manufactured in Switzerland with a price tag of $800,000 apiece!
The best part of the tour was next when our ramp bus stopped at a safe distance from Runway 28 Center, the arrival runway appropriate to the airport landing pattern on that particular day. At 10,800 feet long and 200 feet wide, it was the final runway component of the O’Hare Modernization Program. Commissioned in October 2013, it was the first new runway opened at the airport since November 2008. We exited the bus for about an hour for plane spotting and photography. As one aircraft would approach the runway, lights from another plane would appear in the not-too-distant sky, creating a seemingly endless stream of afternoon international arrivals right before our eyes. These included numerous American and United B787s, as well as a CargoLux B747, a Swissair B777, an Atlas Air, B747, an ANA Cargo B777, and a Qatar Airways B777. We could’ve stayed there all day but Pete kept his eye on the clock as the tour was coming to a close at 5:00 PM. We convinced him to wait until the Royal Jordanian B787 arrived from Amman and all eyes were focused on the sky and she approached the airport and landed directly on the displaced threshold. We returned to the Hilton, but decided to skip the Welcome Reception at the Chicago Dogs Minor League Baseball Game at nearby Impact Field for a quick bite in the Liberty Tavern. It was a busy but very good first day.
After breakfast on Friday, we had an opportunity to visit the Collectibles Show spread out among any number of vendor tables in the Hilton Grand Ballroom and Foyer. All manner of aircraft memorabilia were on hand and available for buying, selling or swapping. Enthusiasts were able to browse a mind-boggling array of items, everything from high-end model airplanes to decades-old timetables and safety cards. Even in-flight menus, dinnerware from now defunct airlines were among the coveted finds. Other items included model aircraft and vintage posters (with some original lithographs selling between $2,000 and $7,000), as well as vendors with airline blankets and coffee mugs - in short, just about anything and everything associated with domestic and international carriers from yesteryear to today. I have never seen anything like it assembled in one location at one time and we spent our morning hours visiting nearly every vendor before breaking for lunch.
The American Airlines’ O’Hare Station Operations tour began at 2:00 PM that afternoon. The Hilton shuttle dropped our group off at Door 3A on the Upper Level where we were met inside by an airline representative who distributed our pre-printed “boarding passes” enabling us to proceed through the TSA Security Checkpoint as if we had airline reservations. Since beginning operations at O’Hare in 1982, American has served a key role in one of the country’s most sizable hubs. The airline now accounts for approximately 35 per cent of all traffic at the airport, making it O’Hare’s second largest airline after United. The AA Station Operations Center is similar in design to a ramp tower, but does more than simply control American’s ramp area. Here, employees at some twenty stations are tasked with ensuring efficient operations and all of them work side by side in order to keep flights running on schedule. Not only does the operations center handle the movements on the ramp, but it also handles other aspects of American’s hub. For example, one person ensures that there’s a catering truck dispatched for any given flight while another staffer oversees the fueling of American’s aircraft.This person takes data from the main operations center in Dallas and passes it along to aircraft fuelers on the ground. Another vital component of the center are those who monitor and track weather in the airport vicinity which might affect operations. There are other people in the tower as well, such as a maintenance supervisor who ensures that all aircraft are being properly maintained during their time at O’Hare and yet another who monitors American Eagle flights as the airline has a sizable number of regional flights which operate out of the airport to small and medium-sized communities not served by their mainline aircraft. It was a wonderful behind the scenes look at one major US airline’s hub operations.
On the final day of the convention, we visited the balance of seventy-eight vendor tables stationed in the Davis, Wright and Yeager Ballrooms and the Lindbergh Room. In between browsing, we attended an information seminar hosted by Tom Livesey, B757/767 Captain for UPS and one of six Directors of the World Airline Historical Society. It was titled “Jon Proctor’s Chicago Aviation Photograph Collection.” Jon was a renowned commercial aviation historian, photographer and author. Working during the early days of jet travel, he witnessed aviation’s exciting transition to the Jet Age. His boyhood hobby of photographing commercial airliners grew into a lifelong avocation that integrated well with his post-airline career as a writer and editor of commercial aviation publications. I knew the attendees were AvGeeks, but was amazed when folks in the room were able to correctly identify all the aircraft types pictured as well as the airports at which each photo was taken!
The Saturday evening banquet closed out the Airliners International show. Retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Howie Franklin was the guest speaker. Howie is the only flight steward to serve five US Presidents aboard Air Force One, including Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. He also flew extensively with former US Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger on his Shuttle Diplomacy Missions during the Nixon and Ford Administrations. Howie spent 29 years in the United States Air Force, 24 of those at Andrews Air Force Base in Special Missions Operations, including 18 years on Air Force One. He captivated the dinner guests with his stories and memories of working around Presidents, First Ladies, Vice Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, VIP guests and the US White House press corps.
As I told my wife, “I am not alone,” referring to being with others who share my enthusiasm for flight. Next year’s convention is slated for Dallas in late June. We’re already looking forward to what lies in store for us at the show in another one of America’s busiest airports.
Until next time…safe travels.
Oh My ! - Christmas came early for you 😄 Sounds like you had a blast - enjoy Dallas next year!!!
Your write up clearly shows how much fun you had with this experience. So glad you got to do it. I am not an avgeek but appreciate all you did and saw!!