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Someone had recently asked me, “How do airports make money?” Airports are burdened with the cost of governmental mandates, such as security upgrades, environmental, and compliance with numerous other ordinances. The majority of airports are publicly owned and are financed through airport bonds and municipal grants. To raise money, airports lease hangars, buildings, fuel farm facilities, gates, terminal space, and sometimes entire terminals to airlines, FBOs (Fixed Based Operators), freight companies, restaurants/concessions, and other corporate entities which amount to the single largest source of income.
When you were little, your mother may have told you to tie your shoes and watch your step before stepping onto an escalator. She was right because in my experience at the airport, escalators seem to have gotten the best of many causing minor to serious injuries, including death. Most incidents are caused by loss of balance, slippery surfaces from spilled liquids, and articles of clothing becoming caught in the grating. If you encounter someone that is injured, the first thing you should do is stop the escalator by depressing the red emergency stop button and calling for help. Last weekend, I got a call from AVCOM stating an elderly man had fallen on an escalator and was suffering from severe injuries. When I arrived at the scene, it was a blood bath. The man had fallen forward and struck his head on the edge of one of the moving steps. The grating and sharpness of these steps are very dangerous. It caused a six inch laceration on his forehead that was very deep. ARFF and paramedics arrived and rushed him to the hospital. Later in the week I heard the man required several stitches and treatment.
I occasionally ask myself why many pilots fail to check the Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) before departing on a cross country flight. Items that may be crucial to safety will be listed, such as if the Instrument Landing System (ILS) is on the fritz or if obstruction lighting on tall antennas are out of service. It is not a mistake entirely made by students, but more often by airline and corporate pilots. Lighting outages are a usual occurrence on NOTAMs, but now for the not so obvious, the “PPR.”
If the airport is going to be performing maintenance on the longest runway on Tuesday from 1300Z to 2030Z, and your Boeing 737 has a maximum load, then dispatch or the station manager will be requesting the 10,000 ft. runway instead of the available 6,000 ft. one, especially during summer months when aircraft performance is at its worst. I hope they checked the NOTAMs other wise they could be waiting on the run-up pad for up to an hour before a departure can be authorized. Below is what is done when these circumstances may exist.