AlaskaAV
GONE WEST
Mission, TX
The Wien Air Alaska operation at Prudhoe Bay was a rather interesting setup. The building that housed our passenger terminal and cargo operation was on the ground floor of the building as well as a branch of a bank with home office in Fairbanks. On the second floor were living quarters for our crew.
http://www.shorebirdworld.org/art/photos/week5/prudhoe-bay.jpg
The Wien terminal is just to the right of center next to the ramp and on the left side of the large hanger with the door open. The reast of the area is occupied by commercial operations in support of the oil industry including 2 hotels.
Senior management had separate rooms as did the bank manager since we did some work in our rooms. The other employees in the crew lived in dorm type rooms. Since we ran a two week on and one week off schedule, every week there would be a change of those living in each room so we finally quit trying to keep track who was living where and left it up to the crew. Read between the lines.
We had one area set up as a kitchen and dining area and had a really great black cook who was really a joker and well liked by everyone.
Since it is impossible to have a water well due to permafrost on the north slope of Alaska, we had to have a water storage tank and purification system for potable water. For purification we used an automatic chlorine system. At one point, it went haywire and started putting too much chlorine in the water. One night a few of us were sitting at the kitchen table shooting the bull. All of a sudden, the cook came rushing in and with a really great southern drawl and sad look on his face, he came up with this request:
Hey gyzs, yus nos I take two showers every day and with all of this chlorine in the water, Ize done been bleached out so white I haz to have an emergency pass to San Diego immediately soz I can get my tan back.
That broke the whole place up and brought all the other employees from their rooms to see what was going on. The guy really kept our crew in a good mood and we would have not been the team we were without him. Although not assigned or asked to, he would often come down stairs and help with security check for boarding.
By the way, he got his emergency pass the next day and I took over the cooking until he got back. After all, if a guy could come up with a story like that he deserved a pass. I am sure the crew was glad to see him return though.
http://www.shorebirdworld.org/art/photos/week5/prudhoe-bay.jpg
The Wien terminal is just to the right of center next to the ramp and on the left side of the large hanger with the door open. The reast of the area is occupied by commercial operations in support of the oil industry including 2 hotels.
Senior management had separate rooms as did the bank manager since we did some work in our rooms. The other employees in the crew lived in dorm type rooms. Since we ran a two week on and one week off schedule, every week there would be a change of those living in each room so we finally quit trying to keep track who was living where and left it up to the crew. Read between the lines.
We had one area set up as a kitchen and dining area and had a really great black cook who was really a joker and well liked by everyone.
Since it is impossible to have a water well due to permafrost on the north slope of Alaska, we had to have a water storage tank and purification system for potable water. For purification we used an automatic chlorine system. At one point, it went haywire and started putting too much chlorine in the water. One night a few of us were sitting at the kitchen table shooting the bull. All of a sudden, the cook came rushing in and with a really great southern drawl and sad look on his face, he came up with this request:
Hey gyzs, yus nos I take two showers every day and with all of this chlorine in the water, Ize done been bleached out so white I haz to have an emergency pass to San Diego immediately soz I can get my tan back.
That broke the whole place up and brought all the other employees from their rooms to see what was going on. The guy really kept our crew in a good mood and we would have not been the team we were without him. Although not assigned or asked to, he would often come down stairs and help with security check for boarding.
By the way, he got his emergency pass the next day and I took over the cooking until he got back. After all, if a guy could come up with a story like that he deserved a pass. I am sure the crew was glad to see him return though.
