AlaskaAV
GONE WEST
Mission, TX
In the early years (the 70s) of the oil industry on the North Slope of Alaska, the oil companies had all kinds of problems. This was before the "pipeline" of course. When a piece of equipment went down, there was no hardware store to get something so it had to be ordered from stateside, maybe even Texas or Colorado from an oil industry area.
One day, I watched a major drilling company Lear Jet depart from Prudhoe Bay to Houston, TX to pick up a $2.50 (more or less but probably lots more) bolt for a drill rig that was inop. Why send a Lear? Because if the bolt would have entered into the airline cargo system, it would have taken days, if not lost. By the way, that drilling company gave me a ride from Prudhoe Bay to ANC on that Lear, a 24 as I recall, just because. What a flight with only 4 VIP passengers and talk about noise but we did talk business though. That drilling company also allowed a very special guest of mine, a female, to go on the floor of a drill rig and to actually operate the controls while drilling. Unheard of and the first time on the north slope of Alaska a woman was ever on the floor of a drill rig. Just happened that the lady was a very special friend of the President and CEO of Braniff Airlines who asked me to take care of her while in the Prudhoe Bay area. Guess what? More special passes for my employees from Braniff.
Oh yes, back to the story.
I could never get my company, Wien, to get interested in worrying about this problem because it didn't involve our airline. That didn't work with me and my assignment at the Prudhoe Bay area.
I called several local oil and support company project managers over to the Wien terminal for a short meeting one Saturday night after all flights were out (over a few cool ones of course) and special snacks set up by my interesting cook (story elsewhere about him). By the way, that project was continued for some time after so I could keep on top of problems before they became major and the managers really liked the contact, one on one with my entire crew away from work and the crew enjoyed getting to meet and talk with the people they talked to everyday on the radio. Since I was not given an expense account at Prudhoe Bay, everything came out of my pocket but well worth it.
I suggested to the oil industry that I invite cargo managers of all areas in the lower 48 that had anything to do with oil related business for a tour of the slope. Talk about reception by the oil companies? Offers came in for anything they could do to make it work and they gave me the names of towns they needed help with.
I sent out personal invitations to the cargo managers of airlines, not just Western Airlines, in those areas to join me for a reception and tour of the north slope on a given day, RSVP of course. As I recall, 100% replied positive, probably because it was a free trip. Airline people liked things that are free since at that time, our pay was very low.
I had enough bed space for everyone, male and female (don't ask me how
), on the second floor of our terminal and a local hotel (where I was employed by for a couple of years) donated a driver and bus to make the tour as well as some meals. The oil companies and support companies opened up their operations as well as some very good food. As I recall, that was 3 day and 2 night tour I had set up. All the managers were able to go right on the floor of operating drill rigs and to be shown how important repair parts were. As I recall at that time, down time on a major drill rig was something like $10,000 per hour and that would probably be $100,000 per hour now days.
All the managers were very free with their business cards and direct 24/7 phone numbers to the oil industry if there should be a situation they could help with. Just what I was looking for.
The result was that those from the other airlines devised a special sticker, much like the AOG (aircraft on ground) sticker for aircraft parts, for parts into Prudhoe Bay and those shipments were given hand carried priority from one airline to another. We never had a problem like that again thanks to some very concerned cargo managers from other airlines from what they learned on my "party". Some days it was really fun to just wake up and go to work.
Needless to say, my idea worked and at one point, the head men from BP and ARCO got me aside (over two fingers of 21 year old Royal Salute Scotch) and really thanked me for my concern even if Wien didn't. Wien management was not invited for some reason, I must have forgotten to invite them, suppose? I could have said the invitation is in the mail, right? Wonder where they got the idea I was running my own airline on the north slope? All of my crew was available to talk with and probably the only time I ever "saw" them having a drink on the north slope, after all, it was a dry area and no alcohol. I got blind at times I guess but gee, what do you do with a great team like I had that didn't know what end of shift was when a flight was late. There was no overtime pay at that time. Just a thank you for a job well done and maybe a special pass to somewhere in the world and a special hotel discount or even a free room. Take care of the employees and they will take care of the company.
Ah, the good old days of aviation in Alaska when a person could do what they wanted to just to get the job done. What book?
One day, I watched a major drilling company Lear Jet depart from Prudhoe Bay to Houston, TX to pick up a $2.50 (more or less but probably lots more) bolt for a drill rig that was inop. Why send a Lear? Because if the bolt would have entered into the airline cargo system, it would have taken days, if not lost. By the way, that drilling company gave me a ride from Prudhoe Bay to ANC on that Lear, a 24 as I recall, just because. What a flight with only 4 VIP passengers and talk about noise but we did talk business though. That drilling company also allowed a very special guest of mine, a female, to go on the floor of a drill rig and to actually operate the controls while drilling. Unheard of and the first time on the north slope of Alaska a woman was ever on the floor of a drill rig. Just happened that the lady was a very special friend of the President and CEO of Braniff Airlines who asked me to take care of her while in the Prudhoe Bay area. Guess what? More special passes for my employees from Braniff.
Oh yes, back to the story.
I could never get my company, Wien, to get interested in worrying about this problem because it didn't involve our airline. That didn't work with me and my assignment at the Prudhoe Bay area.
I called several local oil and support company project managers over to the Wien terminal for a short meeting one Saturday night after all flights were out (over a few cool ones of course) and special snacks set up by my interesting cook (story elsewhere about him). By the way, that project was continued for some time after so I could keep on top of problems before they became major and the managers really liked the contact, one on one with my entire crew away from work and the crew enjoyed getting to meet and talk with the people they talked to everyday on the radio. Since I was not given an expense account at Prudhoe Bay, everything came out of my pocket but well worth it.
I suggested to the oil industry that I invite cargo managers of all areas in the lower 48 that had anything to do with oil related business for a tour of the slope. Talk about reception by the oil companies? Offers came in for anything they could do to make it work and they gave me the names of towns they needed help with.
I sent out personal invitations to the cargo managers of airlines, not just Western Airlines, in those areas to join me for a reception and tour of the north slope on a given day, RSVP of course. As I recall, 100% replied positive, probably because it was a free trip. Airline people liked things that are free since at that time, our pay was very low.
I had enough bed space for everyone, male and female (don't ask me how
), on the second floor of our terminal and a local hotel (where I was employed by for a couple of years) donated a driver and bus to make the tour as well as some meals. The oil companies and support companies opened up their operations as well as some very good food. As I recall, that was 3 day and 2 night tour I had set up. All the managers were able to go right on the floor of operating drill rigs and to be shown how important repair parts were. As I recall at that time, down time on a major drill rig was something like $10,000 per hour and that would probably be $100,000 per hour now days.All the managers were very free with their business cards and direct 24/7 phone numbers to the oil industry if there should be a situation they could help with. Just what I was looking for.
The result was that those from the other airlines devised a special sticker, much like the AOG (aircraft on ground) sticker for aircraft parts, for parts into Prudhoe Bay and those shipments were given hand carried priority from one airline to another. We never had a problem like that again thanks to some very concerned cargo managers from other airlines from what they learned on my "party". Some days it was really fun to just wake up and go to work.
Needless to say, my idea worked and at one point, the head men from BP and ARCO got me aside (over two fingers of 21 year old Royal Salute Scotch) and really thanked me for my concern even if Wien didn't. Wien management was not invited for some reason, I must have forgotten to invite them, suppose? I could have said the invitation is in the mail, right? Wonder where they got the idea I was running my own airline on the north slope? All of my crew was available to talk with and probably the only time I ever "saw" them having a drink on the north slope, after all, it was a dry area and no alcohol. I got blind at times I guess but gee, what do you do with a great team like I had that didn't know what end of shift was when a flight was late. There was no overtime pay at that time. Just a thank you for a job well done and maybe a special pass to somewhere in the world and a special hotel discount or even a free room. Take care of the employees and they will take care of the company.
Ah, the good old days of aviation in Alaska when a person could do what they wanted to just to get the job done. What book?
