National Aviation Day - AA Tour at CLT 8/19/2016
I attended the National Aviation Day tour conducted by American Airlines at CLT today, one of 11 locations where AA had "AAviation Day" events. There were nine of us on the tour, and got to see much of the AA operation. We met at the Training Center then headed to the Carolinas Aviation Museum for a short visit.
Probably the best known piece at the museum is the remains of US 1549, the Miracle on the Hudson jet.
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After the museum, we went to the terminal and up to the Ramp Control Tower - at CLT, the AA ramp tower controls all of the ramp, including the area around A Concourse where Delta, JetBlue, and others operate.
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From there, we headed out onto the roof of the terminal outside of the tower.
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Next, we headed out onto the ramp.
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When we were done on the ramp, it was back to the Training Center for lunch with one of the chief pilots, then a tour of the simulators. Here's the inside of an A330 Level-D full motion sim - about $15 million dollars worth.
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We didn't get inside, but this 757 sim was purchased by US Airways from Eastern Airlines, when Eastern ended operations in 1991.
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We ended the day with a tour of the Maintenance Base - in addition to routine line maintenance, AA performs heavy maintenance on Airbus jets at CLT. This A321 was undergoing a heavy check, the equivalent of a D-Check, that is scheduled to take 52 days and 15,000 man-hours.
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It was a great opportunity to see how the operation works at CLT, the folks we met were thrilled to show us around, and we got some free stuff too! I really have to thank American Airlines for doing this!
