World's Worst Jobs in International Aviation, #21: Meet Frank

[peteryoung]

This is JFK airport in New York at around 11pm last night:



Frank out there is de-icing the wings of my 777 in the 60mph snowstorm that hit the east coast US last night. We ended up running six hours late, but thanks to him doing a very tough job in the worst possible conditions we got out of there in one piece and didn't end up in Queens. Thanks, mate.

In other news, the painful meniscal problem in my right knee made an unexpected return on Friday afternoon so a doctor in New York signed me off to return home as a passenger, and I might be off work again for another week. Great, like I really need this. And now I know it might be a recurring problem I'll need to see a specialist.

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of the time I departed BOS when it was a little bit snowy (http://feorag.livejournal.com/35172.html), thanks to some barking mad Germans and an orange-clad relative of Frank's.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

The de-icers I've seen elesewhere are all 'closed cab', so the equivalents of Frank aren't exposed to the elements. Is JFK too cheap to buy new equipment, or do they just not care about their staff? Surely a warm comfortable de-icer is going to do a better job, which is what we all want!

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

You should send that photo to the BBC :-)

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I've just done so but don't expect it to be used as it's not actually a very good photo. Colour me surprised if they do use it.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Luck with the knee.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Much of JFK is very non-up-to-date, and ice isn't a terribly common problem there. I suspect the airport's deicing equipment, therefore, is comparable in many ways to the city's snow-plowing equipment.