DB777 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 885 posts, RR: 50 Posted (8 years 9 months 20 hours ago) and read 1693 times:
An article in the Orlando Business Journal last Friday has an article about Bill Jennings, Executive Director of MCO, stating that Hurricane Charley damage repairs may take at least a year to complete.
It also states that he said "one reason the airport worked so hard to get back up and running in such a short period was because Miami International Airport shut down for four days after Hurricane Andrew devastated the Miami area in 1992." And then to add insult to injury, the article states that he said "We felt we really couldn't afford to do that" and that "the airport is really important to this area's economy", as if MIA's staff didn't give Dade County's economy any consideration by taking four days to open the airport.
I don't know where Jennings gets his information but he should get his facts straight before he speaks to the media. Hurricane Andrew struck land in the southern portion of Dade County at 5:05am on Monday, August 24th and MIA was re-opened mid-afternoon on Tuesday, August 25th, which was ONE day, not FOUR days, after the hurricane. We had debris all over the airfield including all runways, aircraft blown around, no power in many areas, damaged jetbridges, leaking roofs, etc. Add the fact that many of our employees had either total destruction of their homes or serious damage to their homes and cars, plus the matter of most roads being blocked by downed power lines and trees. Despite all those handicaps, MIA's management and seriously reduced staff got the airport operational a day after the hurricane.
DB777 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 885 posts, RR: 50 Reply 2, posted (8 years 9 months 19 hours ago) and read 1635 times:
Ah yes, that letter was fired off Saturday night. But I thought some of the readers on a.net forums would like to see first hand how history gets distorted over time. This is only 12 years after the fact, so 25 years from now some fool will tell the world that MIA was closed for a month after the hurricane and people will believe it because an airport director said so.
Don
Photographing aircraft since the Earth was flat and on Airliners.net since #338
FutureFO From New Caledonia, joined Oct 2001, 3095 posts, RR: 24 Reply 3, posted (8 years 9 months 12 hours ago) and read 1574 times:
Don,
This is why I go to TPA and so my spotting and photos there. I have to get quick shots out of the car window here and had to spend money to get into the parking garage and try to get some kind of shot from there. Hopefully MIA is a little nicer. Going to try to get there some time in the next few weeks.
Dlx737200 From United States of America, joined May 2001, 1850 posts, RR: 23 Reply 7, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 1261 times:
Dave Wegman! I can't stand any of them! I hope they are reading this too!!!! MCO SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! But I can still get some good photos though:
DB777 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 885 posts, RR: 50 Reply 8, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1192 times:
This past Friday's Orlando Business Journal did not contain any correction to Airport Director Jennings' erroneous comment, despite my e-mail to the editor, so their readers will continue to believe that MIA was shut down for four days after Hurricane Andrew.
They might even believe that MCO's staff did such a great job in restoring service to MCO compared to MIA's staff. However, I have a page that sets the record straight at http://www.pbase.com/image/32900233 and Google even displays it if you type in "reopening of MIA after Hurricane Andrew."
Photographing aircraft since the Earth was flat and on Airliners.net since #338
Miamix707 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1158 times:
..and thinking how I could take pictures from inside the terminal back in the day...
Really, the guys that run the MCO authority, I'm not familiar with their names but they dont seem to be the nicest or brightest ppl around.
DB, one of the new Miami-Dade candidates for county major wants to create a Miami Airport authority. do you think that'll be a good idea? Wouldn't want to have some clueless individuals like those on MCO shutting down our spotting privileges. Specially since the one leading at the moment is an ex-cop...
This summer I got my share of photos at MCO myself, once I had to photograph from inside the car and stop in the middle of the street, oh well, thanks once again MCO for closing McCoy rd. Looks like a war zone with all those fences nowadays. I wonder if the tourists find it pretty..
DB777 From United States of America, joined Apr 2001, 885 posts, RR: 50 Reply 10, posted (8 years 8 months 3 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1102 times:
The Mayor's position has really been weakened after it was changed to a strong mayor type of government for a few years.
The County Commission has all the real power, so it really doesn't matter who gets elected to the Mayor's position in my opinion. It would help to have a decent person in the job though.
think an airport authority would be of great benefit to MIA, for numerous reasons but keep in mind that MCO is run by an airport authority so it's not the great savior in all cases.
Photographing aircraft since the Earth was flat and on Airliners.net since #338
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