LIT
Wings Over Ithaca knees an all too familiar sensation. I’m excited and nervous and just want to begin my task. “Okay, everything looks good, so Patti and Amy, you can step right up and get in the back, and Jessica, you can sit in the pilot’s seat. Yup, I know it’s a tight squeeze back there.” ITH: INSIDE THE AIRPORT This is Tompkins County Regional Airport, an airport so small those who have traveled through huge airports like Atlanta or Dallas would not believe its size. But people have their own stories, their own reasons for leaving and coming back. Beyond the parking lot and the red brick crosswalk, the Tower peeks out from behind the airport building. Antennas poke straight up to the sky as if trying to get in touch with another galaxy. Inside, a black LCD screen lists a schedule of flights and their statuses. The Newark flight has been delayed. On my right, black dividers separate the lines of people — or lack thereof — between US Airways and Continental. From the ceiling hangs a large army green airplane model with a patriotic red, white and blue tail and stars underneath its wings. People begin forming a line at the previously empty security checkpoint. They put their electronics and bags in gray basins decorated with the ITH decal. “As you come through — lotions, creams, computers — take it out so we can see it. We’re trying to move the line along as quickly as possible.” The hefty security guard points to his eyes dramatically as he says “See,” annoyed that he has to make this announcement. “ALL GATES,” reads the sign above the opening, allowing passengers through this part of the airport and past security. It displays the time around the world: 6:10 Tokyo
1:10 San Fran
4:10 Ithaca
9:10 London
This international signage is most likely unnecessary since the airport can only directly connect to Detroit, Newark, and Philadelphia. A thin woman with blond hair cropped close to her head sporting a purple jacket and black pants walks in and sits on a wooden bench, hunched over her iPhone. Floating next to her are ten balloons of various colors, one of which reads “Welcome Back!” She is waiting just like the apprehensive girl who is rolling her small black suitcase, just like the man in the black suit who keeps looking around the room as he types on his Mac laptop, and just like the young man running his fingers through his short brown hair and jiggling his leg anxiously as he talks on the phone with his father. Waiting, waiting, waiting. “I talked to my daughter on the phone before she left Detroit,” Karen says. “The first thing I’m going to do is give her a hug and say congratulations.” Karen’s daughter, Kyle, is returning from a treatment facility in Nashville, Tennessee where she has been dealing with her anorexia. She was recognized at the graduation ceremony there two days ago. Karen saw Kyle for two days at Christmas, and she looked like she had put on weight. “She seemed joyful, genuinely glad to be home around Christmas and with family. I am cautiously optimistic.”
Karen noticed an “obvious change in [Kyle’s] appearance” during her final year of college, but Kyle denied it. However, when her family came for her graduation they saw “how very drastically she had changed.” She was seeing a psychologist and was “backed into a corner.” She knew it was hard to disguise her problem from her family, and she wanted to fix it. “It will be great to have her home.” Karen’s wrinkles become more pronounced as she smiles. “You must be very proud of her,” I say thoughtfully. “Oh, yes. It will be nice to get to know her again. She has a lot to tell me and I have a lot to tell her. I just want to be there and be an encouragement. I love her to pieces.” A young woman in blue jeans with black-heeled boots and a Burberry scarf wrapped around her neck carries a blue bag and a rolled up blanket out of the gate. “Woo!” Karen jumps up, her smile wide and eyes crinkling with the excitement of a young child. Karen hugs her daughter, who looks thin but not unhealthy. They walk over to get her bags, balloons floating in the air above them. TAUGHANNOCK AVIATION Chelse Shaff looks at the screen above her head that shows the area around Taughannock Aviation and sees an incoming plane appear. “November 123 Alpha Bravo, Citation Excel, is estimated to arrive in approximately 15 minutes, and we have no prior notification of the arrival, so we have no information of what they will need when they are on the ground,” Chelse communicates through the radio in her animated and high-pitched voice. “Copy,” responds Erik Balcome, the Fixed Based Operator Manager, and repeats Chelse’s words verbatim to let her know he received her announcement. While they know most of the time when a plane is landing, there are times when a plane does not give them notice. They could be stopping for anything — to fill up on gas or to even drop off a person on an impromptu vacation trip. “We’re like a glorified gas station or a limo in the sky. No matter what you need, we can get it,” Erik says. Erik converses with his workers about the incoming plane in order to decide who will help out with the landing (“Are you going to handle this flight or should I?”). When he see the plane break through the clouds, the line service technician marshals the plane in with batons (“I’d rather use pom-poms,” Chelse says) so it can land safely. He waves the batons up and down toward the tarmac to show the pilot where it is safe to land and continues to walk and wave them horizontally to show him where to let the plane roll to a stop. Once it is safe to move, Erik and two other men briskly walk over and chock the wheels, putting a small, wide piece of black rubber behind the wheel to make sure the plane doesn’t move. Erik and his crew give the signal — almost a two thumbs up, but instead the two thumbs are turned inwards toward each other — now the pilot knows the rubber is in place. Erik and his crew roll out the red carpet (“It’s royalty”). A picture of a blue airplane with the words “Taughannock Aviation” are printed on it. Erik doesn’t know what to expect because the people flying in could really be anyone. He knows there are no foreign dignitaries or royalty flying in today. Otherwise, Taughannock Aviation would have been
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