Another success Project Success meeting – this time, our young men had a firsthand opportunity to gain a bit of information about the air transportation business.
Thanks to 100 Member Ramone Crowe (Executive for the FAA) we had an opportunity to visit Detroit Metro Airport. He arranged a very special tour for our group – that was handled by Delta Airlines.
It started the moment we got off of the bus – our young men, parents and members that attended were greeted and given VIP badges (green badges) that allowed us access to the airport. We went through security – and because of the VIP pass, we had a private security line. From there, we were divided into two groups.
The different groups walked down the hallway and before we knew it, we were boarding a new Delta wide body jet. This plane was scheduled to go to Tokyo later that day. Our young men had an opportunity to learn what it takes to prepare a plane for passengers – and to visit the cockpit. Delta has just over 80,000 employees (only 14,000 are pilots) –so if you don’t want to be a pilot, there are some many more/different opportunities. We also shared the workers’ income.
Next, we went to the Delta control tower. Controllers there handle all of the planes (Delta) on the ground and within a 50 miles’ radius of the airport. They are also in touch with the next control tower for other airlines. In the operations department, staff there handle everything – including passenger/customer service, airplane fuel, food services, gate agent, pilots and flight attendants – everything that is need to safely get passengers to our destination.
Once done, we all headed over to Bob Evans for lunch. What a great day –and we want to thank Ramone Crowe and Delta for allowing us this opportunity.
