Beale Street Rocks!

Originally Posted by Jay Honeck

As many of you know, I'm in Memphis as I'm typing this.

Well, I'm sorry we missed you here in the sunny south, but I am glad to hear that you enjoyed our local music scene. We're the less-well-known but much better music city in Tennessee. North Mississippi is the birth place of the blues and the blues are the parents of rock. Memphis, being the capital of North Mississippi, is home to most of the shrines to the music and to the men and women who invented it. You can still find the real thing in many Mississippi towns if you go looking.

Next time you're in town you'll have to drop by our club [http://www.memphis-soaring.org]. On weekends it looks as much like an EAA meeting as a gliderport with the rag and vintage planes our members arrive in. You should have no trouble getting in and out of our 3000'x300' grass strip. Twins have done it so I'm sure you'd have no problem.

BTW: Which of our various airports did Atlas stay at while the family was playing?

Glad you enjoyed it. I'll try to get the Cub up to Iowa some day.

V7

BTW: Which of our various airports did Atlas stay at while the family
was playing?

We parked his heinie at Olive Branch (OLV), under the Class Bravo veil
of Memphis International.

It was a bit of a drive to see some of the sights, but MUCH cheaper
than flying into the big airport. (AvGas was over $5 per gallon at
MEM.)

Any idea why the city is called "Olive Branch"? No one at the airport
had a clue.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Any idea why the city is called "Olive Branch"? No one at the airport
had a clue.

From the magic of an internet search, the town was originally named
"Cowpens". They must have given them incentive to change it.

The name was supposedly settled on to commorate the peaceful negotiations
with local first nation bands. It was the name used when the first post
office opened.

Originally Posted by Jay Honeck

We parked his heinie at Olive Branch (OLV), under the Class Bravo veil
of Memphis International.


--
Jay Honeck

Ahh, that is where I started learning to fly. If you enjoyed watching the FedEx rush hour from the ground, then you need to come back and take the tour of the sort hub. The tour actually starts around midnight and, according to several FedEx pilots, is jaw droppingly impressive. They move an inconceivable (channeling Wallace Shawn) number of packages in just a few hours.

V7

Ahh, that is where I started learning to fly. If you enjoyed watching
the FedEx rush hour from the ground, then you need to come back and
take the tour of the sort hub. The tour actually starts around
midnight and, according to several FedEx pilots, is jaw droppingly
impressive. They move an inconceivable (channeling Wallace Shawn)
number of packages in just a few hours.

THAT would be cool.

As an old newspaper guy, I've always been fascinated by the assembly,
sorting and packaging equipment at the newspapers I've worked for and
with. FedEx has taken these concepts to cosmically different levels
than I've ever experienced...

And, of course, they use really cool jets to accomplish their mission,
all landing in one area within a few hours. Amazing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article .com,
Jay Honeck wrote:
Ahh, that is where I started learning to fly. If you enjoyed watching
the FedEx rush hour from the ground, then you need to come back and
take the tour of the sort hub. The tour actually starts around
midnight and, according to several FedEx pilots, is jaw droppingly
impressive. They move an inconceivable (channeling Wallace Shawn)
number of packages in just a few hours.

THAT would be cool.

I got a tour of the Memphis hub during 'peak'. Peak is their term
for the few weeks before Christmas. I was there on December 20.

As an old newspaper guy, I've always been fascinated by the assembly,
sorting and packaging equipment at the newspapers I've worked for and
with. FedEx has taken these concepts to cosmically different levels
than I've ever experienced...

The amount of sorting that goes on is amazing. The main sorting
area is three levels of conveyer belts about twenty belts wide.
The middle layer is perpendicular to the top and bottom layers.
The packages are scanned as they enter one of the conveyers on the
top level, and then the computer figures out where they need to
end up. There are hydraulic hammers along the conveyers to kick
the packages down to the next level as needed so they end up in
the right bin at the end. Make sure you have enough padding, since
your package will be getting multiple hits and drops as it is
sorted. And watch your step as you walk through the hub, since
tugs have the right of way.

And, of course, they use really cool jets to accomplish their mission,
all landing in one area within a few hours. Amazing.

Being up in the FedEx control tower watching the line of jets on
approach was really cool. They have their own control tower in
case anything happens to the FAA one, but it isn't normally staffed.
The animation of the radar plots doesn't do it justice. Looking
up and seeing 30+ planes on approach and knowing they're all FedEx
is cool.

Even the security screening is interesting. While we were waiting
for our contact at the hub, we got to watch lots of employees
showing up for work. Six or seven standing room only bus loads
would show up every few minutes, and as fast as the buses could be
unloaded, the workers were through security. The trick, besides
everyone being really familiar with going through security, was
that they didn't bother with the silly little bins for your keys.
The tables next to the walk through metal detectors had high sides,
and the workers just chucked their keys down the table as they
hustled through the metal detectors and grabbed their keys at the
end. There was a separate line off to the side for bag screening,
and a second metal detector for every three front line ones to take
care of anyone that tripped the first one. Everyone would be
through security by the time the next bus loads showed up. Even
with a high degree of automation, it still takes lots of people to
load the boxes.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/