Flying home, part 2: Study through Window Seat 1D, Alaska Airlines Flight 52: passengers boarding in Fairbanks
Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 2:02PM ;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #1: Many people got off the plane in Fairbanks, but all passengers traveling on to Anchorage were asked to stay on board.
So I did, and then I noticed these two guys through Window Seat 1D.
Thus I began my study.
I am pretty certain that within 45 minutes of when I post, I will begin to receive calls from the most prestigious museums in the world, from places like New York, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Rio De Janeiro, Delhi, Dubai, Adis Abeba, Rome, and Winnemucca.
They will all want to hang this study on their walls. And they won't even have to frame the images, because they're already framed.
"Thank you, Bill," the curators will praise, "for saving us the cost of the frames."
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #2: Alaska Airlines employees remove the trash that accumulated on Flight 52 during the Barrow-Fairbanks segment.
Perhaps the empty bag that once contained the pretzels and nuts that was given to me free of extra charge by Alaska Airlines is in that bag.
If so, then this is a truly historic moment.
If not, then, so what?
Study through Window Seat 1D, #3: One of the two guys from Study #1 returns - the one with the long bill on his cap.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #4: The guy seems to feel slightly self-conscious about his tie - or maybe its cold out there and he is trying to cover a little more of himself with his jacket. Except for the cap, he looks like a pilot.
Maybe that's a pilot's cap and I am just behind the times, and didn't know.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #5: The first of the Fairbanks passengers comes down the chute - and she is mighty cute.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #6: The woman who appears to be her mother guides her along her path. This is what mothers do.
I see another little hand behind her. Who could it belong to?
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #7: Why, it's The Little Boy in Blue! He is well-prepared to take a nap.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #8: The woman who succeeded in boarding with three carry ons.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #9: If the situation had been reversed, had it been me walking down that chute towards the door and this gentleman sitting by seat 1D with a camera in his hands, then he could have taken my picture.
But that's not how it was.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #10: Some people carry their bag into the plane, some people roll them. This lady is one of the rollers.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #11: Not long ago, she was in the cold. Now she is about to enter the warmth of the airplane.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #12: You first. No, you first. No, you've got a rolling bag - you first. No, you - you're tall, and you might bump your head, so please go first!
They were both too late. It was the little girl in Study #5 who entered first.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #13: I thought that she should have brought one for every passenger on the plane and the pilots and stewardesses, too.
I wound up ordering cranberry juice. Even on the short hop from Fairbanks to Anchorage, you can do that in First Class. In coach, you have a choice of water or orange juice.
And to think, I wound up in First Class by chance, with a coach ticket, and got all this extra service that I was undeserving of.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #14: The girl in blue; the man in the green vest. For some reason, I think the man in the green vest likes to hunt ducks. But maybe he doesn't. Maybe he is a vegetarian and only eats tofu, asparagus and lentil beans.
;)
Study through Window Seat 1D, #15: As do all studies, this one must come to an end and so it does, right here.
;)
Yet, when one study ends, a new one can begin. Right after I took the final picture of the previous study, a couple, who looked to be in love, entered the plane. The woman sat down beside me, in Seat 1C, where I had been originally. The man sat down in Seat 1A, by the window on the other side of the aisle.
This did not seem right, so I offered to trade places with the man.
Once I took his seat, I lost the view of passengers exiting the chute to board the plane.
After all the Fairbanks passengers had boarded, this scene appeared before me:
Study from Alaska Airlines Flight 52, Seat 1A: Stewardess on the Other Side, After the Door Has Been Closed
;)
Rex picked me up in my car, then he drove me to the driveway of his basement apartment and we sat in the driveway and talked for quite awhile.
Above, in Melanie's house, the lights were on even though it was after midnight. So I went up and visited Melanie and Charlie.
Then I drove home, got to bed about 3:00 AM, took a few hours sleep and then had breakfast at Family Restaurant.
As I waited for my food, this girl walked by my window. At the moment I took this picture, she is looked straight into my eyes, but the camera was out in front of me a ways.
I wonder what she thought of me?
I probably looked old and frightening.
;)
This fellow must have been thinking about something happy.
Now I will post this and then drive to Anchorage to see my family members there.
My next post will include a Kalib/new-baby-in-waiting update.
Reader Comments (9)
Ummmm, you might want to retitle the images and this article. 1D is not a window seat & certainly would not be on the left side of the plane 1A would be the window seat.
The series of boarding passengers was really neat.
Great photos Bill...and commentary. I like how you take on life: with a Kodak and your inner thoughts. Thanks.
Bill, I am very happy to see how often the new camera is beating the big camera's in the contest to take the most recent pictures! They are all fun pictures!
great pictures and studies :)
You have fun where ever you go. I like that about you.
Study well done, no matter what seat you were in......Now that you're on stand-by for the arrival of the newest Hess crew member, don't misplace that camera!
Frequent Flyer - I too am a frequent flyer and I know what you say is correct and, in fact, originally had "1A" in the title, but before I posted changed it to "1D." This is because my assignment was in the seat next to it, and that was 1C. So I got confused, wondering how you could go A,C, not A,B and my exhausted brain just decided that someone, up here in First Class, where I never fly, they just reversed the order.
Now it occurs to me that the wide divider between the window and aisle seat must carry the desgination, "1B," even though it is not a seat at all. Oh, well. I made the error and I will let it go down in history as such. This will provide an interesting footnote on the legend for all the prestigious museums that this study will hang in. They did not start calling as soon as I predicted they would - in fact, so far, not one museum has called. But its the weekend. What do you expect on weekends?
CGinWI - Glad you enjoyed it.
Aview - Thanks. I enjoy it.
Charlie - One day, I want never to have to use those big cameras again.
twain - thanks!
Debby - That's pretty true, actually. Even when I am miserable, I have fun.
MGSoCal - You can be sure - my cameras are handy - big ones and little one.
I coiuld give you a lenghty disciussion rgearding seat identification, if you like. Suffice it to say for now that continuity with respect to safety/security (even before 9/11) are prime.
Nice project, btw.