So last Friday, I'm doin my usual thing here at work, towing airplanes from the concourse to the hangar, but this time, it's 106 degrees outside. My supervisor takes me to the tug, and shows me how well the air conditioning is working, so I hop in, and about halfway to the concourse, the stupid thing starts blowing warm air...I figure I can hang, and continue to the gate to hook up to a 737. Can't get any support from the ramp people, or a jetway driver to move the jetway so I can grab the plane, so I sit....20 minutes later, I hear the jetway bell ringing, and I commence to grab the nose gear with the tug, and lift her up. Chocks pulled, clearance out of the gate granted, I push the bird out onto the ramp, where again, Im told to hold position. By this time, I'm completely soaked, and ask ramp control to get me moving, as the temp inside the tug is sweltering. 3 to 4 minutes later, I get clearance to hold short of taxiway "F", and contact Atlanta ground. At this point, there's probably 5 or 6 RJ's (regional jets) in front of me, and I know it's gonna be at least another 12 to 15 minutes before I can even call Atlanta for instructions. Finally number one at Ramp 4, I call ground and tell them my intentions.."Tug 32, hold position"....So I did, another 4 or 5 minutes, sweating bullets the whole time. I finally get cleared out of ramp 4, and fall in line behind an endless line of aircraft awaiting takeoff clearance. Probably 25 to 30 planes in all. Luckily, they allow me to bypass via taxiway "E", and Im told to hold short runway 26 left at Charlie, and to monitor tower frequency. Now this lady is EFFICIENT...She's clearing aircraft for takeoff before the previous aircraft has even rotated, and the monotony of her voice, the heat, and the fact that I could'nt keep my eyes open, finally got to me. The next thing I knew, some guy was yelling, at the top of his lungs, "HEY...WAKE UP!!!" I looked around, and the whole north side of the airport was stopped. "Are you alright?", and Im like, uh, I don't think so...Do you have any water?"....Yeah, Yeah, get out, get in the truck (Airport Operations vehicle). I was totally saturated, and the headache I had was excruciating. "Call Echo, I need an amubulance out here" he said over his radio, and before I knew it, I was strapped in a stretcher being loaded into an airport ambulance with some crazy lady trying to stick a needle in my arm. A co-worker took my place in the tug, and proceded across both north runways with the airplane, and I was rushed to Atlanta medical center thru rush hour traffic, where I got ANOTHER bag of fluids (4 in all), then released to go home.
Nothing really has changed here, with the exception of a cooler full of Gatorade in the hangar. All 3 tugs are still questionable as far as air conditioning. I just make sure I drink ALOT of water now, and stick my head out the window alot.....
