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John_Cillis

Strange terminal shuttles at Washington Dulles

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I have been wondering for a while what is the origin of the terminal shuttles of Washington Dulles? They have even propellers, so it looks like they have parts from US army marine vehicles. And what is the meaning of the tall fins on the roof?Does anyone have seen any add-on which would bring these strange shuttles to FS2002?cubase

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Guest BrianC

I found this on the Dulles web site (http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/history.htm). I always assumed that the propeller and tail fin were simply for humor, and still assume that.The Mobile LoungesThe concept that made the new airport outstanding and unique from the passenger's view in 1962 was the specially designed mobile lounge, used to transport the passengers between the terminal building and the aircraft parked on a jet ramp

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I don't remember seeing the propellors, but the fins on the top, I figured, housed supports running through the middle of the bus. The passenger cabins of those with the "fins" can move up and down (I suppose to accommodate aircraft of varying heights), and so the supporting poles on which the cabins climb end up in the "fins" when the cabin is at its low point.Not sure if I described that very well. Could be wrong about it too :) Dulles is one gongshow airport at the moment. I bet it'll be much nicer when the renovations are done.Greghttp://www3.sympatico.ca/gregory.moffatt/Bell_Dusk.jpg

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I hate those shuttles! They have been around since Dulles opened. It use to be that Dulles only did long haul flights and everyone was put aboard a shuttle directly to the aircraft. It wasn't so bad when you were leaving on a long flight but after sitting on a long flight to Dulles, then having to board everybody on one/two or more of those shuttles was a pain. You then stood or sat for the ride to the main terminal, where the Nation's worst baggage area existed.Imagine four Heavies circling Dulles due to thunderstorms, then landing one right after the other. What a zoo!!!When Dulles started short hauls, they expanded the Crew Terminals Mid-Field with Gates. If you departed Mid-Field, you ride a shuttle to the Mid-Field terminals. They would leave about every 10-15minutes.I don't know about propellers but the camel humps are the hydraulic rams to raise/lower the shuttles, either to the aircraft door or the Main/Mid-Field terminal embarking areas.I also had a two hour drive to Southern Maryland after I finally got my luggage. It would probably be a three hour drive with all the traffic on the Beltway now (plus having to watch out for snippers in white vans)!

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I used to fly in and out of Dulles often, as I worked for a firm in Gaithersburg but lived in California. Made for a long commute. Oddly enough, my last flight on a 747 was between Dulles and SFO back in '94. But my most interesting flight was seven years' earlier. Being a militant non-smoker, I was sitting in the departure lounge at Dulles one day back in '87 (again enroute to SFO), waiting for the mobile lounge to take me to a waiting 767. My "militant non-smoker" nose caught a whiff of cigar smoke, and sure enough, some dude in the seat next to me had lit up, despite the non-smoking signs. I had the foul language on the tip of my tongue as I turned to face the suspect "Cancerman".... Then I found myself speechless when it turned out to be one of the world's most famous cigar smokers, Danny Thomas. What did I do? I played it cool, browsed through a book, and savored the cigar smoke and listened to some interesting talk between Danny and his agent, before my nose was mercifully relieved by Danny's being whisked away on his mobile lounge for his LAX bound flight.Moral of the story....look, before acting out the part of militant non-smoker in an airport lounge :)

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