As you can see by the steadily growing number of comments submitted to the entry below this one, our Where in the World is the Farthest Visitor? contest has generated a quite a stir.  People have submitted comments from some pretty far-away places — and that’s great!  However, if you’re an Airport Authority employee or current intern who hasn’t contacted an outside friend or family member yet, you still have a good chance of winning a $10 Jamba Juice gift card.

That’s because most of the comments submitted so far are from friends of the Ambassabloggers themselves — Ryan, Dennise, Sjohnna Mary & Ed — and they are not eligible to receive a prize in this contest.  (That would be kind of like insider trading.)   So that means YOU, Airport Authority employee/current intern, still have a good chance to win!

All you need to do is tell a friend or family member about the Ambassasblog and ask them to submit a comment to the entry below this one by 11:59 p.m. Monday, July 20.  If your friend/family member is from farther away than anyone else’s  (not including those of the Ambassabloggers), then you win.  Also, just by participating, your name goes into a drawing for a chance to win another $10 Jamba Juice card.

Read the entry below for full rules of the contest — and good luck!

Listen up, SDCRAA employees and current interns:  It’s time for the Where in the World is the Farthest Visitor Contest!  If you were at the SANformation Meeting last Friday, you know how this works!  For those of you who were not, here goes …

1. E-mail all your friends, family and everyone else you know in other states and countries and have them check out the Ambassablog!
2. Tell them they can help you win a prize if they visit the Ambassablog by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, July 27.  They then need to do the following:

• Read this entry and submit a comment to it by clicking the Comment link at the bottom of this entry.
• In their comment, your friend/s must include your (the Airport Authority employee’s or intern’s) first name only, along with the name of your department , as well as the city/state/country from where they are responding.

The goal is to get at least one visitor from each state — and from as many countries as possible — to show on the Ambassablog’s Geo Visitors map (viewable by clicking on the Geo Visitors box in the upper left column of the blog).  In case you couldn’t tell, the Geo Visitors map is Ambasablogger Dennise’s favorite part of our blog.

There are two $10 Jamba Juice cards that will be awarded to lucky Airport Authority employees, as follows:

• The employee who gets his or her name mentioned in the comments section by a friend who is the farthest point from San Diego International Airport — that employee will get a Jamba Juice card.
• All other employee names submitted by friends will be put into a hat — and 0ne of those names will be drawn randomly to receive a Jamba Juice card.

(Contest prize eligibility is only open to SDCRAA employees and current interns, excluding members of the Ambassablog team.)

We’ll announce the winners here by the end of the July.  (If your friends want to include in their comments what they like the most about our blog and any ideas for future posts, that would be really cool.)

Most importantly, have fun!  And thanks for participating in the Ambassablog’s Where in the World is the Farthest Visitor Contest.

Yours truly jamming to the latest tunes at I-Tech, located post-security, Terminal 2 East, at San Diego International Airport.

Once upon a time, San Diego was just a sleepy surf town with military bases, overshadowed by the entertainment metropolis of Los Angeles to the north.  But San Diego has long since matured to earn its own “place in the sun” as a destination in its own right.

Today, San Diego’s economy is bolstered by a host of high-tech industries such as bioscience, telecommunications, software development and electronics manufacturing.  And so much of that economy is fueled by the ’skyway port‘ in America’s Finest City, San Diego International Airport.

Appropriately enough, SDIA is on the cutting edge when it comes to being wired for the tech-savvy set.  Two years ago, SDIA was among the first large airports to offer free wi-fi service available to all “cyber-flyers.”  In 2009, Forbes magazine ranked San Diego number 12 overall among the nation’s Most Wired Cities — but number two for households with high-speed Internet connections.  So locals and visitors alike don’t have to forgo broadband while at the airport, either.

And while passengers are checking their e-mail or enjoying Web sites (like this one) at SDIA, they can sit in comfort while enjoying at-seat plug-ins and even cup holders at some gates.  And, should a traveler need some gizmos and gadgets to enhance their electronic experience, SDIA even has an I-Tech Wireless retail shop to serve post-security passengers in Terminal 2 East.

So, from many angles, San Diego’s stature as a wired hot-spot is on display at SDIA. Stay tuned, as always, to the Ambassablog for the latest and greatest on wired airport innovations in the making!

“I’m a communications manager based in San Diego. I was also born and raised here. I recently read a story about your Ambassablog on Ragan Communication’s daily PR news. So I checked out the Ambassablog for myself. It’s great! The stories are interesting and the bloggers write very well. Ryan especially seems to be having a lot of fun doing this. Dare I say I’m jealous?! Anyway, it’s great PR initiatives like this that reflect well on San Diego and make us even prouder to live here.”

–  Love Zubiller, San Diego

Moonrise over San Diego International Airport.

Tick tock … tick tock … tick tock. How often do you lay awake in the middle of the night? Counting sheep? Counting airplanes (what?!)?

Well at least one person working at San Diego International Airport has visions of 737’s at night: Garret in the airport’s Airport Noise Mitigation Department:

Garret of the Airport Authority's Airport Noise Mitigation Department points out a monitor used to trace aircraft noise curfew adherence at San Diego Internatiional Airport.

RYAN:  What time of the day does the curfew take effect?

• GARRET:  All passenger aircraft operating at SDIA today are Stage 3.  That means they meet the most stringent noise levels set in Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 36, which cover aircraft noise standards.  For Stage 3 aircraft, there is a departure curfew from 11:30pm to 6:30am.  Arrivals are permitted 24 hours a day.

R:  Are there any exceptions?

• G:  Yes, what we call “life-flights”—when patients or human tissue is being transported, and military flights of necessity. A real-world example is after 9/11, there were doctors flying to New York and Washington, DC, to assist with injuries, and they departed after curfew as a “mercy” flight.

R: How often do the airlines “break” curfew?

• G:  About twice a month airlines break curfew. The aircraft operator may be assessed penalties for breaking curfew, based on a six-month period. The review of violations is done by a Curfew Violation Review Panel, consisting of representatives of the Airport Authority’s’ Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Vice President of Planning and Operations and Vice President of Development. There can be exceptions made to the penalties, such as for local weather concerns, air traffic control issues or mechanical problems with the aircraft.
  

  The Aircraft Noise Monitoring Room at San Diego International Airport.

R: Is the curfew legally enforceable?

G:  Yes, the curfew at SDIA is legally enforceable. Other airports that have legally enforceable noise restrictions are John Wayne (SNA), Washington National (DCA), Long Beach and San Jose (SJC). In 1990 the Airport Noise Capacity Act (ANCA) was passed, which restricts airports’ ability to enact noise ordinances. SDIA’s curfew was grandfathered in under this law.

R: In the post-ANCA period, what airports have tried to put a curfew in place?

• G:  Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (BUR), Los Angeles International (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and Naples, FL (APF) are all going currently through the FAR Part 161 process to try to enact curfews, but none has been successful to date.

R: As a member of the public, how can I learn more about the curfew or other noise issues?

• G:  The best way is to check the airport noise mitigation section of Airport Authority’s website. The Airport Noise Mitigation Department also publishes a periodic  Noise Matters newsletter. And you can always call the Noise Complaint Hotline at 619-400-2799.

R: Garret, what are the two most important points you’d like the public to know about the curfew?

G:  Simple: SDIA has arrivals 24 hours a day, and departures are mostly allowed only from 6:30am to 11:30pm.

And if you live near the airport and those airplanes at night are still giving you grief, make sure to check out Ambassablogger Sjohnna’s Quieter Home Program, as well. Otherwise, sleep tight … and sweet dreams!

There have been some special bird sightings at San Diego International Airport (SDIA) recently — and not the mechanical kind.

Endangered California least terns have been nesting again in the ovals on the airfield, like they do every spring at SDIA.  In fact, the babies have begun to hatch! Check out this photo that Roy in Information Technology took of one of the first baby birds:

Some even more unusual visitors came through the airport earlier this month – penguins!  These cool customers stopped by on June 1 to welcome international travelers from Canada on the inaugural WestJet flight from Calgary.

The penguin ambassadors hail from Sea World, one of San Diego’s top tourist attractions.  More than 250 penguins live right here in San Diego at Sea World’s Penguin Encounter.  These particular fellows are warm-weather Magellanic penguins, a species native to South America.

You just never know who you might see at SDIA!

When you think of a place known for cowboys, you might think of my native state of Texas or perhaps Wyoming.  Even California is known for its ranches, such as Ronald Reagan’s “Western White House.”  But what about Canada?

WestJet's inaugural flight from Calgary to San Diego landing at SDIA today. Thanks to Cynthia in Marketing & Communications for taking this shot.

Yes, even Canada has a Wild West in its prairie provinces.  The largest cowboy event in the world is the annual Calgary Stampede, going strong since 1886.  This 10-day rodeo each July draws more than a million visitors to Canada’s third-largest city and is billed as the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.”

And now, you can get there from San Diego with non-stop service to Calgary — and with a choice of airlines no less!

Both Air Canada and – as of today! – WestJet now offer regular service from San Diego International Airport to “The Heart of the New West,” as Calgary bills itself.  And just in time to make this year’s Calgary Stampede!

But any time of year, this oil-boom town is worth experiencing.  A first-class city once named the cleanest in the world by Forbes magazine, Calgary offers diverse cultural attractions amidst gleaming modern skyscrapers.  Like San Diego, Calgary is served by a light rail system, and the city serves as a gateway to outdoor adventures in the Canadian Rockies.

Here’s a story about the new WestJet service to Calgary, with details on flight times, etc.

So y’all cowboy up on a plane to our neighbor to the north and see what Calgary can do fer ya, pardner!

KIPP students at SDIA

This week, San Diego International Airport played host to a very special group of eighth graders from San Diego’s KIPP: Adelante Preparatory Academy. KIPP: Adelante is a small, college-preparatory public school serving 360 students from southeastern San Diego in grades five through eight. The school is based upon the acclaimed KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) model. KIPP schools share the common mission of preparing educationally underserved students for success in high school, college and the world beyond.

KIPP students arrive at the airport

In all, 70 eighth graders were at the airport for their Golden Ticket Ceremony, where it was announced that they’ll be flying to Washington, DC on Southwest Airlines next week! For the special event, the Airport Authority provided San Diego International Airport baseball caps and luggage tags for the students. Opening remarks were provided by yours truly, as well as by Keith Wilschetz, Director of Airport Planning for the Airport Authority.

After the ceremony, the students were treated to a special presentation by Harbor Police Department K-9 units and a tour of Terminals 1 and 2. They had a look at ticket counters, the concessions program, the NTC Landfill Remediation, TSA security checkpoints and various public art projects at the airport.

'Yours Truly' welcoming the KIPP students to SDIA

The event was organized by LEAD San Diego, KIPP: Adelante, and the Airport Authority’s Airport Planning and Landside Operations Departments. It was a great way to expose these bright students to all of the opportunities and careers available at San Diego International Airport. I’m bursting with pride knowing that these promising students are our future passengers … and maybe future employees, too!

“I recently had to wait in a lengthy security line in San Diego, and this video made the wait a lot more pleasant … not to mention the friendly TSA agent.”

– San Diego International Airport passenger Christina, after viewing the Airport Authority’s cute & cuddly TSA security tips video on the Ambassablog’s YouTube page.