Aer O Toaster

Submitted by Markydoodle January 22nd, 2011
Certifikitsch Winner

I was talking to fellow AWMOK contributor Michael Ely online this week, and he asked me if I ever get tired of traveling, which I do practically every week for work.  I told him of course, so I just stay home for a few days, then I’m always ready to go again.  This week I was in GEG.  That’s the airport code for Spokane, Washington.  Then I flew to SLC.  That one’s easy.  Here’s a flying toaster in GEG that caught my eye.  It’s modeled after a 1930’s toaster, and a 1930’s airplane.

Sorry it’s a little fuzzy, so here’s a better picture I found online.  The wingspan is about 7 feet, and I would guess the length of the fusilage is about the same.  It has neon outlines of toast, and the prop is neon, and appears to be spinning.  Some airport codes make sense, like DEN (Denver,) and SEA (Seattle.)  Many of them don’t seem to make sense, like GEG.  Do you have any that you think are strange or don’t make sense?

4 Responses to “Aer O Toaster”

  1. Allee Willis

    This is a great kind of art gig to get. Very arts and craftsy, large-scale and in public view. If it were me I would have found an actual 30s industrial toaster and made all of the airplane appendages out of actual found objects. But I still like the fact that airports are hanging these kind of things in the air to make flying seem like a fun experience, which it has so long ceased to be.

    I don’t travel enough to know many airport abbreviations. For me it’s pretty much LAX, DTW and JFK, the last of which may be completely incorrect. Here’s all you could want to know about the subject: http://www.skygod.com/asstd/abc.html

  2. Mark Milligan

    I love that url. My favorite part of it is this:

    “A airport that has worked hard to change its given code is Sioux City’s Sioux Gateway Airport—SUX. Mayor Craig Berenstein described the SUX code as an “embarrassment”. City leaders petitioned the FAA to change the code in 1998 and again in 2002. At one point the FAA offered the city five alternatives—GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY—but airport trustees didn’t like any of them enough to change. In 2007 the airport made the best of their sucky cipher and started promoting the airport with the slogan “FLY SUX.””

    • k2dtw

      LOL…so funny.. good for Sioux City… FLY SUX!!…
      GEG is hard to remember.. I love the airplane…it’s huge!!!…
      I’ve always been partial to “AZO”…Kalamazoo, Mi
      How do you get to BWI???…You go to IAD and make a left…smile