THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504040333
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JACK DORSEY
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
This is for those weary travelers who pass through the doors of the Navy Air Terminal at Norfolk Naval Air Station between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and can't get a cup of coffee.
Those are the hours the restaurant there is closed. All that's available are sodas and juice from machines. No coffee, tea or hot chocolate here.
Folks like Navy P-3 Orion crew member Mike ``Papa'' Wilson of Brunswick, Maine, who found himself living at the terminal at the far end of the base for a couple of days, said the lack of a warm beverage irked him most. There's never a cold coffee pot in Maine.
I met him at the Norfolk terminal at 2:30 a.m. early last month while waiting for a 4:30 flight to places north.
Wilson's airplane had broken. He had been trying since the day before to get a hop back home, but the flights kept getting canceled. He took the shuttle bus to a barracks eight miles on the other side of the airfield for a night's sleep.
When he was told to report back a second time, he couldn't find a bus. He had to call a taxi.
``It cost me $7.90,'' he said, for the long ride around the airfield.
Unfortunately, that flight was canceled too. He was told to wait for another. Rather than pay $7.90 again for a taxi, Wilson remained at the terminal the rest of the night.
This is where 3,000 tons of cargo and 12,000 passengers a month take flight.
Now, the place is fairly well appointed: highly polished blue tile floors, new blue upholstered chairs, showers for the traveler, a baby nursery, television sets and the restaurant.
``The restaurant closed at 10 last night,'' Wilson said at 2:30 in the morning. ``And there's no coffee. There's no cigarette machine here either.''
What would be nice, Wilson said, would be for the shuttle bus to run all night or for a motel to be built next to the terminal, or for the restaurant's hours to be more flexible, or at the very least for a coffee pot to be brewing.
As Wilson was talking, a Navy commander started taking notes. He, too, was thirsty for a cup of coffee. But more than that, he was a bit irritated that a sailor had to spend that amount of nonquality time at an airport, without coffee, even cigarettes.
``I'll definitely pass this along,'' said the commander. And he has.
There is not enough business in the wee hours of the night to justify keeping the restaurant open. And, while there is a duty driver available to shuttle people, he hangs around only until the last scheduled flight arrives.
The building does not operate on a 24-hour basis, according to Lt. Cmdr. Tom Wiechelt, who runs the terminal. In fact, at closing time, the building is locked up.
But at times, he said, people do get stuck there all night long, after the shuttle buses stop and the restaurant closes.
``Occasionally it does happen and unfortunately we don't have the facilities,'' he said.
OK. Things happen. So why not get a well-stocked coffee machine out there? One that holds hot chocolate and tea, too.
And, knowing how fat some of the Navy's morale, welfare and recreation funds are on most bases, what's wrong with investing in some of those lounge chairs that we see in most international airports?
That's taking care of people. by CNB