How MDT Brings People Together - #MDT324

Over the past few months, those of you following the MDT's Twitter stream may have seen the hashtag #MDT324 in use.  What appears to be a nonsensical collection of letters and numbers actually represented an event planned to bring several of our more active twitter followers to MDT for an opportunity to meet one another in person.  In total 5 "tweeps" flew or drove in from across the country for an evening "tweetup" with the airport tweeter.  Each tweep has graciously agreed to share their experience in a wrap up blog series. 

Mike Morgan is our first wrap up post today. Enjoy and maybe we'll see you at #MDT324 2012!

When you travel to an airport, you don't think, "Yes, I'll be back here next year, at this exact time." But if you were one of the lucky few who attended #MDT324 at Harrisburg International Airport, that was your thought.

On March 24th, 2011, Myself, @heyhusband (my wife Laura), @juliewillfly, @chris_stoltz, and @travlinsalesgal (Amanda) were hosted by Stephanie Gehman, Marketing Manager at Harrisburg International Airport, and her husband, Hans, for an evening of airports, airplanes, good food, and great friends.

We journeyed from all across the country. Laura and I traveled from Oklahoma City. Julie rode the Greyhound bus from Sacramento. Chris flew from Fort Lauderdale, and Amanda flew in from Omaha. We all had one thing in common, we love travel. We met at the airport at 5 o'clock to begin our exciting evening.

Checking out the baggage system.

Stephanie took us on a tour of the airport. It started with a look at the baggage system. Having seen the system before, it was neat to watch others see it for the first time. If you haven't read my review of MDT (view it at http://bit.ly/HIAReview), you may not know about the baggage system. The system was designed to take a lot of hand work out of baggage handling. As a bag travels down conveyors, it is scanned and shipped to the correct airline. It's an amazing system, and was the first of its kind. You'll now find these systems in airports all around the world.


@JulieWillFly on the MDT ramp

After that Stephanie guided us to ramp where we got to watch a few arrivals and departures. It was a unique experience for many. Amanda and Julie were both very excited to just be wondering around on the ramp. I realize that for some people, like my wife, being on the ramp is boring, but for true #avgeeks, the ramp is a place of magic. I mean, where else can you just walk right up to a 747? Please note that there were no 747's on the ramp at MDT, but any ramp is still magical.

To finish up, Stephanie showed us the terminal, and then it was off to eat!

The magic of any tweetup really happens when everyone is sitting around a dinner table. Our conversation started with banter about which airline was best, or why Boeing really is better than Airbus (please note, this is the author's opinion, not MDT's). But it didn't take long before we all began to chat about our histories, and our lives. We found that we have a lot more in common that just being #avgeek's. This is the kind of connection that can't be found on Twitter or Facebook. This is real life.

As the evening ended, we parted ways. Julie headed on to the Sun-N-Fun fly-in. Laura and I headed to Erie. Amanda went to visit a friend. Chris went stayed in Harrisburg to spend some time with his family. And Stephanie and Hans headed home.



Look a plane!

 The relationships I had online became real. And it's only because Harrisburg International Airport could bring us together. I want to thank Stephanie and the entire airport for allowing us to come visit. And I want you all to know that Julie, Chris, Amanda, Stephanie, and Hans are amazing people to know. And, of course, a special thanks to my wife for joining us. She is a special person for putting up with my love for airplanes.


We hope to have #MDT324 become a yearly event, and I want to invite you to join us next year! This is a great opportunity to meet people from around the country who love the aviation industry as much as you!