Driving a Bus onto an Airfield and Shuttling Around Iowa City

My first overnight trip offered me the chance to pick-up my passengers airside from their plane! Afterwards, it was shuttling them around Iowa City, IA before deadheading back home to Urbana, IL.

[@JWangvlogs]

So bad ass! Nice shots. Wish I had your camera skills

[@stevepackard8542]

What's this? Another driver has their own channel?

[@jasperli]

@@stevepackard8542 this is his boss.

[@JWangvlogs]

I know I've already commented already... but I must point out that your movements and the way you perform while operating your coach is very indicative that you play the piano or Violin, Maybe both ;). There is a certain fluidity in the way you orchestrate your self behind the wheel of a motorcoach.

[@alblua]

Hahaha, I try to keep it smooth in every movement :)

[@mtk52983]

Great video! I like the subtle pitch to get assigned 211 in the future.

[@alblua]

Haha we have another 2024 MCI J4500 but it was on a different trip that weekend 😅

[@mls515]

Nice flashback for me. I went to U of Iowa from ‘98-‘02. When you were on US-6 by the river I used to live in the dormitory right there. The Cambus transit system was my first bus driving job, mostly Gillig Phantoms at the time. The Iowa River Landing area wasn’t there when I left. It used to be all industrial with a strip club called ‘Dolls’. You can fly! Find your local flight school at a small airport and ask about an introductory flight lesson.

[@alblua]

Wow, that's a cool flashback memory!

[@BusDriverLife]

This was extremely enjoyable!

[@alblua]

Glad you enjoyed! 😊

[@onward_adventures]

2:28 Glad they spelled your name right on the key card envelope. Mine was always spelled right too when I was driving bus.

[@alblua]

Hahaha 🤣🤣

[@ESPSJ]

Great video buddy. That was a really nice hotel too.

[@alblua]

Thanks! I slept very well that night 😴

[@ScottKessler-rw7fj]

Welcome to Iowa City/Coralville! The round about capitol! Lol!

[@alblua]

Haha, I could tell from this visit!

[@rmui4305]

This is super cool! One of the most exciting opportunities of the job. One of the highlights of my driving is driving a congressional group from the Capitol to Andrews AFB as they were flying out to Harry Reid’s funeral. After dropping them at the door of their 737-BBJ (C-40B?) thing, I got to drive alongside AF2 taxiing (the 757), with VP onboard. I hope secret service does not hound me for this comment. We will sit back and see lol

[@alblua]

Wow! Now THAT is pretty cool! The avgeek in me would be freaking out 🤣

[@radudeATL]

Awesome video!

[@football11248]

The 737-300 was orderd by Southwest Airline in 1996 before it went to IAero Airways in 2019.

[@Newberntrains]

i have the skin stamping from the first 300 i got to ride on :) N665WN

[@berylwhite2983]

Very nice video. It was well thought out and well shot. You do an excellent job of reversing and parallel park. I do have to ask you if they treat you like the mass transit buses in New York mind you that's been years ago and I see it happening everyday now. Everything is parked in our parking space except the bus. They seem to think we either float or where the size of a Volkswagen beetle 🐞. We just don't fit in those kind of spaces. I was very very proud of you when you checked your crosswalk when you were backing. I'm sorry I didn't get to this video until now I just found it. Take good care of yourself Albert

[@alblua]

Thanks! Air horn takes care of a lot of people in our space in downtown Chicago for me 👍

[@berylwhite2983]

@@alblua I used to that a lot too. But I seen a lot of bird in my day. Taxi cabs and other vehicles made it very hard to stay on your bus stop schedule! And when it's extremely cold and extremely hot it made for some very cranky customers.

[@tdadp]

I love escorting you guys at the airport on the taxiways just don’t drive over 15 mph .

[@alblua]

Fun experience! Slow is king on the airfield ✈️

[@tdadp]

@@alblua when on airside I can’t even drive my vehicle 15 miles an hour. We have a governor switch.

[@alblua]

I've been on a handful of airfield tours (outside of work) and indeed most vehicles seem to top out pretty quick

[@moose9784]

I figured it out! If you need it, they carry it.

[@alblua]

Sorry, not sure what this means

[@moose9784]

@@alblua The World's Largest Truck Stop has everything a driver might need.

[@alblua]

Makes sense now!

[@bigpapa71]

Great visuals but you committed the Cardinal Sin of CDL driving by turning your hand upside down and grabbing underneath the top of the wheel. If you have to emergency countersteer further than back to top, you're screwed. Really cool you got to go onto an airfield....TWICE!!!

[@alblua]

Going on the airfield is definitely a unique opportunity

[@gundamF9]

question i was wondering if MCI bus are better than prevost?? i dunno why i always prevered MCI design over prevost ones.. =o

[@alblua]

Hard to make a conclusive statement. Prevost makes a really good motorcoach (H3-45), but they're more expensive and harder to purchase than MCI J4500s. Our H3-45's tend to being more reliable than our J4500's as well over time (lower cost per mile as they get older). From a technician's perspective, I'm told the H3-45's are also better to work on. But from a driver's perspective, the majority of our fleet is J4500, it's a very familiar design, and has a well thought-out dashboard on the new generation. The H3-45's do have much better acceleration over the J4500's and are great for hilly terrain.

[@gundamF9]

wow thanks alot for all these information ! :)@@alblua

[@LifeOnCoach]

✌🏾

[@jaceandjudy]

what’s cooler, buses or planes? :0

[@alblua]

✈️ Planes hahaha 🤣

[@davorlekenik9563]

In U.S. the buses have only one door ??

[@alblua]

One front door, that's correct! The only ones with a second rear door I can think of is the MCI D45 CRT LE (middle accessible vestibule) and double deckers like the VanHool TDX25

[@stevepackard8542]

Not bad- but the other guy plays music when the bus is in motion.

[@alblua]

I'm not the other guy, enjoy the ambient sounds of driving :)

[@stevepackard8542]

@@alblua I know you're not the other guy- just a suggestion. Thanks to the other guy, I have good music added on my Spotify!

[@rkjw]

why dont you talk during videos?

[@alblua]

Just my style, I put captions and let the viewer enjoy the ambient sound

[@justsayin3784]

@@alblua Ya, but the viewer can’t see what’s going on in the video (the whole purpose of KZbin) when they’re having to focus on reading the captions. Same reason I won’t watch movies with subtitles…you miss the entire movie.