Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 18/02) - High above the airport's runway, the aurora is dancing a brilliant show.

But the lights go mostly unnoticed as Willie Elder, Wayne LeBlanc and Gilbert Puech stand chatting around an empty baggage conveyor, waiting for a late-arriving Edmonton flight.

The three are the Atco Frontec night crew. They are in charge of unloading and grooming the plane when it lands. They're at the airport every night but Saturday.

Tonight, Puech is discussing his last name. It's French, he says with great emphasis, not Quebecois. Puech drives a truck for RTL Robinson Enterprises Ltd. during the day. He has worked his night job for about a year.

Like most of Atco Frontec's night workers, he does it mainly for the benefits: return tickets to Edmonton for well under $100.

Looking through the window that peers over the tarmac, a spot of light approaches the airport like a rocket-powered firefly. Puech grabs his two red-coned flashlights and runs outside to guide the landing aircraft.

Elder and LeBlanc follow, driving a baggage mule and a couple of carts. As the pilots cut the plane's engines, they begin offloading suitcases and boxes.

Elder, who has 20 per cent ownership of the Black Knight Pub, is doing this job after spending days at home taking care of his daughter.

But, he said, "It's the flight benefits that really got me into it."

LeBlanc works at BHP Diamonds, and comes to the airport on his weeks off. It's also a chance to be around aircraft again. Thirty years ago he was an aircraft mechanic with the U.S. Air Force.

"It's really good to be back," he said.

Puech has grabbed an aluminum ladder and a set of protective padded yellow circles, which he inserts into the jet intakes and outlets.

Elder and LeBlanc move to the rear compartment, sorting freight from baggage. Then the grooming begins. Elder grabs a cleaning crate and wipes each seat, food trays, collects garbage, vacuums the floor and replaces missing safety guides. He picks up forgotten books and items of clothing. They're kept for a few days before being thrown out. Expensive items -- they found a laptop once -- are reported to Canadian North, which attempts to track down their owner.

There are no vomit spills tonight -- the guys duke out who has to clean those up based on seniority and who did it last time.

When the airplane is clean Elder and LeBlanc head back to the cargo office and talk for a while.

They drive off, the Northern Lights still dominating the sky. Back at the airport, the plane they cleaned is towed and parked, waiting to take to the skies again early the next morning.