Pittsburgh Airport Auction Items Include Fire Truck, Lava Lamp

MOON TOWNSHIP, PA — After a year's hiatus due to the pandemic, Allegheny County Airport Authority's popular annual auction is going live again. The event takes place on Oct. 23, with bidding on a diverse selection of items ranging from small pieces of jewelry to large abandoned vehicles.

You can bid on an elf on the shelf, a lava lamp, portable toilet seat, rice cooker or designer dress shoes. If those items don't appeal to you, there's nearly 1,000 pieces of the aforementioned jewelry, nine abandoned vehicles, more than 500 electronic items, runway brooms, plows and a fire truck.

“We are excited to be returning to an in-person event,” said Dawn Bailey, authority manager of landside and terminal operations. “We have two years worth of left-behind items for the public due to a scaled-down, online-only event last year.”

The auction, located at the Heavy Equipment Building on Cargo Road, will start at 10 a.m. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. There will be a 15 percent buyer’s premium with five percent waived for cash or check purchase. Cash, check, and credit cards will be accepted. In addition to the live bids, items can be bid via auctioneer Joe R. Pyle’s website.

Vehicles will need to be towed from the auction site unless purchased by a dealer with appropriate plates. Registration will be conducted at the auction. All items purchased must be removed within seven days.

Masks will be required as well as social distancing. Two food trucks, Divine Swine and Steel City Fries, will be serving breakfast and lunch food.

Proceeds from items sold that are not authority owned go to the ACAA Charitable Foundation, which helps support the airport’s military lounge, Art in the Airport program, aviation scholarships and workforce development.

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