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Tuesday, September 17, 2002

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

There's a dino debut at Pittsburgh International Airport on Thursday, but it won't be an unveiling.

Officials decided that this Tyrannosaurus rex is too much to cover up.

"He's a little big and awkward," quipped Allegheny County Airport Authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny. "I think we're going to cut a ribbon in front of him."

The near-life-size plaster cast of the dinosaur skeleton, which for several years graced the Carriage Drive entrance of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Oakland, is to be re-erected at the airport tomorrow.

It will be in the airside terminal, at the base of the escalators travelers take on their way to and from the people-mover trains.

As Jenny put it, "It'll catch every Pittsburgh visitor."

Which is the point, as Carnegie officials hope the skeleton draws visitors and attention to its world-class dinosaur collection.

New security rules mean you'll need to be a ticketed passenger to see this T. rex. In fact, Jenny had to work out special arrangements so the media can attend the official ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday.

This T. rex skeleton is a Museum of the Rockies specimen cast that the Carnegie Museum bought in 1997 and erected in the entrance hall -- not standing erect like its fossil T. rex, but in the more scientifically up-to-date horizontal and tail-up stance.

In August, the skeleton was taken apart and shipped for cleaning to its Toronto maker, Research Casting International.

Carnegie spokesman Dan Lagiovane said the 15-foot-high, 30-foot-long T. rex also can represent the region's other scientific and cultural charms. "It's a great symbol for us and for Pittsburgh."