IPad (10)
Well-Known Member
I'm not really sure where to start with this, so I guess I'll start on the first cool thing that happened last week. On Wednesday I flew the company's Twin Comanche down to Daytona to get the autopilot fixed. The weather going down was horrible. As soon as I got out of the airplane, I looked up and saw the Space Shuttle flying over the house! I then saw two little white specs falling away from it (the boosters seperating). I flew home the next day and was treated to more crappy weather.
On Friday morning I went to the airport early and did my SIC check out in "Panchito" a North American B-25. I have never felt so behind an airplane! The workload is amazingly high, I will do a full PIREP on that if people would like me too. We then loaded all the bags of our crew of six, and launched for the airshow in Dayton, OH.
The weather enroute was horrible, but we broke through the line around Charlestown, WV and were treated to mostly good weather for the remainder of the flight. Once on the ground in Dayton, we took on 200 gallons of 100LL and 10 gallons of oil. We did three PR rides on behalf of the Disabled American Veterns (our sponsor). One of our passengers was a crew chief on the B-25 in WWII.
The second my foot hit the ground after our last ride a cold beer was handed to me (which of course I could not drink because of my age
). We were driven to a party for the air show performers. As soon as I walked in I spotted three Thunder Birds sitting at a table. I gladly took one of the empty seats and started having a great time with them. Hooter's girls were on staff to serve unlimitated free beer (which again, I certainly did not drink) and wings. During the party, the F-18 and A-10 demo team were practicing for the show, so we had an awesome view the entire time.
The next day it as time for work. We were ramped checked at 8am and we had everything in order. We were on standby to fly in the show, but we did not end up performing. I spent the day talking to people about the airplane and met a lot of veterns. Their stories are nothing short of amazing. I ended up signing around 200 autographs during the weekend, and I had to try not to laugh everytime I did! Little kids were running up to me as I walked around asking for my autograph and if they could have their picture taken with me. If only they knew how little I have done with my life, maybe they'd realize how little I deserve their attention.
That afternoon I went to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Musuem and was absolutely amazed. It makes the Smithsonian look pathetic. If there was an important aircraft in history, Wright Pat has it.
As I was walking through the musuem, the curator of the musuem comes walking up to me and asked me if I was a pilot on Panchito (I did not have time to change out of my flight suit before coming). I said that I had just started flying it, and he asked me to wait where I was for a minute. When he came back he was holding a book. He said he wanted every aircrew that came through to sign the page in that corresponds to their respective airplane.
When he opened to the B-25 page, the first name I saw was Jimmy Doolittle. He also had about 20 of the Doolittle Raiders sign the page. On the B-29 page was Paul Tibbets' signature, and the signatures of the entire crew of both the Enola Gay and Boxcar; the two B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs. He asked me to sign the B-25 page. I refused, saying I only had 5 hours in the plane and it would be rediculous to have my signature anywhere near the signatures of men like Doolittle, Tibbets, Hoover, ect. But he kept pushing me to sign it, so I did.
The next day was very similar to the previous day. The stories of many of the veterns made me tear up. One little old man that came walking up had two medals. I reconized the Purple Heart, but could not place the second medal. It was a POW Medal from his service as an SBD Pilot in the Pacific Theater during WWII. He told me stories of his time in the POW camp and of the beatings he recieved.
The flight home was beautiful and gave me time to reflect on the weekend. It is amazing the amount our veterns have sacrificed for us, yet the amount of gratitude they recieve is pathetic. I cannot believe how fortunate I am to be apart of something like this. It has also peaked my interest in military flying, and I plan on starting the application process for a C-5 slot at Dover AFB this week. There will be many photos coming in the photo section, I just wanted to share a little bit from this weekend. I am sure I left out quite a bit, but I'm still tired from the limited sleep and long days!
That's all,
Alex.
On Friday morning I went to the airport early and did my SIC check out in "Panchito" a North American B-25. I have never felt so behind an airplane! The workload is amazingly high, I will do a full PIREP on that if people would like me too. We then loaded all the bags of our crew of six, and launched for the airshow in Dayton, OH.
The weather enroute was horrible, but we broke through the line around Charlestown, WV and were treated to mostly good weather for the remainder of the flight. Once on the ground in Dayton, we took on 200 gallons of 100LL and 10 gallons of oil. We did three PR rides on behalf of the Disabled American Veterns (our sponsor). One of our passengers was a crew chief on the B-25 in WWII.
The second my foot hit the ground after our last ride a cold beer was handed to me (which of course I could not drink because of my age
). We were driven to a party for the air show performers. As soon as I walked in I spotted three Thunder Birds sitting at a table. I gladly took one of the empty seats and started having a great time with them. Hooter's girls were on staff to serve unlimitated free beer (which again, I certainly did not drink) and wings. During the party, the F-18 and A-10 demo team were practicing for the show, so we had an awesome view the entire time. The next day it as time for work. We were ramped checked at 8am and we had everything in order. We were on standby to fly in the show, but we did not end up performing. I spent the day talking to people about the airplane and met a lot of veterns. Their stories are nothing short of amazing. I ended up signing around 200 autographs during the weekend, and I had to try not to laugh everytime I did! Little kids were running up to me as I walked around asking for my autograph and if they could have their picture taken with me. If only they knew how little I have done with my life, maybe they'd realize how little I deserve their attention.
That afternoon I went to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Musuem and was absolutely amazed. It makes the Smithsonian look pathetic. If there was an important aircraft in history, Wright Pat has it.
As I was walking through the musuem, the curator of the musuem comes walking up to me and asked me if I was a pilot on Panchito (I did not have time to change out of my flight suit before coming). I said that I had just started flying it, and he asked me to wait where I was for a minute. When he came back he was holding a book. He said he wanted every aircrew that came through to sign the page in that corresponds to their respective airplane.
When he opened to the B-25 page, the first name I saw was Jimmy Doolittle. He also had about 20 of the Doolittle Raiders sign the page. On the B-29 page was Paul Tibbets' signature, and the signatures of the entire crew of both the Enola Gay and Boxcar; the two B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs. He asked me to sign the B-25 page. I refused, saying I only had 5 hours in the plane and it would be rediculous to have my signature anywhere near the signatures of men like Doolittle, Tibbets, Hoover, ect. But he kept pushing me to sign it, so I did.
The next day was very similar to the previous day. The stories of many of the veterns made me tear up. One little old man that came walking up had two medals. I reconized the Purple Heart, but could not place the second medal. It was a POW Medal from his service as an SBD Pilot in the Pacific Theater during WWII. He told me stories of his time in the POW camp and of the beatings he recieved.
The flight home was beautiful and gave me time to reflect on the weekend. It is amazing the amount our veterns have sacrificed for us, yet the amount of gratitude they recieve is pathetic. I cannot believe how fortunate I am to be apart of something like this. It has also peaked my interest in military flying, and I plan on starting the application process for a C-5 slot at Dover AFB this week. There will be many photos coming in the photo section, I just wanted to share a little bit from this weekend. I am sure I left out quite a bit, but I'm still tired from the limited sleep and long days!
That's all,
Alex.
