Bishop Castle : 2023-01

Kimberly surprised me with a road trip to Bishop Castle. What a cool place - and climbing around is encouraged! We had incredible weather and helped each other when the trust in rod iron got a little thin. Right when we pulled up, I could tell it was going to be fun. Anyplace where you park on the road and get in for free can't be too bad.

This was the welcome when we parked.

This is the main room - kind of like a cathedral.  The lighting and windows and ceiling were all impressive. We turned out dark, but I think this is a great picture.

Us at the other end of the 'cathedral'.

Us on the bridge which you can see it on the second to last picture. Above right is the tallest spire taken from the bridge.  You can climb all the way to the top and stand just below that metal cone. The bridge we're standing on is made out of rod iron and you can be sure it moves - a lot!

The main room with no humans. The vertical panes can be twisted to let air flow through - very cool. This turned out to be a great shot of the castle. Even if you don't find it aesthetically appealing, you can appreciate the amount of work required to make a castle.

I thought this was a very nice tribute to the Master of creativity. This was a great adventure and I can't thank Kimberly enough!

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Why I Love Airfields 8 : 2019-05

I flew a recovery flight into First Flight (KFFA) to pick up an aircraft that had an electrical problem.  The cool thing is our mechanic found the problem in about 5 minutes.  The best problems to find.  If you've been here before you know I'm a fan of First Flight (other flight). 

We had time to walk to the memorial, and this is where the picture comes in.  As a pilot, you like to think you have excellent perception.  Well, I'm going to give myself that credit on this one.  We were leaving the stone structure and something wasn't right.  And there it was, some crazy moth that thinks it looks like granite.  And I'd have to say it does.  The second pic is the 'give away' shot.  Pretty impressed with myself for seeing him.  I don't take these things for granite.

  

We took our Arrow III to KFFA to pick up the wounded bird.  I took the Arrow back and so I insisted on flying as a wingman to the Cessna.  It was the first time I'd flown formation for quite some time and it was a good refresher.

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2018-11 : Why I Love Airfields 4

This doesn't look like an airfield, but this is about 800 feet away from the Kitty Hawk runway at Kill Devil Hills or First Flight (KFFA).  This was the fourth time I was there, but the first time this Visitor Center was open (following extensive renovations).  I love this building and was very pleased it was open.  Just as cool inside as I imagined.  The section to the left (with the elevated roof) holds a replica of the Wright Flyer and the lighting is fantastic.

 Another pic from the same angle (looks like a model) & an awesome black and white (not mine).

This visit was in Grover (or what I call Grover) pictured above.

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National Museum of the Marine Corps | 2018-01

I was driving to DC when I received a text informing the meeting I was attempting to make was canceled.  I just happened to be pretty close to the National Museum of the Marine Corps...so that was an easy decision.  Museum tour of convenience!  You can see the building from I-95 and I've wanted to visit since I first saw it in 2015.  And this was a perfect opportunity.  By the way, it's super easy to access from the Interstate and has good signage.

Front of the museum.  What a day - perfect temperature (in January) and look at that sky!  It was kind of a perfect welcome - plenty of room in the lot, the weather, and my kind of architecture.

Above left is Iron Mike. I like how he looks at the top of the building.  This "Making Marines" poster (above center) is one of the first things you see walking into the collections - I thought it fitting.  I took a picture of the guy in chem gear simply because chem gear (especially older gear) is always a bit frighting.  Aside from looking scary, it also hides the wearer and makes me imagine how bad chem warfare must be.

This was great.  The flag in the iconic Iwo Jima picture!  There were two flags raised; the iconic shot is the second flag.  Both are in the museum, but the the first flag (much smaller) is not yet displayed. The second flag was much bigger (almost twice as large) and the intent was for better visibility on Mount Suribachi. The first flag is 54 x 28 inches and the second (shown above) is 96 x 56 inches.  The picture on the Plexiglas is a cool idea and a nice way to view the actual flag behind it.  Pretty awesome to see.

This was a somber display and very well done.  Each Globe and Anchor represents a Marine lost on Iwo Jima - 5931.  That is more than twice of all Marines lost in WWI (and in just 36 days).  Put another way, more than 800 Americans gave their life for every square mile of Iwo Jima.  A nice addition to the display is how Mount Suribachi is superimposed on the metal squares.

A couple A-4 Skyhawk models.

The museum had some fantastic displays.  Of note, the path walks visitors through all the collections and you see everything.  In other words, if you follow the path, you don't have to worry about missing anything.  Also, the docents are very friendly.  This is just one example - Vietnam.  You actually enter the room by walking off the back end of the Chinook and leave through the sandbagged tunnel.  In the Korean collection, the room was a winter scene and they keep the room colder.  

Standing in the atrium - or the Leatherneck Gallery - is a cool experience.  Lots of metal and glass which suspended airplanes.  The building represents the flag raising on Iwo Jima, so the massive beam running through the Leatherneck Gallery and out the top of the building is essentially a flag mast.  Looking up the mast is the picture on the left above.  The mast also fills the upper right corner of the picture with the Harrier (above right). 

This art is not paint...it's part of the front entrance.  I love when concrete is used like this.  If I ever build a house, I think it would be nice to incorporate concrete.  Simple, strong, and beautiful in its own way.  Another think I like is when grass grows right up to the concrete (like in the pic below). I'm not sure why I like that so much. Maybe because if it was wood, it could rot. But it's more likely the contrast.  Soft, fuzzy, live grass right into hard, geometric stone.  I guess the same holds true for the sky/concrete mix. 

This is a view just left of the main entrance.  More of the concrete with some rolling hills - very nice atmosphere. You can take the path all the way around the museum and there are historic facts along the way.

If you're in the area and have the time, I highly recommend visiting the museum.  Even if you don't have much time you should visit since it's free.  No 'guilt' to spend a certain amount of time.

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First Flight | 2017-11

My coworker was talking about the outer banks so we brought up a map. The map made it clear that Kill Devil Hill is pretty close to me. Then I thought about flying there...closer and faster! And then I found out it's an uncontrolled, park yourself airport. So why not? Fly to the place of the first powered flight?  Yes, please.  It's like 78 nm (90 miles) as the crow flies.  A quick turn and a piece of history.

Crap...i just spend an hour + updating this page, and my browser told me the page was unresponsive.  So, minus my commentary, here are my pictures.  I'd drop an explicit comment, but it's not worth it. I can't resist...I'll add some commentary.

The ramp...after I tied down 733AG and the two airplanes which arrived before I did.

We all left together.  Beautiful parking area and a beautiful day for flying.

This.  This is what I love about general aviation in America.  It's unprecedented.

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The memorial - simple but elegant.  One had to list the names in some order.  This order could be said it was by birth, but also by longest/farthest flight.  But we all know Orville gets the "first".  Fist stone (keystone) was laid in 1928 - on the 25th anniversary.  Finished in 1932.

Also in 1928, this plaque was affixed to a bolder and placed at the first flight location.  The bolder was used because landscape continued to morph.  In fact, the hill with the memorial moved dozens of feet.  It wasn't grassy as it is now.  The vegetation was 'added' to stop the sand dunes from moving.  Hence the bolder.  They were pretty sure it would stay.  It's pretty cool that this plaque is 89 years old.  Almost to the day if i'd waited a month.  The plaque on the right is a bit annoying.  It was with about 2 or 3 others and is from the NOAA National Geodetic Survey.  The problem is they don't say what they're marking.

This was a good idea.  Four stones marking the four flights.  If you look closely in the picture

on the right, you can see all four.  The fourth skews the placement as it was significantly longer.

A couple 'big sky' shots of the memorial.  One from the flight area (left) and from the west (right).
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Side note - the airplane had to be supported while it rode on the track.  That person, the non-flyer, was the wingman.  And it's safe to say that is the origin of wingman which is pretty awesome.  It is immortalized in this picture of Wilbur being a good wingman...

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This was a bit disappointing.  The visitors center is being refurbished.  I'm glad it is, but would have loved to see it.  It's a cool building.  The above shot explains the project, below is a nice black & white before the work began.

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A nice graphic of the site - this is a sticker.

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The two busts of the innovators.

This was a great visit and I'm grateful I was able to fly there.  It was expensive, but worth it.  To land next to Kill Devil Hill is like a thing to do.  I think God the Cessna worked and for the fantastic weather.  The only thing I'd change is I would give myself a bit more time and revisit when the visitors center is re-opened.

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Aircraft Sunset : 2017-07

I've taken pics of the Langley Memorial Park before, but I wanted to capture this orange sunset against the jets.  Pics like this never reflect the moment, but I liked how they turned out. I should have put my Roadmaster in the foreground.

panoramic with iPhone, edited in Fotor

picture with iPhone 5D, edited in Fotor 

panoramic with iPhone, edited in Fotor

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