Every Flight, A Tribute And Remembrance

I've visited Kitty Hawk a few times, Ed. It's quite interesting to stand on the dunes with the ocean winds blowing in your face and imagine those early flights. I've not visited other areas where "the first flight" was also said to have occurred (Bridgeport, Connecticut and Paris, France.)

Regarding air combat: my Uncle Bill was a Spitfire plot in WWII.

I don't think the experience is anything any of us should desire.

I never met the man, but at some point his commemorative RAF watch made its way to me:


My brother-in-law held a private pilot's license. I went up with him once. It would be fun to learn to fly, but I'm not interested enough to go through the process.

A friend of mine (Dick) was given the FAA's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.

From the FAA website:

To be eligible for the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, nominees must meet the following criteria:

• Hold a U.S. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilot certificate.
• Have 50 or more years of civil and military piloting experience or 50 or more years combined experience in both piloting and aircraft operations.
  • Up to 20 years of the required 50 years may be U.S. military experience.
  • The effective start date for the 50 years is the date of the nominee’s first solo flight or military equivalent.
  • The 50 years may be computed consecutively or non-consecutively.
• Be a U.S. citizen.
• Have NOT had any airman certificate revoked.

Dick had been a pilot in VietNam, and also worked in repairs & testing. The amazing thing about his career is that due to his job type, he engaged in more takeoffs & landings that likely any other profession in aviation. That is where the "risk of incidents" is greatest (moreso when dealing with testing), yet he never had a failure. I was at the awards ceremony. The FAA sent representatives to present Dick with the award. It was quite impressive. His wife also held her license.

 

In the DC region we have the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum. Then we got the privately-funded extensions (and expansion) of that museum constructed by Dulles International Airport. It is the Udvar-Hazy museum, named after Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, its major donor who contributed $65 million for the project. It first opened in 2003, and is HUGE!!!! There are over 170 aircraft on display on multiple levels. My last employer used to throw us really nice and fun Christmas parties. They rented that facility 2 or 3 times for that event. Words cannot describe the experience of being there for hours on end at a private event, walking up to the SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, the shuttle Discovery, the capsule Gemini IV, etc.

Years before that I worked out by Dulles Airport when Concorde was still flying. The landing path took it directly over the main road (Route 28) just after 1PM, so if you timed your lunch hour right, you could watch the thing fly right over your head. It was so futuristic.

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It's amazing to be standing (or sitting in your car) directly under its path as it lands. And I misspoke in my original post...the landing took it across Route 50 and parallel to Route 20 (just a little clarification for those familiar with the Chantilly VA area.)

It's sad it's not still around. The most notable tragedy surrounding the plane was a deadly runway accident that was caused by debris shed by another plane.