VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:59:35 06/29/13 Sat
Author: The Chief (how many people ever say that?)
Subject: Really amazing day at the airport!


Today, my 12 year old daughter and I had an amazing experience at our local General Aviation terminal! Liberty University's Department of Aeronautics and the "Women Can Fly" initiative, had a FREE Open House to encourage women of all ages to experience flight and consider a career as a pilot.

Here are a few news items about it:

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=94751
At this link, if you scroll through the thumbs, you'll see a great pic of me and my daughter standing in front of a familiar yellow biplane ;-)

http://www.wset.com/story/22723044/women-can-fly-event-in-lynchburg-encourages-girls-to-become-pilots

I'll post more comments inside....

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Inside.... -- The Chief, 20:26:34 06/29/13 Sat [1]

It was a really extensive experience and I was pleasantly surprised! Most of the pilots were students or recent graduates. They had tours of the Tower, an opportunity to fly the flight simulators, speak with all kinds of experienced pilots and such, in addition to the flight. AND free lunch! LOL

My daughter, Ameliah, and I went up in a little 4-seater with our student pilot, Manny. He's got 40 hours so far. Great kid - knows how to talk to people about the experience and answer questions well. A great ambassador for the event. I can't remember what kind of plane it was, but it was newer - had two large digital instrument read-outs that were really cool to watch. There were basic dial read-outs, too, so in case the digital ones went down, you could still fly the plane.

We took off about 9:20am, and flew south-west toward a large lake/hydro-electric project. We spent most of that time climbing to 4500 ft. At about 3500 feet, Manny allowed me to take the controls for the last 1000 feet of our climb, and it was very cool. You really do get that "seat of your pants" feeling! It wasn't super intense, but you do feel the movements of the plane in your body. I can see where it would easily become an extension of yourself once you get good at it.

There was a little band of rain we few thru, but no big deal. We turned and flew over a small town about a 30 minute drive from where we started, and along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains back toward town. We flew right over our neighborhood, across the James River, and made a u-turn back over the center of town. That put us right in the "glideslope" They don't "call the ball", but there are 4 lights next to the runway that tell you if you're in the glide slope. If they're lit up with 2 white & 2 red, then you're fine. If there are 3 white, then you're too high, 3 red means too low.

Ameliah sat in the back seat and took a ton of pictures.

Not long after we took off, I looked down out my window and lo-n-behold, there was a bright yellow bi-plane way below us! Manny hadn't seen it so he was glad I saw it and mentioned it. It looked like it was headed back toward the airport, so I was wondering if it might be part of the event. The plane stayed below us on our radar for most of our flight but once we turned back toward the airport we couldn't find him again - probably because he was directly below us for most of the time.

When we got back to the airport, sure-enough!, there was a pretty Yellow Steerman sitting on the tarmac on display. It wasn't painted up like Harm's - no red/black markings at all - but she sure looked nice! I asked the pilot later if he was giving rides and he said "not today". Drat!

Also on static display was the King Air business jet used by our governor - Virginia One! Apparently the Gov was not using it this weekend (must have been on the Yacht, instead ;-) ), so it was brought in to show off. One of the sponsors was the Commonwealth's Department of Aviation, which operates the Governor's plane, and one of their female pilots few the plane in for the event. She's 20-something and wants to continue to be a private pilot of business executives, celebrities, etc. I think if you can safely fly a governor around that looks pretty darn good on a resume!

After our flight, Ameliah was interviewed by the local tv news station. We also had our pictures taken by a guy from the LU Journal for one of their articles and he said he'd send us photos. And another guy from LU did a tape-recorded interview. Ameliah is gonna be all over the place! LOL And at least 12 times someone said something about "Ameliah" being the perfect name for the day. LOL

I know that all these years of watching and re-watching "JAG" and discussing flight and pilot-stuff here on the boards really gave me a good bit of background. I felt like I understood a lot of what was talked about. My daughter had a ball and I think would certainly do this again. We wanted to take a second flight later in the afternoon because it the crowd had died down, but all the flights were booked. They gave us "rain checks" to come back again for another flight, and we might just do that!

If you live in VA, or a nearby state, you can check out the "Women Can Fly" group here: http://womencanfly.com/ I don't know when they'll be doing another event, but hopefully it will be annual! There may be other groups like this around the country.

One of the guest speakers we met with has worked for the FAA for 20 years. She said that if you really want to do something, DO IT. When it's "your turn" TAKE IT! Whether it's learning to fly or whatever, don't ever tell yourself you can't. Great advice for anyone!

If you've read this far, thanks for indulging me!


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> wow - what a fun experience! - These are the memories that will live for decades ! -- chris k, 20:38:50 06/29/13 Sat [1]


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> I also live in Virginia, but this is the first info I've seen on this event. Can't believe I actually miss the jets from Oceana Naval Air Station flying over my house (I moved to Richmond a year ago). So glad you and your daughter had such a wonderful experience. -- carramor, 18:17:05 07/01/13 Mon [1]


[ Edit | View ]

[> [> [> Shucks that you missed it, Carramor - I think this was the first year they've done it. I hope you hear about it next year. -- The Chief, 21:55:18 07/08/13 Mon [1]


[ Edit | View ]

[> This looks SO cool and really inspiring for young ladies with an inclination to do this. You both look super cute and like you're enjoying every minute and who knows? Maybe one of my transcontinental flights one of these days will be 'manned' by a Ms. Ameliah! ;) -- mj, 14:03:21 06/30/13 Sun [1]


[ Edit | View ]
[> Cool! What an experience! -- JJ Ronda, 17:26:56 06/30/13 Sun [1]


[ Edit | View ]
[> This is great! Thanks for sharing! -- Lee, 09:11:45 07/01/13 Mon [1]


[ Edit | View ]
[> Thanks for sharing. This looks like so much fun. glad the two of you could go and that pic beside the yellow reminder of JAG gone by is so cute. -- jenks, 05:30:08 07/04/13 Thu [1]


[ Edit | View ]
[> [> The photographer said he would email me a copy. I want to have it blown up and framed! -- The Chief, 08:52:27 07/04/13 Thu [1]


[ Edit | View ]

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.