Culver Discovery Flight 2015

During my summer at Culver Summer Schools and Camps in 2015 as a staff member, I was able to do something spectacular.

They have an aviation program for students who want to learn how to fly a plane (they'd had one in the past, but it was put on hold for a few years, but a revamped program is now up and running).

Well, for those new or returning students (and staff members) who are curious about what it's like and want to get a taste of flying a plane, Culver offers what's known as a one-hour "discovery flight." Three students (or three staff members) can sign up with the Culver aviation department to get a discovery flight scheduled.(Oftentimes, the older kids in Woodcraft - the 9-14 year olds - will take a Discovery Flight and then are interested in signing up for aviation classes when they return to Upper Camp; I believe they need to be at least 14 years old to take actual aviation classes.)

Then, after the trio's discovery flight is scheduled, Culver will transport the students via shuttle bus (while staff members drive themselves) to the Starke County Airport for their flight. The three students and an instructor pilot head off in a 4-seat Cessna, one student in the front along with the instructor pilot, and the other two students in the back. After a safety check around the aircraft by the instructor pilot, and after ensuring everyone is buckled up, the instructor pilot will give the student in the front seat a brief explanation of various instruments in the cockpit.

Then off they go, with the instructor pilot in control. After they're in the air, the instructor pilot will decide when it's a good time to hand the controls off to the student in the front. At that point, the student in front will actually be flying the plane, able to move the controls this way and that, and able to get a feel for how the aircraft responds to the controls (the instructor always there to give guidance or take over if safety dictates).

At this point, the student in front gets to fly the plane for 20 minutes!

After 20 minutes, the instructor takes over and they land at the airport. The three students play "musical chairs" and the other two students get to take turns sitting in front and flying the plane for 20 minutes each (the instructor pilot taking off and landing for all three).

Needless to say, I was able to take a discovery flight!

At the beginning of the summer, when all of the staff members were there the week prior to the start of camp, we were getting various in-processing briefings, one of which was by the Director of Aviation. At some point in her briefing, she was telling us about the discovery flight opportunity for anyone curious about Aviation. And . . . she said that the opportunity wasn't limited to just students! If any of us staff members wanted to take a discovery flight, we would just need to get two friends and get a discovery flight scheduled!

Well, at some point that week, I was talking to a new friend/fellow senior counselor, and I'd said, "You know what? That discovery flight opportunity sounded like a lot of fun. I'd love to do one!" And she said, "So would I!" And that's when the lightbulb went on over our heads.

She found a third person who was interested in going with us. The only problem now was trying to schedule it in - we were so busy as senior counselors that we kept saying, "Maybe next week . . . "

Finally, we ended up saying, "We've got to do it now, or we'll miss our chance."

So, July 27,2015, it was!

We were SO excited! And the exciting part was that they had three instructors available and three aircraft available, so we each went up at the same time (taking off one right after the other), so we didn't have to wait our turn - we were up in the sky at the controls at the same time.

And it was SO MUCH FUN!

We were able to fly over the campus, and Lake Maxinkuckee, and I was able to take two laps over the Riding Hall. It was awesome seeing the campus from a plane.

The only downside for me was that I was flying and couldn't take pics. So I only took two pics at the beginning, when the instructor pilot was taking off - just before he handed over the controls. (And I hadn't thought to give him my phone so he could take pics - of the riding hall AND of my being at the controls - until later on that day, when it was too late.)

Here we are, taking off:

Here we are, leveling off and the instructor is just about to have me take the controls:

Ahh, Indiana in the summertime . . .

Quad Cities Air Show (Day 1) Part 2

Here are a couple more photos from a soggy day one of the Quad Cities Air Show, 2012.

On the flightline after just arriving

One of the University of Iowa jets

And here are some photos from our adventure in Muscatine, after day one wrapped up.

Cornfield on the way to our hotel - I thought it looked cool

After dinner in Muscatine (at your average chain sit-down family restaurant near the hotel - it was nearby and I didn't know where else to go), I decided we needed to have a photo opportunity near the Mississippi River. We've driven over it a few times, but never had the chance to stand near it and get a photo. So that's what we did.

Mississippi River, Muscatine, IA!

Looking at the Mississippi River, looking towards IL

A cool bridge parallel to the river

We liked this overlook!

A riverboat!

Guess who liked the riverboat?!

Statue for City of Muscatine

Dedicated to the Mascoutin tribe

A few more photos will follow soon!

(To see the first batch of photos, click here.) 
(Part 3 is here.)

A Brief Report - Quad Cities Air Show 2012 Day 1

This past weekend, we headed to the Quad Cities Air Show. It was Livie's first air show. Sure, she'd seen a formation of 25 F-117s fly overhead once, on that ship's 25th anniversary (and she was only about 6.5 months old at the time, and doesn't remember it). But she's never been to an air show.

And it had been quite a while since I had been to one in person, so it was pretty exciting. (I think my last air show was when I was still in the Air Force . . . it was probably the Aerospace and Arizona Days Air Show in Tucson, back in 2002).

The Quad Cities are about an hour and a half away, by car, the air show taking place at the Davenport Municipal Airport. After packing overnight bags for ourselves and a cooler with lunch, we grabbed the portable DVD player and some movies for Livie, and then headed out.

Since this was a last minute trip, we weren't able to get a hotel in the immediate vicinity, so we'd booked a room in Muscatine, IA, about 25 miles away from the air show. Because we couldn't check in until around 3 PM, we headed straight for the air show.

It had been overcast all morning, turning to constant rain as we'd gotten closer to Davenport. Apparently it was due to remnants of Isaac, just lingering (seemingly endlessly) over the Quad Cities area.

So our first day at the air show was wet, wet, wet. It hadn't stopped raining ALL DAY in Davenport! But Livie had her rain gear, so she had no complaints. (Andrew and I got rather wet, even with an umbrella, simply because it was pretty windy, too.)

But regardless of the weather on that first day, we'd had fun. And Livie was impressed!

*However, there was a tragic event during the day. At some point, while Livie, Andrew, and I were distracted by the static aircraft displays, there was an accident. One of the aircraft (an L-39) crashed, killing the pilot on impact. (Click here for a news story.) Fortunately, Livie didn't actually see the accident. (And Andrew and I didn't know the tragic fate of the pilot until after we'd left for the day.)*

Anyway, after having that horrible gut feeling after seeing that (and again, not yet knowing the fate, but knowing search and rescue teams were doing their thing), we went on with the afternoon, since the FAA had cleared the rest of the day's performers for flight.

Here are a few photos of the first day.

Liv and the Air Force banner

An A-10 and Star Spangled Banner

Liv loves "Spooky"!

"Is that a Native American?"

Corn at the Davenport Municipal Airport

(Somewhere in between taking these two photos was when the accident had happened. As you can see, Livie was sufficiently distracted by a churro and a static display. By the way, we hadn't heard a thing. )

Checking out the bomb drop

Since it had been raining a lot, and the ceiling (where the cloud cover was located height-wise in the sky) was low, the Air Force's Thunderbirds had to cancel their performance for this first day. So we headed to our hotel, about a 30 minute drive away.

Once we checked in, got dried off, and relaxed a bit, we headed out to dinner and then went sight seeing at the Mississippi River.

More photos (from our evening at the Mississippi River, and from Day 2 of the Air Show) coming soon . . .

(Part 2 is here; and Part 3 is here)

Happy 4th of July (2012)

Just wanted to say "Happy 4th of July" to everyone!

In honor of Independence Day, I'm posting this flyer (I guess it's similar to old-time broadsides) that Livie helped make at Living History Farms over Memorial Day 2012. She and the lady portraying a late-19th Century printer made this on an old-fashioned printing press. (It got a little smudged before we got home, simply because it took a bit of time for the ink to dry on that hot, super humid day.)

I, too, would like to add a "Thanks!" to you fellow veterans out there for your service!

Oh, and just one more thing. I'm pretty sure I posted this video a while ago (maybe a couple years ago when I first started blogging), but I just wanted to post it again. There's just something about watching an airshow or aircraft in formation on the 4th of July. (At least *I* think so).

It's a 35-second video of the F117 (Stealth) 25-Ship Flyover at Holloman Air Force Base, NM, on the aircraft's 25th anniversary:

This was in October 2006, when Andrew and I were still active duty in the Air Force. Livie was just about 8 months old when this happened, and she got to see it in person! A lot of people from the base and the community had gathered to watch this special formation. And it was an awesome sight in person! I can only imagine the degree of difficulty in maintaining this formation with TWENTY FIVE aircraft!

Again, Happy Fourth of July!