D.C. to Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP

[Louise Hose]

The combination of an RV and XM Weather led me to a wonderful weekend of aviation and friendship. Good friends recently moved to Dayton, Ohio, and I brought Mikey back to Virginia mostly to make sure I had an opportunity to visit them before my permanent move to Texas. I’m sure glad that I made that decision.

The last two weeks at work were intense and I was relieved when my boss agreed to let me take Friday off. I slept in, leisurely planned the flight, caught up on the backlog of domestic work, and finally launched around 2:00 pm. Unfortunately, the afternoon cells had built up earlier than predicted and I had to rely on my Garmin 396 with XM Weather to weave my path around storms over the Appalachias (I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased with spending money as I am with the 396 on almost every long cross-country.)

As I watched the storms build on the XM Weather, I kept remembering Paul’s words to me, just before departure: “You’re a good pilot, and a good pilot starts with good judgment first and stick-and-rudder skills are second.” I plotted my route with a couple extra miles of margin, just for Paul.

Once into Ohio, the weather became a non-factor and the trip into Dayton went uneventful. After a quick stop for less expensive fuel, I arrived at Greene County airport in Xenia, Ohio, about 4:30 pm.

An Introductory Flight
Saturday dawned beautiful and I made sure both friends got a flight over their new home. Karen, a non-pilot, works at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park so I briefed her extensively on the RV (and GA aircraft, in general). Karen made it clear that she was lovin’ it as we flew over her office at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center and other sites in the area.

The Interpretive Center is the building with the green roof in the center of the photo. The bike shop, family home, and factory are behind (above) the IC.

I offered Karen the stick, but, to my surprise, she declined. Seeing how relaxed and happy she seemed with the flight, I offered the stick again. “No, thank you. I always crash on the simulator and it would just freak me out to fly the plane.” Okay, I understand that concern. So, I started telling her more about what I was doing. As I explained the three-axis, electric trim, Karen volunteered that trim might help fly the simulator. Assuming she means PC-based system, I explain that there probably is trim on the joy stick but she corrects me. The “simulator” that she keeps crashing is the 1911 Wright B! I finally got her to take the stick just to follow me and pretty soon she was flying like a champ. She acknowledged that the RV seems to handle a lot tamer than the plane those Wright boys flew.

Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center
The Wright-Dunbar IC is an urban national park (http://www.nps.gov/daav/). We began our visit with the excellent movie about the early Wright experiences and then wandered through their print shop, bicycle shop, home site, and charming neighborhood. The site is a work in progress, but nonetheless an inspiring experience.

Huffman Prairie
Our next stop was a visit to Huffman Prairie, which remains much as it was one-hundred years ago. A pleasant walk took us past the interpretive signs and replica hanger and catapult launching site. This is the site where man began learning to control and manage powered flight. The National Park Service now manages the land in partnership with the USAF. What an inspiration! From the flying field, we drove to the top of the bluff where we visited the Wright Memorial, the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center, and looked down at the prairie/flying field and Wright-Patterson AFB.

Site of the first Flight School at Huffman Prairie


View from the Wright Memorial. Huffman Prairie is on the right.

Returning Home
The forecast showed fog and mist over much of the early trip home so I delayed my departure until a leisurely 8 am. Two hours later (10 am), Mikey was in his Virginia home and I’m starting a day of work. What a great weekend!

If you’d like to see all of the photos, they are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/DrKarst/...tationHeritage

[mannanj]

Enjoyed your great story and photos Louise. Becky and I flew to Kitty Hawk, NC. over the Memorial Day Weekend. Someday we hope to make Dayton.

[Ironflight]

Boy, now I'm REALLY sad I wasn't able to make the trip!

I really like the pictures in the Picassa album that show how the weather looked on radar, and then what it looked like out the canopy. Good for people using XM (or thinking of using it) to have a look at.

Nice write-up - of course, I am a bit biased....

[rv7boy]

Louise,

A really big THANK YOU is in order.

My son and his family moved to Dayton last year, and visiting the National Aviation Heritage National Historic Park is on my "to do" list for a future visit. So far we've visited my son's family two times, and we've been to the Air Force Museum and the Gathering of Mustangs in Columbus. There's a lot of Aviation History in and around Dayton and I'm glad the National Park Service recognizes it.

Thank you for the trip report and the photos. They will really help me make sure I visit the "Wright" places!

Don

[Flyrod]

Now I am going to have to add that destination to my bucket list. Enjoyed following your weekend and nice pictures......and I am not at all biased!

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by Louise Hose

I offered Karen the stick, but, to my surprise, she declined. Seeing how relaxed and happy she seemed with the flight, I offered the stick again. ?No, thank you. I always crash on the simulator and it would just freak me out to fly the plane.? Okay, I understand that concern. So, I started telling her more about what I was doing. As I explained the three-axis, electric trim, Karen volunteered that trim might help fly the simulator. Assuming she means PC-based system, I explain that there probably is trim on the joy stick but she corrects me. The ?simulator? that she keeps crashing is the 1911 Wright B! I finally got her to take the stick just to follow me and pretty soon she was flying like a champ. She acknowledged that the RV seems to handle a lot tamer than the plane those Wright boys flew.

This is a great story BTW! Back during the 100th Anniversary of Flight, I was privileged to represent NASA for a few days at Kitty Hawk. There were several flight simulators there you could fly (wing cradle and all - you had to lay down on your belly and shift your hips to roll) to try and recreate the 1903 flights. It was hard to find a spot in line to try them, but there was one day that it rained so hard, the only people on site were "exhibitors", so we got quite a few chances to learn how the machine flew. By today's standards, it would have been rated totally unflyable - so unstable that you had to be way, way ahead of the thing to keep from nosing in or stalling nose high, then sliding into the ground tail first. I can see how someone with only "Early Wright" experience would be able to fly a modern airplane pretty easily! (I was able to figure it out after sufficient flights, with final distances about 3,000' between takeoff and "landing" before I just ran out of concentration, but the first few I barely got off the launching rail.)

Now, I am assuming that the Wright Brothers made SOME progress in handling qualities between 1903 and 1911 - but still, it would be neat to bring one of the Brothers back to see what they think about an RV....