Trip Report to the USA Part 2

[andrew evans]

8th We returned back to the Write Patterson AFB Museum to finish it off and I also bought lunch and sat at the end of the runway. The only movement was a Cessna 152 doing circuits but we could clearly see 5 C5 Galaxy’s parked on the apron.

[andrew evans]

9th Our next destination was New York on a Delta CRJ30 FROM Dayton Ohio to Detroit we had a 50 min lay over for our connecting flight to new York on a Delta 737-800.Once again no probe’s with check in and baggage arrived in New York at 1100 had to get a shuttle bus to the car hire place and we drove up to see the Orange County choppers display center. We did see Paul senior and Rick and some of the managers walking around in the work shop but you are viewing them from behind glass so you can’t talk to them and they can’t see you.
This machine was the transfer from Terminal to Terminal.It was good as you see everything around you and take some pics.

[andrew evans]

South African A340

Orange County choppers Paul senior


10th We did all the touristy stuff statue of liberty, time square etc.We did go to the USS Intrepid Air and Space Museum. That was good they had a BA Concord next to it. You could walk through the Bridge of the aircraft carrier and they also had some displays and interactive games in the hanger deck of the ship. They also had some flight Sims there to.And there was an Old Submarine.

[andrew evans]

[andrew evans]

11th We attended the 911 ceremony. The weather was bad it was cold raining and we could not see or hear a thing so we decided to head off early to Washington DC via Dover air force base. Another great museum from the US Air force. They had displays outside and some more inside as well as flight Sims and audio testimonials from past air force members. There was this great guy named Bob a Vietnam veteran who was a navigator for the c-130.He took us in the c130 on display sat us down and walked us through what would happen in dropping cargo and troops out of the aircraft the way he was telling us it was like we were doing it. He told us one story they had to drop some 6 pallets of budweiser beer at the front line on approach they tried to make radio contact with the airfield with no response, they tried again no response so they dropped to about 50m off the ground and buzzed the camp he said that, that woke everyone up. After that they made radio contact and they were advised that there was enemy in the area and it was up to the captain to make the drop. They had no parachutes they had to land to off load it. After consulting the Pilot (officer) they decided to go ahead and land. After they had landed they taxied around dropped the rear cargo door and whilst the plane was taxing the Load master released the load and the load dropped out the back once the load was empty the cargo door went straight up they then taxied out and took off he said it took around 40 seconds to empty the load and that was his quickest off load ever. What a story he said he had plenty of them but we could not stay we had to go but he did serve in Vietnam for 4-5 years so he would have some great stories. There was some movement there we saw 3 C-5 Galaxy’s land and a C-17 depart but we could see around 20 C-5’s parked on the Apron.

[andrew evans]

[andrew evans]

12th Touristy stuff around DC we did see Marine one land and take off from the white house that was cool.We went and saw the Smithsonion Air and Space Museum.

[andrew evans]

13th We departed via Dullas airport I was particularly impressed with the car rental return here. Once again the rental garage was not attached directly to the terminal but instead of having to remove our luggage and catch a shuttle bus we had one of their staff drive us to the terminal. We checked in everything went smooth. The flight was with United Airlines 757 it was a smooth flight approx 1hr 50mins to Orlando Int. We got off the plane and caught a transfer train to get our bags. We collected our bags and went to collect our rental car. Just be aware when you rent a car in Orlando if you want the full insurance cover on your car it is going to cost you. I had an economy size car and for full insurance it was going to cost me $60 US a day I found this hard to believe since it only cost about $15 US a day in New York. So the insurance almost cost the same as the rental. I declined the full coverage and got the minimum coverage and that still cost $40 a day. We stayed in the Suburb called Kissimmee it was very nice and handy as it was close to most of the theme parks.And also Florida is big on Road Tolls.We went through three Tolls from the airport to the hotel and that cost approx $6 US one way.

14th We went to Sea World

15th Before I left for the US I was sending emails to the US Coast Guard in Florida to visit one of their Naval Air Stations. I found the Public Relations officer to be very friendly and helpfull. I arrived at Air Station Clearwater at about 0830 and was greeted by the PR officer who was also an uh-60 pilot. We went over to the uh-60 hanger where there usually are 9 helicopters here but some had been deployed and some were on training missions. We sat in the pilot’s seat and he showed us some of the procedures for starting the chopper and so on and we also had an engineer come over and show us around the rear of the chopper. We then went over to the Coast Guards variant of the C-130.There was one in the hanger and two outside. Another C-130 had departed as we were at the uh-60 hanger.We went up into the cockpit and had a look around .We then went into their operations room and was shown there maps /weather updates etc and how everything goes down when they get a call. He was saying that they get about 370 calls a year. The uh-60 covers the Florida area and the Americas and the C-130 can cover as far as the Canadian border on the Western side of the US down to the Americas. All up we were there for about 1hr 30 mins. The most impressive thing I found was that Daniele (The PR Rep) took his time he did not rush us and was genually interested in showing us around and answering any questions we had. Thanks again to Denial and USCG.

[andrew evans]

16th Walt Disney world

17th Walt Disney World

18th Universal Studios

19th We were driving out to Kennedy Space Center when we come across a Air Museum at the Space Center Executive airport. The Valiant war bird museum. We had some time to kill so we went in. Another good score they had some good planes on display. They were restoring an old ch-47 that was used on d day to drop troops behind enemy lines. They also had an f14, B-25,A7 Corsair 2 and so on. We arrived at the kennedy space center and first thing you see where these massive Rockets. We signed up for two tours.1st was lunch with a Astronaut we had an all you can eat buffet and we meet Charles D (Nickname Sam) Gamer (Lieutenant Colonel,USA) he has been up three times. After you finish eating he comes out and tells everyone about himself and then they open the floor for questions after all that you can have a photo with him. It was worth doing for an extra $40 US each the food was good to. 2nd Was the NASA up close tour you get on a bus and it takes you out to the launch pads of the shuttle’s. Very interesting as well. The Shuttle that was forced to land at Edwards AFB was due in on the back of the 747 transport on this day so I was hoping that we would see it. I found out due to bad weather they postponed the take off from Edwards. Not Happy oh well.We also went in the virtual shuttle take off simulator that was OK nothing special.




This Huey was used in the Vietnam war as Medic Chopper other wise known as dust off.It still has original bullet holes in it.

[andrew evans]