Huntsville Mini Vacation

This week is Spring Break for UCF and Andrew is home. For years, I’ve been wanting to take him to Huntsville to tour the US Space & Rocket Center (USSRC), so I decided that there’s no time like the present. I booked a hotel in Madison a few days in advance and purchased online tickets to the USSRC on Sunday. Susan was in Virginia helping her sister, so she couldn’t join us, but Mom was able to join us.

Monday morning, we were on the road before 7:00 AM. Before we hit the highway though, I made a quick stop at the 7-11 to buy a bag of ice for our cooler full of lunch and dinner food. Our route took us on I-95 to Jacksonville, I-10 to Lake City, then I-75 to Tifton, Georgia, with a stop at Costco in Valdosta, Georgia for gas. From there we took US 82 to Montgomery, Alabama, where we stopped at Costco for gas. For the final leg, we took I-65 to Decatur, Alabama, then I-565 to Madison, Alabama. We checked into our hotel at 6:00 PM Central Time, for a total drive time of 12 hours.

After checking in, we still wanted to use the remaining daylight, so we got back in the car and drove to Huntsville. We drove around downtown, then headed up the mountain east of the city. On the drives to and from Huntsville, we drove past the USSRC and admired the Saturn V rocket that is on display.

Back at the hotel, we heated up a chicken burrito bowl from the cooler and shared it, along with chips from a mammoth bag of chips from Costco. Somehow, Mom managed to squeeze what was left of our bag of ice into the tiny freezer before calling it a day.

Tuesday morning, we got up, got ready to go, and drove to the USSRC. We arrived about 15 minutes early, so we walked around the grounds. Outside, we were able to see the Space Shuttle “Pathfinder” display and the A-12 “Oxcart” display.

US Space & Rocket Center

USSRC main entrance

Once inside, a man handed us a map and gave us an overview of the museum. Mom rented a scooter so she wouldn’t have to be on her feet all day. We started our exploration near the main atrium, which was closed to the public while some workers installed a new exhibit. The new exhibit was a BE-3U engine from a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. Although closed, we could still see many displays, including a SpaceX spacesuit, a model of the Dream Chaser, and a model of the Space Launch System rocket.

Workers installing the Blue Origin rocket motor exhibit

Main atrium

Next, we explored the International Space Station mock-up. This is not only an exhibit as it is also used for “training” as part of Space Camp.

International Space Station exhibit

By this time, it was getting close to 11:00 and we needed to go to the planetarium to see the movie about the James Webb Space Telescope. We found the elevator and rode it up. Mom parked the scooter, and we sat down. I was surprised at the number of people. I shouldn’t have been, given that it was Spring Break. There were at least two large groups of kids who were there as part of a school field trips. At 11:00, a man started talking to us about safety protocols and such. Then, instead of seeing a movie, he gave a presentation that contained information as new as the previous week.

After the presentation, we went outside to the car for lunch. We made sandwiches and ate them with chips and drinks from the cooler.

After lunch, we continued to explore the exhibits in the main building. The main exhibit that we hadn't seen yet was the Mars Exploration exhibit. This exhibit contained many examples of the various rovers that we have sent to explore the surface and sky of Mars over the years.

Mars rover exhibit

Next, we headed outside. Our first stop was the rocket garden, where we found a collection of rockets, all pointing skyward like they were ready to launch. The rockets spanned the era from US Army missiles through the early manned NASA missions, including the Mercury rocket and the Saturn IIB.

Rocket garden exhibit

Finally, we came to the Saturn V exhibit. At 365 feet tall, it dominates the skyline. The exhibit contains a full-scale model outside, and an actual article inside. We explored this exhibit for over an hour. They have examples of rocket motors from various times, so you can see how they evolved up to those used on the Saturn V. Andrew was fascinated with everything, but mostly with how they routed the fuel and/or oxygen was through the nozzles via a complex network of tubing. Underneath the actual Saturn V, they have a 1:10 scale cutaway model that shows the internal plumbing. We were amazed to see that the fuel was routed through pipes that pass directly through the oxygen tanks on the first stage.

Saturn V outdoor exhibit

Saturn V indoor exhibit

Our final stop of the day was at the Space Shuttle exhibit. There, they have the "Pathfinder" mounted on an external fuel tank, along with the two solid rocket boosters. According to the signs, this exhibit was just re-opened last fall, after a complete restoration.

Space Shuttle exhibit

Back inside the main building, Mom turned in her scooter and we headed out to the car. It was still early, so we drove to Huntsville. Our first stop was the Three Caves trail. It was a short 1/4-mile loop around an old quarry with three large caves.

Then we headed back into town. We parked near the old train depot and walked around. We found a museum containing a caboose, a passenger car, a box car, and a small steam engine.

Steam engine outside the old train depot

Continuing our walk, we came across a very respectable tribute to veterans from all wars.

Back in the car, we went searching for some final items. We stopped at Costco to fill up the tank, then stopped at Five Below to get some paper plates and napkins. All they had was fancy - read expensive - party plates, so we skipped those and went to Wal-Mart instead. Back at the hotel, we ate another chicken burrito bowl with chips and stuffed what was left of our bag of ice in the freezer.

This morning, we woke up early and were on the road before 6:00 AM Central Time. Our route today was I-65 south to Montgomery, where we stopped at Costco for gas, then US 231 to Florida, where we stopped at the Welcome Center for the last of our sandwiches, then to I-10 to Jacksonville, where we stopped at Costco for gas, then I-295 to I-95 to home. We arrived at home at 7:00 PM; another 12-hour drive. The cooler still had one or two ice cubes hanging on. That was a fine bag of ice, and it served us well.

Flight Time–Plant City

Today, I planned a flight to Plant City. It was another of the unvisited airports on my ever-shrinking list. Since it was an off Friday at Northrop Grumman - I checked the calendar, otherwise I would not have a clue about such things anymore - I reached out to some of my former co-workers to see if they wanted to go flying. One didn't respond, and another responded much too late. Therefore, I flew solo today.

The flight track is below.

Valkaria to Plant City to Valkaria

Flight Time: 2.2 hours
Total Time: 702 hours

Flight Time–Bartow

With my recent night currency, I wanted to go fly at night, so I planned a flight to Bartow. Official sunset was at 7:30 PM today, so I figured I could fly to Bartow, relax in the FBO for a half hour, then return to Valkaria after civil twilight ended.

Susan and I drove to the airport and were in the air just before 6:00 PM. We arrived in Bartow at 6:40. We parked the plane on the ramp and walked to the FBO. I was surprised the find that the door to the FBO was locked - most FBOs allow after-hours access to pilots from the ramp side. I peered through the glass and saw a guy mopping the floor. He saw me and came over to open the door. He told us that the FBO was closed, but he let us use the restrooms.

Bartow FBO

Before walking back outside, I took a quick look around inside and discovered a small museum. The airport was once a U.S. Army Air Corps base. They used to train pilots to fly P-51 Mustangs here. Three astronauts passed through this base, including Buzz Aldrin.

P-51 Mustang model in the FBO

It was after 7:00 by the time we went back outside, and the sun was getting close to setting. We walked around the ramp to pass the time. On the walk, we passed by the control tower. It surely looks the same today as it did back in its glory days.

Bartow Tower

Rather than wait for civil twilight to arrive, we decided to depart just before sunset. The sun was dropping below the horizon as I lined up to take off. As we climbed to the west, the sun slowly rose back above the horizon. We continued to the west to Lakeland, then turned north to fly directly over the airport. As we flew north, the sun slowly dropped below the horizon, giving us our second sunset of the day.

Civil twilight ended at 8:00 and I noted the time on the Hobbs meter. From this point forward, we were on a night flight and building night flight time. Before leaving home, I noted that I needed 2.7 hours to reach the 700-hour milestone. I was still short of this point when we arrived over Melbourne, so I turned north and flew up to Cape Canaveral, then turned around. On the way south, I turned on the pilot-controlled lights before entering the pattern for Runway 32, then extended the downwind leg south past Sebastian before turning around for a long, straight in approach.

Now that I've past the 700-hour point, I feel like 800 hours is within reach. I just need to keep flying and keep extending my flights into the darkness to build night hours.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to Bartow

Bartow to Valkaria

Flight Time: 2.9 hours
Total Time: 700 hours

Flight Time–Instrument Proficiency

As part of my goal to get a job in aviation, I’ve been busy checking all the boxes that I see on applications for pilot jobs. Over the past year and a half, I have received a first, then later a second class medical, I have added over 200 hours of flight time to my logbook, I have acquired an Aircraft Single Engine Seaplane rating, I have a restricted radio license, and I started building night flight time. One key thing was still missing – instrument currency and flight time. To remedy this, I recently signed up for an IPC (Instrument Proficiency Check) at Melbourne Flight Training. I told them going in that my last IPC was in 2009, so it would take longer than usual to acquire. A lot has changed since back then, especially in the areas of GPS routing and approaches.

March 2

On March 2, I went to the flight school for a two hour ground session followed by a two hour flight. The ground session started off as one would expect. We covered many subjects like weather and physiology. It became apparent that we wouldn’t wrap up on time, so we cancelled the flight and continued the ground discussion.

March 3

The next morning, I went to the flight school and I flew basic maneuvers while wearing my view limiting glasses. It was different flying a Cessna 172 again, but not too different. I flew a Cessna 172 on floats in November to get my seaplane rating. Today’s Cessna had two Garmin G5s and a Garmin touchscreen GPS, so it was fully IFR-capable.

March 4

During this flight, I got a different Cessna 172. It was basically all analog and had a much older Garmin GPS. I flew a GPS waypoint hold and a DME arc around a VOR.

March 6

In yet another Cessna 172, I flew a localizer back course, an RNAV with vertical guidance approach, and an RNAV with side-step approach.

March 9

For the final flight, in yet another Cessna 172, I flew a non-precision RNAV approach into Sebastian and an ILS approach into Melbourne.

Up until the final flight, my instructor handled nearly all of the inputs to the GPS and some of the radio calls. For the final flight, I wanted to be responsible for everything. Although mostly unfamiliar with the modern GPS, I was able to figure out what I needed with minimal input from my instructor. I flew slower than best speed to give myself more time to set things up, and I listened closely to ATC to avoid missing any radio calls. I also kept an eye on the heading and altitude to make sure I was still flying the plane as directed by ATC. Overall, I was pleased with how the flight went.

Back on the ground, we debriefed the flight. My instructor was satisfied with my ability to aviate, navigate, and communicate, so he endorsed my logbook with an Instrument Proficiency Check sticker.

Flight Time: 4.9 hours
Total Time: 697 hours

Flight Time–Night Currency

Since I was already at the airport, after returning from Keystone Heights, I decided to stick around and get some night flight time. To be current to fly passengers at night, you must have three landings to a full stop at night within the preceding 90 days. The last time I flew at night was back in July of 2008, as part of the requirements for my Commercial license. I was planning to have an instructor fly with me this time, but instead, I refreshed my memory about the various illusions and physiological effects that can occur at night and decided to go solo.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I was uncomfortable with the lighting on the Cherokee. In my opinion, the interior lights were not bright enough to read all the instruments, and several of the instruments were not self-lit. To help with this, I bought a head-mounted light with both red and white lights. I knew I'd be able to see everything I needed to see with this light.

For currency, the landings must be one hour after sunset, so I hung out at the hangar and waited. Sunset was at 6:30, so I figured I'd take off a little before 7:30, then fly around until 7:30 before starting my landings.

As I was doing my run up, another pilot turned on the airport lights by clicking his push-to-talk button five times in succession. Valkaria lights up very nice, so I had little issue finding my way to the runway. I was in the air at 7:15. I turned west, crossed the interstate, then headed towards Lake Washington, being sure to stay outside the Melbourne Class D airspace. I tuned in the Melbourne ATIS to get the weather details. At 7:30, I contacted Melbourne Tower and told them that I was inbound for a full stop landing. I was told to enter a left base for Runway 9L and that there were two planes westbound. I acknowledged the pattern entry and reported the two planes in sight. The first landing went well, and I was told to taxi back to Runway 9L. After taxiing to the runway, I went through the takeoff checklist again, then requested take off, staying in the pattern. I took off and turned downwind. Abeam the number, I was cleared to land on Runway 9L. As I was turning base to final, another plane was cleared to take off on Runway 9L. I could clearly see this other plane and thought it very strange that Tower would clear it to take off in front of me. I asked if I was still cleared to land and was told that I was already cleared and that I had already responded. I just wanted to hear him say it one more time and I also wanted the pilot holding short to know that I was planning to land in the next 20 seconds. The other pilot remained behind the hold short line, and I landed safely. I repeated this one more time, for a total of three landings at Melbourne. On the final take off, I was told to follow the river to the south until leaving Class D airspace.

I tuned to the Valkaria common frequency and listened for other traffic in the area. There was a plane coming in from the south on a long 45-degree pattern entry and another on a practice instrument approach from the northwest. I announced that I would follow the plane on the long 45. The pilot doing the practice approach went missed and departed to the west. The pilot I was following was doing a full stop landing, so I extended my downwind a bit to give him time to clear the runway. I was back on the ground at 8:20.

I'm happy to report that the lighting in the Cherokee is more than sufficient. The only issue I had was reading the checklist, but that was easily solved by turning on my headlamp.

The flight track is shown below.

Valkaria to Melbourne to Valkaria

Flight Time: 1.3 hours
Total Time: 696 hours

Flight Time–Keystone Heights

With another forecast for perfect weather, I planned a flight to another new airport. This one was in Keystone Heights, which is northeast of Gainesville. Susan had plans, so this flight was solo. I left Valkaria just before 2:00 PM and arrived in Keystone Heights at 3:25. The trip took longer than normal due to a pretty strong headwind at 6,500 feet. My ground speed for much of the flight was less than 100 knots.

Once on the ground, I taxied to the fuel pumps and topped off the tanks. Then I taxied to the FBO and parked. The FBO was small, but practically brand new. I met the manager, and we talked for a little while.

Keystone Heights FBO

While talking, he got a call. He excused himself to take care of some business. Turns out, two US Army Blackhawk helicopters were inbound and needed fuel.

US Army Blackhawk helicopter

While the helicopters were being re-fueled, I walked around the ramp and got a closer look at the former Australian Navy P-3 Orion planes. Apparently, they are being used for training now.

Former Australian P-3 Orions

Former Australian P-3 Orion

I departed at 4:30 and climbed to 7,500 feet. I contacted Jacksonville Approach and requested flight following to Melbourne. I was quite pleased to see that my ground speed now was over 140 knots. I was handed off to Daytona Approach, who told me to fly to the shoreline before heading south. I proceeded to the shoreline, then followed the coast south past New Smyrna Beach. Finally, I was told to resume on navigation. I was then handed off to Orlando Approach, where I was told to descend to 6,000 feet. As I approached Melbourne, I asked to cancel flight following, but the controller was concerned about the quantity of traffic in the area, so he kept me with him for five more miles. I was back on the ground at Valkaria at 6:00.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to Keystone Heights

Keystone Heights to Valkaria

Flight Time: 3.5 hours
Total Time: 694 hours