Jay, how was the Zoo?

[Jim Burns]

Just wondering what you and Mary thought of the Air Zoo and did you ever
convince the approach controller that Atlas wasn't a (dare I say it)
"Cardinal"!?

Jim Burns


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[Jay Honeck]

Hi Jim!

Wow -- it's really getting to be a small world.

I land on Madeline Island a few days ago, sign the airport's logbook -- and
immediately get an email upon my return home, from a fellow who saw my name
in the book.

Now this!

The Kalamazoo (Michigan) Air Museum was AWESOME -- we really enjoyed our day
there.

We had tried to fly to Lansing, MI yesterday evening, but got stopped just
short in Grand Rapids by darkness and thunderstorms. So, today, instead of
picking up my son at my sister's in Lansing, we all agreed to meet at the
Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. It's one of the best museums around -- the new
displays and flight simulators are simply the best I've seen.

And, yes, the Kalamazoo controller finally determined that Mary was indeed
flying a Dakota (Pathfinder, actually -- but no controller seems to know
what a "Pathfinder" is -- so we call ourselves "Dakota 56993" in controlled
airspace) -- not Cardinal!

Approach was bizarre today -- on the way home we were given no less than
FIVE frequencies for Chicago Center in the space of 90 seconds, one after
the other, as we rounded the bottom of the lake. It was like no one wanted
to deal with us, so they kept handing us off to some other controller!

Where were you?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jay Honeck]

So that was YOU that we cut off in the pattern? :-)

Well, not exactly, but I remember saying to Mary "I'll bet that guy isn't
happy that he let *you* in right away." I was surprised that Kalamazoo was
so busy!

Man, you shoulda knocked me on the shoulder, or something. We surmised that
my sister, who had driven in, was with my son over in the new building, so
we made a bee-line over there without waiting. We eventually did see the
"old" building, which I agree is "better" for pilots.

My non-flying sister commented that the new displays, while beautifully
done, were almost completely devoid of any information. If I wasn't there
to explain everything to her, she would not have known ANYTHING about the
aircraft on display. They seriously need to add some narrative descriptions
at each aircraft, and I told the folks at the museum as much. (They agreed,
by the way...)

See you next time!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[john smith]

> I couldn't get over the art work on the walls and the floors of the new
> building, absolutely beautiful. Like you said, the sims and the displays
> are great, where else can you walk under the wings of an SR71??!!

The United States Air Force Museum.
Well, maybe not an SR-71, but certainly it's predecessor, the YF-12.

[Scott]

>>>where else can you walk under the wings of an SR71??!!

McMinville, Oregon. The only place where you can also walk under the
wings of the Spruce Goose!

http://www.sprucegoose.org/aircraft_artifacts/planes_general.html#observation

[Jim Burns]

Where was I? We flew over to Hastings, just south of GRR to visit my
father in law on Saturday. Sunday he had plans so we invited my sister in
law and her husband to meet us in Kalamazoo to visit the museum. Had a
great time, then we flew home to Stevens Point, WI yesterday afternoon.

I was the 182RG that had to circle north of Kalamazoo's surface area until
the guy had time to give me a squawk. Then he called Mary and asked her if
she was the one standing by, but it was me. I entered right traffic for 35
and landed right behind you guys. You were off to the races to meet the
people your son was with so I didn't get a chance to say HI when you bought
your tickets, but you were right in front of us at the ticket counter!

Pretty cool museum, the new part I found more for the non-flying public, I
still like the old building with the WWII era planes. They need another new
building to make it less crowded for those. I was there last year and got
the chance to visit their restoration center, which is now closed to the
public, that was truly an inspiring experience.

I couldn't get over the art work on the walls and the floors of the new
building, absolutely beautiful. Like you said, the sims and the displays
are great, where else can you walk under the wings of an SR71??!!

Jim




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[Jim Burns]

LOL naw, you didn't cut me off, but it sure made me wonder if he'd
forgotten me when he gave Mary a squawk code before he gave me one. And I
was shocked that he never gave either of us traffic alerts, after all we
must have been pretty close to one another, both inbound from the north. At
one point I noticed that Mary reported the same distance out as our GPS was
indicating.

What's funny is that was the second time in as many days that I had to
circle before landing. When we came into Hastings they had just released
jumpers over the airport and Grand Rapids approach vectored and 360'd me for
awhile until the jump plane reported "jumpers on the ground". After a 3
hour trip, it took a little explaining to my kids why we couldn't land, but
then they saw the jumpers and agreed that we really didn't want to pick up
any hitch hikers on the way down!

Totally agree on the lack of info on the airplanes, they need to do some
work in that area. Even the ones with the touch screen presentations (which
were nice) need some short descriptive signage for those who don't want to
sit through the video presentation.

The 4-D movie was pretty good, but could be improved by adding more
historical facts and figures describing the B17.

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:pDPKc.114882$JR4.62182@attbi_s54...
> So that was YOU that we cut off in the pattern? :-)
>
> Well, not exactly, but I remember saying to Mary "I'll bet that guy isn't
> happy that he let *you* in right away." I was surprised that Kalamazoo
was
> so busy!
>
> Man, you shoulda knocked me on the shoulder, or something. We surmised
that
> my sister, who had driven in, was with my son over in the new building, so
> we made a bee-line over there without waiting. We eventually did see the
> "old" building, which I agree is "better" for pilots.
>
> My non-flying sister commented that the new displays, while beautifully
> done, were almost completely devoid of any information. If I wasn't there
> to explain everything to her, she would not have known ANYTHING about the
> aircraft on display. They seriously need to add some narrative
descriptions
> at each aircraft, and I told the folks at the museum as much. (They
agreed,
> by the way...)
>
> See you next time!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>


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[ajohnson]

>where else can you walk under the wings of an SR71??!!

Virginia Air Museum at Richmond has one parked outside.

[Peter H. Schmidt]

Deck of the USS Intrepid in NYC. (I reached up and touched it -
shhh!)...Peter
--
Peter H. Schmidt `\ /' Burning Blue Aviation Inc.
------^------ 2 Ewell Avenue
www.burning-blue.com | |o| | Lexington, MA 02421
fax: 781 863-8858 ------v------ tel: 781 883-4818
|

[Jim Burns]

Dang! I thought I was the only one to do that!! You can reach up and touch
the one in Kalamazoo too.
Jim

"Peter H. Schmidt" > wrote in message
...
> Deck of the USS Intrepid in NYC. (I reached up and touched it -
> shhh!)...Peter
> --
> Peter H. Schmidt `\ /' Burning Blue Aviation Inc.
> ------^------ 2 Ewell Avenue
> www.burning-blue.com | |o| | Lexington, MA 02421
> fax: 781 863-8858 ------v------ tel: 781 883-4818
> |


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