20081206-New York

My father, a friend of mine, and I went to New York last weekend. While in New York, it was my idea to visit the Intrepid, a retired aircraft carrier turned into a museum. It was not a very good day to be on the flight deck but we'll get to that later. There are a bunch of exhibits, like a mock helm, and the bunks that the sailors slept in. I figure I better get used to it if I'm going to be in the Navy, so I laid down for a bit.



There were a couple planes in the museum part of the carrier called "Hangar 1." There was an old WWII torpedo plane, a Devastator maybe? anyway, I couldn't believe the size of the prop on that thing! Holy! An A-4 Skyhawk was also amidst the

airplanes inside. That jet is very compact. Very pretty plane. I would've loved to fly one.

The Intrepid had a couple of "modern" attractions, one was some sort of ride that took you on a flight or something of that nature. It may have been a flight simulator but I don't think so. The one I went on (I made my friend come with me. His name is Dan. He's been my best friend since I can remember) was a G-Force simulator. It was some weird cockpit that had a screen inside. You couldn't see outside the pit. There was a vent that made it seem like you in an airplane and had the vent to outside open. Anyway, it was very realistic I felt. I took me and Dan all over the place, We went up and did a barrel roll or two. It was a WWII simulator type. There was a bunch of Japanese Zeros to shoot at, but I wasn't in long enough to get a kill. I was trying my ass of though, until Dan hit the SWITCH PILOT button and drove us into the ground. That was funny. He hit the switch again and I resumed control. That was a blast.
Up on the Flight Deck:

It was a rainy cloudy, crappy day. The deck had pools of rainwater on it that I constantly stepped in. My feet were friggin cold afterward, but it was worth it.

The plane I'd wanted to fly since I was a little kid called the bow of the carrier home. The F-14 Tomcat sat on the deck. It wanted to fly. But they'd taken her engines, her afterburners were empty, stripped. The afterburners would never again blast out 20 foot fire cones. Her wings would never fully extend and sweep back again. It made me sad to see this beautiful fighter grounded. There were a bunch of other planes as well. An SR-71 Blackbird was directly
across from the majestic F-14. Along with these two planes were the MiG-17, MiG-19, F-86 Sabre, F-16 Falcon, A-4 Skyhawk, A-6 Intruder, and a bunch more I can't think of at the moment.
The F-14's tandem seating cockpit. The Tomcat had one Hell of a run. I hope I get to fly one someday. That would be the ultimate.

I'll report on my flight later. I have an 3 page english paper to work one. Peace.