Questions pondered at 6500 feet

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:32:21 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Have you been to the restaurants at Madison or Lone Rock? The food is
arguably better than Janesville. (Still a lot of greasy fried stuff)

Sure! We go to Lone Rock at least once a month.

I haven't been to Madison in over ten years. The restaurant was pretty lame
when I was there, last -- I take it they've improved?

They rebuilt the FBO a few years ago and added space for a restaurant.
It is better than most on-field restaurants.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:V7Oyf.702157$x96.414904@attbi_s72...
Have you been to the restaurants at Madison or Lone Rock? The food is
arguably better than Janesville. (Still a lot of greasy fried stuff)

Sure! We go to Lone Rock at least once a month.

I haven't been to Madison in over ten years. The restaurant was pretty
lame when I was there, last -- I take it they've improved?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Now it is pretty much knock your socks of for an airport restaurant. It's
on the east side (don't know where the old one was) and you can park right
out side and watch Atlas as you eat.

Now it is pretty much knock your socks of for an airport restaurant. It's
on the east side (don't know where the old one was) and you can park right
out side and watch Atlas as you eat.

Madison, eh? Mary has already told me that we're going there next
Sunday for brunch, weather permitting.

How late are they open on Sundays, Dave?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

They have somewhat limited hours- I think they close at or before 2pm.
However, the windows overlook the ramp, and the food is a lot better than
JVL. I was unaware that Palmira (?SP) had anything nearby, but it is too
short for me to land anyway.

Actually, Iron Mountain has a great Mexican restaurant (The Ruptured Duck,
or something similar sounding) that overlooks a scenic lake. It is at least
as good as the restaurant near Jay's place in Iowa City.

Jay

It sounds to me that the pilot has filedIFR to the destination airport, and
somewhere enroute has asked for or accepted the instrument approach when the
alternative was offer up by ATC.

Bill Snow

ps; We missed IOW on the way to DEN. We'll have to catch you next time.

ps; We missed IOW on the way to DEN. We'll have to catch you next time.

I was *wondering* if you were still coming?

Oh well -- swing by in the summer. It's prettier anyway...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
1. Airports were originally huge grass fields that allowed arrivals and
departures in any direction, on any heading. Are there any airports left
that provide 360 degrees of access?

I believe Lakehurst, NJ still has the circular field where the
Hindenburg disaster happened. I used to see it out the right side of
scheduled airliners on the way from DCA to BOS just before going over NYC.

The question I have about this installation is what are the converging
sets of lines around it. IIRC there are 3 sets of 4 lines pointing
into the center of the circle.

"Stubby" wrote in message
. ..

I believe Lakehurst, NJ still has the circular field where the Hindenburg
disaster happened. I used to see it out the right side of scheduled
airliners on the way from DCA to BOS just before going over NYC.

The question I have about this installation is what are the converging
sets of lines around it. IIRC there are 3 sets of 4 lines pointing into
the center of the circle.


Are you referring to the large circular area to the west of the current
runways? I don't believe that's where the Hindenburg disaster happened.
That part of the installation was constructed well after the Hindenburg
disaster. The big dirigible hangar, the blimp mooring circles, and the old
runways were all located further east.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Stubby" wrote in message
. ..

I believe Lakehurst, NJ still has the circular field where the Hindenburg
disaster happened. I used to see it out the right side of scheduled
airliners on the way from DCA to BOS just before going over NYC.

The question I have about this installation is what are the converging
sets of lines around it. IIRC there are 3 sets of 4 lines pointing into
the center of the circle.



Are you referring to the large circular area to the west of the current
runways? I don't believe that's where the Hindenburg disaster happened.
That part of the installation was constructed well after the Hindenburg
disaster. The big dirigible hangar, the blimp mooring circles, and the old
runways were all located further east.


Maybe. It has been a few years since I last saw it. If it's not an
airship landing field, what is the large circular area?

"Stubby" wrote in message
...

Maybe. It has been a few years since I last saw it. If it's not an
airship landing field, what is the large circular area?


I don't know what it's for, but I'm pretty sure it's not for airships.
Airship mooring facilities were typically just a circular track for the
landing gear around the central mooring mast. There just wasn't any need to
pave the whole circle.

Lakehurst was an airship/blimp base from 1921 to 1961, when the Navy got out
of the blimp business. In 1957 the Naval Air Test Facility moved there to
test catapult and arresting gear. In 1974 the Naval Air Engineering Center
moved there and later consolidated with the NATF. I assume the large circle
is or was part of the stations R&D function. Below is a link to 1997 aerial
photograph showing Lakehurst NAS. The present airfield is clearly visible
in the center of the photograph, the large circle you refer to is just west
of it and other test facilities of some kind are just west of the circle.
The old airfield is about a mile and a half ESE of the new one. It doesn't
stand out too well in the photo, but if you click on the "Topo Map" tab in
the upper right corner you can locate it easily.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q15121A7C

I'll also post an older aerial photo in alt.binaries.pictures.aviation that
clearly shows the older portion of the station. The large airship mooring
circles are clearly visible as well as the smaller blimp mooring circles.
There's a blimp visible on one of them and another visible entering or
leaving the large airship hangar at the top of the photo. The photo isn't
dated, but there appears to be a strip with arresting gear at the bottom of
the photo. Since arresting gear work began in 1957 and blimp operations
ceased in 1961 the photo appears to be from the late fifties. The photo is
looking east, it's from M.L. Shettle's book "United States Naval Air
Stations of World War II".