Pirep: Trip to Dayton Wright Patterson Museum

Wow, amazing, huge, inspiring, impressive, and a must see for any aviation
enthusiast.

The list of planes on display is unreal. F22 Raptor, B1, B2, B52, B36, huge
array of the F100 series fighters, B29, B17.... the WWII display is great,
not only does it cover the US fighters but it includes many of the foreign
fighters that our Aces fought along side with and against. I honestly don't
know where you would have to go to see more of the foreign fighters.
Another very interesting point, at least for me, was the number of civilian
designs used by the military. Planes you and I see and fly everyday, put to
use by the Air Force for normal and some abnormal missions.... remote
control Bonanza anybody?

I won't bore the group with an un ending list of their displays, it is just
too long and vast. You can check it out for yourself at:
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/

Myself, wife, my son, nephew, and another couple left KSTE IFR for KDAY at
6am Sunday morning after an early shower, quickly climbing through the
overcast finding 7000 to be between layers, nice, and smooth.

Just south of RFD we exited the occluded front that extended over southern
Wisconsin into clear skys and picked up a nice tailwind that would later
increase dramatically, coming back to haunt us on the way home. Standard
IFR routing around ORD from the north is to the KELSI intersection, then
they will let you turn east towards most easterly destinations. Already
familiar with this route, this is what I filed, and after receiving a
"cleared as filed" we never had a deviation.

We shut down at Stevens Aviation with exactly 3 hours on the hobbs. I'd
heard good reports of Stevens before and I highly recommend them. Make sure
you ask for the AirNav discount on the fuel, I received 21 cents off the
posted $2.98 per gallon price, not a bad deal just for asking! They also
let us use the crew car for the entire day, which we gladly refueled before
returning it. One point that I would make is to get some GOOD directions.
Neither the map at Stevens or MapQuest had easy directions to Wright
Patterson.

We spent about 5 hours "browsing" the displays and then rested our feet in
the IMAX theatre watching a "fair" presentation about the Blue Angels. I
only say "fair" because we seen basically the same presentation about the
BA's on Discovery wings several times.

As much as I hate gift shops at museums, this one truly impressed me. If
they would print a catalog of everything they sell, it would be thicker than
Aircraft Spruces!

We left KDAY by diverting first westward to Indianapolis to get around a
line of building cumulous that was even causing the airlines problems. Once
reaching 8000, we realized just how much the winds had increased, and how
far off the winds aloft forecast was. Our preflight planning before leaving
KDAY, told us to expect winds at 6000 to be from the NW at around 30, 9000
to be in the same direction but at about 38.... wrong.... after punching
everything into our KLN94, it told us that the wind was indeed from the
northwest, 317 degrees... but it ranged between 60 and 70 knots!! If you
think ground speeds below 120 suck when you're in a 182, imagine what it
feels like in an Aztec when you're burning 25gph. We tried 6000 and it
wasn't much better, infact, it was bumpier, making our passengers
uncomfortable, so it was back to 8000, then to 9000 to keep the ride smooth,
albeit, slow. The airliners told us it was rough up above as they routinely
asked for 10 or lower for their final decent into Indy and Dayton, due to
the bumps.

The towering cumulous continued to build, providing the classic "ride
through the canyons" as we diverted this way and that, weaving our way
through the maze as Center obliged everybody who asked.

Once again, RFD seemed to be where the change in the weather was. It became
7000 scattered, with surface winds 15 gusting to 30, but the building
cumulous had changed to a high stratus layer, smoothing out the ride.

By the time we hit STE, the surface winds were down to 3 as dusk approached,
which made for a very uneventful approach and landing. Unloaded the crew,
pushed the plane in the hanger and even changed the oil before heading home.

What a day of aviation!!! 6.3 hours on the hobbs... dozens and dozens of
great airplanes... some great weather avoidance practice and about an hours
worth of IMC.

Jim

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
Wow, amazing, huge, inspiring, impressive, and a must see for any aviation
enthusiast.


Snip

Great writeup Jim,

I worked at one of the Dayton-area TV stations for a short while right out
of college and spent *a lot* of my off time at the museum. Of course, in
those days (1985) it wasn't nearly as large nor well organized as it is now.

I need to make a pilgrimage again...

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ