November 21, 2009 - Kitty Hawk |
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I was getting a little tired flying around the Local area so I thought
I'd take advantage of nice Saturday weather and go somewhere.
Destination: Kitty Hawk. Bruce and I hoped into the RV, flew
down the Eastern Shore, over the Norfolk controlled airspace and down to
Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ). Suffolk is one of my favorite
airports: airport resturant, relatively inexpensive Avgas (and
ethanol free Mogas), plus there are usually interesting planes
there.
Today what looked like Mike Goulian's Extra taxiied
by. There were also two "Air Combat" birds. Air Combat is
one of those outfits where you can be a fighter pilot for a day.
They brief you and you go up in their hot ships and dogfight with
your buddy. |
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Bruce looking forward to the big breakfast.
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| This derelict Colt was parked on the
ramp. The problem with a plane like this is that for the same money
it would take to restore it, you could buy something airworthy. So
it will probably never fly again. |
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We left Suffolk and headed east across the Great Dismal Swamp.
Once we hit the coast, we headed South.
Check out these palatial estates overlooking the beach.
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Here is Kitty Hawk looking southwest. The monument
is at left center, the visitor's center at the bottom left, and you can
probably figure out where First Flight Airport (FFA) is. |
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| A good shot of the Visitors Center
complex. |
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| Looking north up the coast. Now
it is packed with vacation rental houses, but in 1903 it was mostly
deserted. |
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| South of Kitty Hawk are these big sand
dunes where you can take hang glider lessons or fly radio-controlled
gliders. They don't look so big from 1000 feet but I can tell you
from having been there, they are seriously big dunes. |
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We landed at First Flight and went to check things
out. I havn't been here in about ten years. |
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| They did right by the Wright Brothers
-- no pun intended -- with this monument. It's impressive.
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Bruce will do whatever it takes to get the perfect
shot. |
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| Looking back towards the ramp.
First Flight Airport is geared towards day-trippers. You're not
supposed to leave your plane more than 24 hours. There is a nice
facility here now, with pilot's brief room and restrooms, funded by
AOPA. |
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| Looking at the Visitors Center, replica
hangars and markers denoting location of the four flights. |
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| Truly geniuses. |
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This full-scale diorama was something new to me as
well. It's a scene of the historic first flight, including cameraman
with tripod. |
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| All four flights in 1903 started from
that big rock. The white markers show where each flight touched
down. The first flight was pretty short. But the fourth and
last flight is way down there. |
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This diorama probably captures exactly the way it was back
on December 17, 1903. |
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| Among their many accomplishments,
the Wright Brothers built this wind tunnel to test air foil shapes and
produce lift tables. It was the first time lift had been
scienfically and accurately determined. |
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| The Wright Brothers, along with
mechanic Charlie Taylor, built their gasoline engine from scratch.
This cutaway model showed how the thing worked inside. |
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| Of course, the Wright Brothers had to
have photographic evidence to show to the DAR and FAA that they built
their own plane so they could get the Repairman's Certificate... |
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The Visitor's Center has a 1903 replica which is
airworthy and can fly (maybe, on a windy cold day). |
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They also had a airworthy replica of the 1902 glider in
which the Wright Brother made hundreds of flights and really learned how
to fly in. |
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| Preparing to depart First Flight.
Could the Wright Brothers have imagined that a knucklehead like me could
build his own high performance airplane and return to the site of their
first flight? |
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| Ready for takeoff! |
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| Leaving First Flight, we hopped over to
nearby Dare County Regional Airport (MQI) to get some gas. There is
a little airport history museum in the terminal building which was
interesting. The airport was originally Naval Air Station
Manteo. |
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| We had a nice flight home back up the
Eastern Shore, getting home just before dark. The RV's
speed opens up new flying worlds! |
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