The first part of the day was spent learning about how flight works, as well as building a few different types of things to fly. I have to tell you, my knowledge of flight is nominal at best, but by the end of the morning I was able to say pitch, yaw, thrust, and lift with the bet of them! We built a balsa wood plane, similar to what we built in Inventing Flight many years back at the Putnam Museum. We also built a glider made of a styrofoam plate - which was a lot of fun... it definitely flew better than any plane that I've ever built with paper. We were able to experiment with our glider's different flaps (fancy names that are already packed in my suitcase full of notes), making the glider go higher in the air, to the right, to the left, or even crash land! We built a very cool glider of the space shuttle and was similar to the balsa plane - this one when released would fly straight up (like the shuttle) and glide to a safe landing (also like the shuttle). Finally we watched a video on Geobot, a futuristic flying saucer that is proving to be a very good option for flight - maybe we'll see flying saucers at the airport some day!
The second part of the day had us traveling to the Huntsville Airport for a TOP or Teacher Orientation Program Fight. I was very excited, as we were going to get a ride in a small plane. It was not a Cessna, it was some type of plane that is very rare in the United States that is produced in Australia. Our pilot is a Lt. Col in the Air Force and he was very excited to show us the plane and teach us about flight. Our plane also had 3 CAP students, which was fun too! We flew south of Huntsville to an airport near the town of Cullman, AL. We landed at this airport and switched positions in the plane, allowing another person to sit next to the pilot. I was the first front seat passenger. Today was a stormy day in Huntsville with scattered thunderstorms popping up every so often. We were able to see thunderstorms on either side of us as we flew. In fact, once I was given the steering capability (yes, I have flown a plane now!), our pilot told me to fly in between the two thunderstorms! We stayed about 1800-3000 feet above the ground, so we definitely weren't high - and looking at the rain from the air was absolutely fascinating.
Once we landed in Cullman, we took off again to circle around the town to the south of the airport. Cullman was hit by a tornado in April when many cities were devastated here. From the air, the damage path was very evident, even 2 months after the storm. From the air I could see fallen trees, damaged roofs covered with tarps, ripped up sheet metal from larger buildings, and concrete pads where houses and businesses once stood. I also saw a large area on the edge of town filled with piles of burning debris... It was shocking to see damage of this magnitude. And it even wasn't terrible damage.
Finally we changed seats once more (this time while in the air), and headed back for the Huntsville airport. Our pilot asked if we were adventurous, and said that we could attempt to make our own vomit comet with the plane. The vomit comet, is a plane that NASA uses for zero-G or "weightlessness training." On Earth, it's not possible to have extended periods of time in weightlessness. Astronauts train for EVAs (space walks) using water, a special pool called the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, TX. They also use a special airplane (nicknamed the Vomit Comet) which performs a series of parabolas in the air. If you've been on a roller coaster, it's the feeling you have when you reach the top of a hill and rush back down at top speed - your stomach drops. On the NASA plane, they can get between 30-45 seconds of weightlessness at a time, so they usually train with many parabolas in a row (hence, the vomit comet) In the little plane, because it's not really designed to be the vomit comet, you don't ever experience true zero-g... but you can reduce the gravity and cause small objects like pens to float for a few seconds. We completed 2 of these maneuvers on our flight today, before we headed back to the airport.
Once we touched down, we were greeted by airport staff who shared that lightning had been spotted near the airport, so we needed to leave the tarmac immediately and head indoors. Once inside, we realized the second half of our group wouldn't be flying (they had been inside in the air traffic control tower), which was a big bummer. We didn't get to see the control tower and instead headed back to the training center (Huntsville has had some problems with power since the tornadoes in Alabama).
Finally, the training day was complete, and Bonnie (my roommate and buddy from Illinois), Nancy (a buddy from Minnesota), and I headed off Space Camp grounds for dinner, then back to Charger Village to pack up!
Tomorrow will be an early one - 4 AM wake up! My bus for the airport leaves at 5 AM, and I am hopeful to be on a 7:20 AM flight to Chicago. Lots of storms predicted for Huntsville tonight and tomorrow - so I am crossing fingers that I'm able to get home. I have had an absolute blast, but I am very ready to sleep in my own bed!
Sorry for the lack of photos with today's blog posting. I'm working on getting photos online and I am too tired to mess with finding them tonight.
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