Nina's Adventures in Aviation
Ms. Nina had quite the aviation adventure during a family trip to Atlanta for Passover this year. She flew on the Airbus A320 series on Spirit Airlines between BWI and ATL. While in Atlanta, she visited Peachtree Dekalb Airport (PDK) twice for lunch and after-dinner drinks at the 57th Fighter Group Restaurant, where she got to watch airplanes takeoff and land right next to the runway.
Ms. Nina is busy studying the cockpit acceptance flow for the Airbus A320 series (A319, A320, and A321). Soon she will be off to work on her type-rating.
While Abba was out flying a charter, Ms. Nina took her Mommy to visit the College Park Aviation Museum. Oh boy was it an adventure! So much to see and do and learn. Ms. Nina started by finding the airplane that looked like hers (a yellow Piper Cub). Then she practiced flying a Cub on a flight simulator. It didn’t go so well. Then she taught her friend, Atara, how to fly. Then the two of them made little paper airplanes and learned all about lift. Then she learned how to hand-prop a wooden propeller. (This will be a useful skill when she gets a little older and learns to hand-prop her own 1946 Piper J-3 Cub.)
Ms. Nina was very excited to visit the US Park Police Aviation hangar. She got to see both the Eagle 1, a Bell B-412 (“the Big One”) and Eagle 3, a Bell B-206L3 (“the Little One”). As you know, often times Ms. Nina is afraid to sit in the front seat of any aircraft. Not today! She was very excited to sit in the front seat of the Little One.
Ms. Nina went to a Halloween party with her friends. She dressed up like a princess, but as soon as she found an airplane, she jumped into pilot-mode. She made a perfect landing. Next year’s costume: Princess Pilot.
Ms. Nina got to experience what will likely be one of many trips to an airplane boneyard while visiting her father currently stationed in Arizona. While she had to see it from behind fences, she was able to see multiple different types of Boeing 747s, including the DreamLifter, 777s, 737s, E-145s, E-175s and helicopters such at the Bell AH-1 Cobra and Bell OH-58A. She was most excited to see the airplane missing parts. “I want to see the airplane with no wheels!”
Ms. Nina was supposed to co-pilot the SR22 to Albert Whitted Field (SPG) in St. Petersburg, FL to have dinner with Grampa Henry. Unfortunately typical Florida afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in so she decided to drive instead. When she arrived, Ms. Nina pretended she was an airplane and wanted to practice her “crash landings”. She made Mommy join in too.
Ms. Nina enjoyed four days of Sun ‘n Fun 2022. She made lots of friends and gave many tours of a UH-60 MEDEVAC Blackhawk. She learned to identify all of the different US Army helicopters, some airplanes, seaplanes, and civilian helicopters. She watched the USAF Thunderbirds perform, ran (stroller) the Sun ‘n Run 5K, attended the #WomenInAviation booth, took a few naps, watched a STOL competition, and went swimming in a pool. She is looking forward to going back again next year.
Mr. Nina is finally starting to make some progress on building her Piper J-3 Cub. At this rate, she may be done before she ships off to college.
Ms. Nina has been planning a visit to the National Air & Space Museum Udvar Hazy Center since the day she was born and on October 10, 2021, she finally got to make the trip. (The center was closed for way too long due to COVID-19.) She had a great time and really took an interest in the Space Shuttle program, but also hasn’t forgotten her favorite airplane – the Piper J-3 Cub.