Today was the day I both looked forward to and dreaded: I flew into Washington, DC to visit the National Air and Space Museum and to meet a friend’s father, Doug Kelly, a member of the Board of Directors for the EAA.

I said my farewell’s to Steve Volovsek as I departed Virginia heading North. After climbing through the ground fog, I broke out into the relatively clear skies leading up to the Chesapeake Bay. Cruising at 5,000’, I could see for miles, but a lot of good it did me.

Because I wanted to fly into and through the ADIZ airspace around Washington, I filed an IFR (instrument) flight plan. As soon as I checked in, ATC changed my routing, so I began the ritual of writing everything down, struggling to find the points on the charts, then entering them all into my computer. Thank goodness for clear, smooth weather and an autopilot.

My routing became ever more convoluted as I went through 5 changes to my approved flight plan route. Ultimately, I was vectored directly overhead the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, home to the US Navy’s Test Pilot School, out over the Chesapeake, up overhead Baltimore International Airport, and finally into my destination at Gaithersberg, MD. Given the security issues surrounding Washington, DC, I was apprehensive during the entire flight of doing something wrong and getting in trouble.

Once I landed, I met Doug Kelly, the father of Brian Kelly, one of my co-workers at Boeing. Doug is on the Board of Directors of the EAA, and he graciously agreed to take me to the new National Air and Space Museum facility at Dulles Airport.

Doug and I spent the day looking at the planes, exchanging aviation trivia, and talking about issues affecting aviation. I learned a lot about the early days of aviation, especially through Doug’s father’s experiences as a senior engineer with United Airlines in the 30’s.

The highlight of the day for me was the sight of the space shuttle orbiter “Enterprise”. This is the non-space-rated vehicle that was used for the initial flight tests in California back in the late 70’s. My dad and I had flown and driven down to Edwards AFB to watch that first flight, and I have wanted to see the shuttle ever since. The most amazing aspect of the vehicle is its size – it is enormous! I had read that you could fit an entire Greyhound bus in the cargo bay, and I now realize that this is no exaggeration.