Sentimental Journey - Summer Tour 2009

[Joe Copalman]

So... are they?

Yes.  They are currently operating as aluminum trays in one of the dining facilities at Camp Victory near Baghdad IAP.

[jslugman]

rofl... 

[Matt Ottosen]

I received an official update to my tour schedule today from the Arizona Wing's Wing Leader, the info came right out of Sentimental Journey's Tour Book (locations could still change):

• Thurs. Sept. 17 - KVIS - Visalia Municipal Airport
• Fri. Sept. 18 - KVIS - Visalia Municipal Airport -> KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Sat. Sept. 19 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Sun. Sept. 20 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Mon. Sept. 21 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport -> KMHV - Mojave Air & Space Port
• Tues. Sept. 22 - Mojave Air & Space Port -> KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Wed. Sept. 23 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Thurs. Sept. 24 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Fri. Sept. 25 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield -> KMIT - Shafter-Minter Field
• Sat. Sept. 26 - KMIT - Shafter-Minter Field -> KFFZ - Falcon Field

Mojave Air & Space Port is now OFFICIALLY an afternoon stop, and Shafter-Minter Field is back on the schedule for one night.  That puts us back into Falcon Field sometime on Saturday, September 26.  Like I said before, I already plan on keeping you guys informed on our arrival back to Falcon.  Arrival time to all tour stops is Noon, but I don't know if that will remain the same for our return flight.  I plan on calling as we are loading up with our ETA, and then I'll try to keep someone posted via text message while en route.

[Matt Ottosen]

Well, the time has come, and I couldn't be more excited. Tomorrow I fly out to meet Sentimental Journey in Visalia, CA!

I'm taking 22GBs of memory (I hope that's enough).  I plan on taking notes every day on what we are doing, and I'm going to try to post blog type entries here in this thread from my BlackBerry every evening.  If dates and locations change I'll post those changes here.

As I said before, I already plan on keeping you guys informed on our arrival back to Falcon.  Arrival time to all tour stops is Noon, but I don't know if that will remain the same for our return flight.  I plan on calling Joe C. as we are loading up with our ETA, and then I'll try to keep someone (Joe C. & Dave S.) posted via text message while en route.  I'm going to request the PIC do a photo pass when we arrive back at Falcon.

Once again, here's the schedule as it stands today (locations could still change):

• Thurs. Sept. 17 - KVIS - Visalia Municipal Airport
• Fri. Sept. 18 - KVIS - Visalia Municipal Airport -> KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Sat. Sept. 19 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Sun. Sept. 20 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport
• Mon. Sept. 21 - KSMX - Santa Maria Public Airport -> KMHV - Mojave Air & Space Port
• Tues. Sept. 22 - Mojave Air & Space Port -> KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Wed. Sept. 23 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Thurs. Sept. 24 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield
• Fri. Sept. 25 - KWJF - General William J Fox Airfield -> KMIT - Shafter-Minter Field
• Sat. Sept. 26 - KMIT - Shafter-Minter Field -> KFFZ - Falcon Field

SEE Y'ALL SOON!!

[Dave S.]

Have a great and memorable adventure!!!  Looking forward to reading your updates.

Dave

[Jay Beckman]

[envious]

Safe Travels and Blue Skies Matt!!!

[/envious]

[jslugman]

Yeah, what Jay said!

[Matt Ottosen]

Have a great and memorable adventure!!!  Looking forward to reading your updates.

Dave

[envious]

Safe Travels and Blue Skies Matt!!!

[/envious]

Yeah, what Jay said!

Thanks guys, I'll see ya when I get back!

[Matt Ottosen]

Flew from Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) to Fresno Yosemite (FAT) on US Airways' America West Heritage (mid-1990s livery) A319.

I arrived in Visalia around 1:30pm, and was immediately put to work. I prepped Sentimental Journey for an afternoon ride. I took some photos as she departed, but the sun was against me and I was shooting the shadowed side of the airplane.

The group had some fun yesterday. They made friends with a Lear pilot, and he took them all up for an evening ride.

I don't know if I'll actually be flying as much as I thought. They need two people to drive th PX truck and trailer, and they have been looking at me to do this some. I have told them that I'm uncomfortable with a 30' trailer, but that won't keep me out of the passenger seat.

I am on SJ tomorrow for the flight to Santa Maria. It'll be a training flight for me, so I can learn what a Loadmaster does during each flight.

Now that I am here and I can see what my responsibilities are, I don't know how much photo time I'll actually get. We shall see.

There is A LOT to do, it's somewhat overwhelming. It's much more work than I thought it would be, but it is still A LOT of fun!

I'm exhausted, good night!

[Matt Ottosen]

Today I realized today that I'm not out here with Sentimental Journey as a photographer, I'm a loadmaster. I was pretty upset yesterday, they put me to work and I started to worry about when and how I was going to get photos. Today I realized that it's not about MY photos, it's all about bringing history to the public. Once I put my camera down and started to work hard I started to have the time of my life!

When we departed Visalia this morning we buzzed the field. While en route to Santa Maria we buzzed the field at Vandenburg AFB. And, when we arrived at Santa Maria we buzzed the field. It was a lot of fun! The best part was seeing our three passengers have the opportunity to fly a B-17 and see how excited they were. I'm sure it was the same thing Joe C. saw when I flew her.

We loaded up a full media flight once we unloaded SJ here in Santa Maria. But, SJ was done flying for the day. The #2 engine wouldn't start. Our brand new starter on #2 broke and wouldn't engage (they had just replaced it three days ago). We still had the old starter, so we had them swapped in about an hour. Most of the media had to leave due to deadlines, and we just cancelled the flight.

I'm really looking forward to working as a loadmaster tomorrow. I might even leave my camera in my hotel room!

[konabish]

Matt, please carry a camera, even a P&S! I hope things smooth out, but I see it's still a ball! Very very special to even get close to Vandenberg! I won't say have fun, that's a given!   Greg

[Matt Ottosen]

Today was a big training day for me. I was learning the operations side of things (money, receipts, scheduling, purchasing, etc.). I actually had a good time. I spent a lot of time away from the airport running errands. I put the deposit together and took it to the bank. And, we bought grocerys and tools for the crew.

I found out today that I won't be on SJ when she departs Santa Maria for Mojave. I've been scheduled to drive the PX truck and trailer, it's all part of the job. It's too bad, I was looking forward to flying with Alan R. (APSoCal photographer). He's meeting SJ here in Santa Maria and flying over to Mojave with her. He's my contact over on APSoCal that first informed me of the Mojave stop.

There are some MX issues with SJ that might prevent her from coming home as scheduled next Saturday. We're all hoping to come home early, otherwise she could be delayed in California for a few days. I'll know more later in the week, and I'll continue to keep everyone posted.

I'm looking forward to another great day tomorrow here in beautiful Santa Maria.

p.s. Sorry guys, second day without my camera. Also, I received an update from NASA today, Discovery is departing Edwards tomorrow morning (couldn't get her to wait for me to get over there).

[Matt Ottosen]

Had another fun day today! Yes, the camera was in my room the entire day. The only photos are still the few I took on the first day. Good news, I'll have a great photo op tomorrow at Mojave!

SJ did two rides today, I got on and Loadmaster'd the first ride. It was a short ride flight, but was still an awesome experience!

Tomorrow we head to Mojave. I'm really looking forward to this stop. I'm hoping SJ brings Rutan out! I'm leaving Santa Maria early and driving the PX truck over. This will put me into Mojave before SJ, so I'll be able to catch SJ's photo pass when she arrives at Mojave. I've heard the current PIC does his photo passes very low. If I see him in the morning I'll request as low as he'll go with as much RPM as he can give me. Hopefully I can get a nice position for a good shot. It's amazing how friendly the aviation community is towards a B-17's Flight Crew. I've been offered two rides to Mojave (a King Air and a Turbo Commander). I had to turn both of them down since I'll be driving the PX truck. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to go on the next one.

[redsox223]

Thanks for the updates. I look forward to trying to see SJ if it comes back to Falcon on Saturday.

[Matt Ottosen]

We moved to Mojave today.

I met Burt Rutan.

Need I say more?!

I just had an awesome night! We were invited to a hangar party on Mojave. The Navy Flight Test students were there (they brought the beer and did the BBQing), Burt and Dick Rutan were there, and our B-17 crew was there. I spoke to Burt some, and I spoke to the WhiteKnight2 pilot some (they loved Joe's shot of WK2). They did order no photos at Willie, but it's standard protocol and they didn't care if photos were taken. He had even heard about the photo credit issue that Joe had.

FYI, WK2 was at 60% power when it left Willie.

I did see WK2 today in her hangar, I didn't go in but I could see her through the crack between the doors.