Space Shuttle Enterprise to leave IAD tomorrow

wsuffa

wsuffa

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Enterprise is scheduled to leave IAD tomorrow morning. If the timing works, I'm going to try and go out for photos. The question is "where". TAF calling for winds 310/16G26 which would favor RWY 30, except it's 1000' shorter than 1C & 1R. So the question becomes... is the forecast headwind sufficient to overcome the shorter runway length? And will the crosswind performance be enough to use RWY 1C?

I'm betting on 30.
 
wsuffa said:
Enterprise is scheduled to leave IAD tomorrow morning. If the timing works, I'm going to try and go out for photos. The question is "where". TAF calling for winds 310/16G26 which would favor RWY 30, except it's 1000' shorter than 1C & 1R. So the question becomes... is the forecast headwind sufficient to overcome the shorter runway length? And will the crosswind performance be enough to use RWY 1C?

I'm betting on 30.
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That's a tricky one! 30 is ALMOST always the favored runway for departure (I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've taken off on another runway). But the heavies seems to use the 1/19s a lot of the time. Very interesting question, indeed. Maybe you need to get there early and listen for them to call clearance delivery, then you can repo if needed.
 
Skip Miller said:
The 747 - shuttle combo will land at JFK. Later, the Shuttle will be craned onto a barge and towed up the Hudson to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.

-Skip
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Where are they going to display Enterprise? Surely not on-deck...?
 
I just taxied by the Enterprise on it's 747 magic carpet today. Pointed it out to my passenger and my FO took some pics. My FO commented how cool it was to see something that's been in space. Had to burst his bubble...

Funny how it sorta looks small on the back of a 747.
 
Skip Miller said:
On deck. They have been busy pushing planes off the deck into the drink to make room. :hairraise:

No Wait! They have craned the planes onto barges to take upriver to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in Glenville, N.Y.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/n...-shuttles-arrival-old-warplanes-ship-out.html

-Skip
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They're putting a space shuttle on the deck of Intrepid? Really?

That's just...bizarre. I wonder how many visitors will assume that it could land on the carrier? :lol:
 
Captain said:
I just taxied by the Enterprise on it's 747 magic carpet today. Pointed it out to my passenger and my FO took some pics. My FO commented how cool it was to see something that's been in space. Had to burst his bubble...

Funny how it sorta looks small on the back of a 747.
Click to expand...

Although I'll be tired as hell (working nine hour night shift), I've decided to get a couple hours of sleep then drive over to Liberty State Park. This is history! A once in a liftime opportunity and I'm only across the river. Hope to get some nice video:).

I was just reading that this will be her second flight over NYC. The first was in 1983 after returning from the Paris Airshow.
 
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Jay Honeck said:
They're putting a space shuttle on the deck of Intrepid? Really?
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Seriously. That seems so ... inglorious, doesn't it? :mad2:

I give it three weeks before she starts to look like a train car that sat on a railroad siding in Harlem. In the summer. Next to a spray paint retailer.
 
nddons said:
Seriously. That seems so ... inglorious, doesn't it? :mad2:

I give it three weeks before she starts to look like a train car that sat on a railroad siding in Harlem. In the summer. Next to a spray paint retailer.
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I'll take that bet. The Museum knows what it has - a huge draw for paying patrons. Give it six months for the crowds to thin out, and then you may be right.

However, the existing displays are in fine shape, so maybe....

My long term concern is that the shuttle is big - about the size of a DC-9 IIRC. And they have limited display space on deck. Yes, it is a carrier but carriers weren't huge back in the day. How long before they remove the shuttle to rotate their display stock to keep the museum display fresh? This is done in every major art museum....

-Skip
 
Rwy 30 was a good guess. See my pictures in the other thread.

Hope y'all in NYC get a view - well worth it.
 
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