West Coast Friendship...

So as some of you know by now, I recently took a long business trip to sunny Southern California. What was originally supposed to be a five-week trip turned into a seven-week tour of duty. Although I was traveling for work, I did get a chance to do some sweet sight-seeing on the weekends. So I wanted to share some photos and stories with everyone before I forget. I actually returned from my trip over a month ago now, but I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to post until now. So enjoy the stories and photos!

Aloha, my happy West Coast friends – do you feel alive
When the breaking waves arrive and rush all around you?
The beach homes in Oceanside are quite well-known by the evening tide
And we can sleep where we reside with redwoods around us.
The blue air is up there and could I bring it down,
I’d bottle it up and save it for a sweet summer night.

Am I awake or is this just a dream?
The New Year is out here
And I will make a lovely list of your charms
So I’ll never feel alone in your arms.
I must be in California

-- “West Coast Friendship” by Owl City

January 12th: Arrival into California
Some of you might remember stories and photos I’ve posted in the past from other business trips. Back in the winter of 2007, I went to Toulouse, France, to support our GP7200/A380 testing at Airbus. Then, last spring, I spent almost 3 weeks in Seattle, Washington, supporting our GEnx/787 testing at Boeing. Well, this time, I got the call to travel to GE’s flight test operation in Victorville, California. So I would be spending 5 weeks (later stretched into 7) supporting GEnx testing on our Flying Test Bed (FTB) aircraft.

So on January 12th, my work buddy and I took off from Columbus on our way to Southern California. We chose to land at the Ontario Airport instead of LAX, since Ontario is actually closer to Victorville and because we also preferred not to mess with the passenger traffic at LAX. When we left Columbus, it was about 25 degrees outside and there was snow and sleet. When we arrived in Ontario, it was about 65 degrees and sunny. I thought to myself that it is going to be very nice to get away from the cold Ohio winter for awhile.

The city of Victorville is about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, just across the San Gabriel Mountains. The city is in what the locals call the “High Desert” area and is part of the Mojave Desert. So needless to say, the weather there was very different from what I was used to here in Ohio. Their winters are sort of like our falls in Ohio, and I love fall weather here. So every day was around the low 60’s with low humidity. Perfect!! So I thought to myself that maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all!


January 15th-16th: San Diego
So I went into the office on Thursday and Friday and got to meet the test team and get acclimated to the hanger setup and safety procedures. But it would be a few more days before we actually ran the engine. The first weekend I was there just happened to include the Martin Luther King Day holiday. So my work buddy and I took advantage of the long weekend and made a trip down to sunny San Diego. It was actually not that bad of a drive. It only took us about 2 1/2 hours, and it was mostly Interstate (I-15) the whole way. And the views of the mountains and valleys along the way were gorgeous!

So earlier in the week, I had called my Aunt Tamara and Uncle Bruce, who live in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, and we decided to get together. My friend and I drove to their house early Sunday morning and we were greeted by their dog Rufus. I think they were both pretty excited just to have company, since it’s such a long trip for the rest of the family to make from Ohio or Indiana.

So Sunday night, the four of us went downtown to the Gaslamp Quarter, an area of town famous for their festivals and restaurants. After grabbing dinner, we walked down along the waterfront and we saw Petco Park, the USS Midway Museum, and other landmarks along the bay. Then, on Monday, Tamara had to work, so Bruce played Mr. Tour Guide. He took us to the world-famous San Diego Zoo (where I saw a hummingbird land on a flower right in front of me) and then he drove us down to the Navy Base where we saw the first boat that he served on. Then he took us to the beach, where it was about 90 degrees in the middle of January. Crazy!! All in all, it was a great weekend spent with family. Bruce and Tamara were very hospitable and I would gladly go back someday. San Diego is a beautiful city and I highly recommend it! Of course, I told them if they are ever in Cincinnati, I would return the favor.

January 22nd-23rd: Las Vegas
Following another week of work, my work friend and I again decided to sight-see on the weekend. This time, we decided to travel in the other direction towards Las Vegas. From Victorville, it is about a 3-hour drive along I-15. Let me tell you though, there is literally nothing in between. It was 2 1/2 hours of empty, barren desert. There was maybe one town in between, but not much more. A really boring drive, but since it is so desolate, everyone drives really fast on that stretch of highway.

So we got into Vegas around noon and got an el-cheapo room at The Riviera. We figured we would only be using the room to sleep, so we didn’t really care about the quality. After parking our car, we walked all the way up and down The Strip. We stopped into a few casinos and lost a few rounds of slots, but overall we had a good time. We also got tickets to a comedy show in the evening which, despite the unnecessary adult language, was pretty entertaining. We stayed the night and then drove back to Victorville Sunday around noon to try to beat the traffic returning to the LA Basin.

January 29th: Los Angeles and Hollywood
After another week of work (and a few test flights), we decided this time to check out the LA area. So on Saturday, we drove across the mountains, through the El Cajon Pass (elevation 4200 feet) and drove all the way to the oceanfront to check out Venice Beach. This area was supposed to be good for touristy types, since they have a lot of activities and shops and stuff. So we walked through the beach and checked out folks doing all sorts of things: skateboarding, basketball, roller skating, flying kites, volleyball, surfing, painting walls, playgrounds, etc. It was kind of neat to see folks out doing stuff in January. Don’t you just hate these people?

Then, later in the day, we drove over through Beverly Hills and on into Hollywood. We found the Hollywood sign and posed for a few quick photos before the sun went down. Then we walked around the Walk of Fame and found stars for the greats such as Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Tom Hanks, as well as some fun ones like Pee-Wee Herman, Chuck Norris, Charlie Sheen, The Simpsons, Kermit the Frog, and Godzilla. Later that night, we checked out Mann’s Chinese Theater and then had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. A pretty fun night.

February 5th-6th: K1 Racing and Las Vegas (Super Bowl)
After another week of work, my original work buddy left and went back home while two more work friends came out for different testing. So on Saturday, we again drove across the mountains and into the LA Basin area. We found a sweet indoor go-kart place called K1 Racing and we did 3 races. Out of the three of us, I think I finished last every time. But that was ok, it was fun anyways. The karts were electric and reached speeds up to about 35 to 40 mph. It was pretty intense!

Then on Sunday, the three of us took a drive to Las Vegas. This was the second trip there for me within a few weeks, but the first for the other two guys on this trip. That Sunday, of course, was Super Bowl Sunday. So we wanted to go to Vegas just to watch the game. We ended up going to the Hofbrauhaus to watch the game. Yeah, this is the same place that’s in Newport, Kentucky. There are only 3 or 4 locations in the whole world. Cincinnati, Las Vegas, and of course the original in Munich, Germany. So we went in and sat down to watch the game and then our waitress showed up. She was an interesting character. We’re fairly certain that she was OCD. If you want to hear some funny stories about our experience with her, ask me sometime.

By the way, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25. There were fans of both teams in the restaurant watching and it was funny just to watch them react as the teams switched leads back and forth. One Steelers fan in particular was pretty annoying and was a sore loser in the end.


February 12th-13th: Cabazon and Temecula Winery
After another rigorous week of testing, the three of us decided to take Saturday and rest. So I took the chance to drive around and do a little more sight-seeing. I drove across the mountains towards LA again, but this time headed east on I-10 towards a town called Cabazon. Why, you ask? Well, that is the town where the famous Cabazon Dinosaurs are located. For any of you children of the 80’s, these are the dinosaurs featured in the movies “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and “The Wizard.” They have a big Brontosaurus statue (named Dinny the Dinosaur) and a T-Rex (named Mr. Rex). They have a gift shop inside of the Brontosaurus statue with a lot of tacky souvenirs. You could go up inside of Mr. Rex too, but it was extra, so I didn’t do it.

So then on Sunday, the three of us got back together again and headed out towards San Diego to the Temecula wine region. We found a neat winery and sampled a few wines. Their almond wine was really good! We were joined there later in the evening by one of the test pilots who lived near Temecula. The wine country is absolutely gorgeous that time of year. Just perfect weather and beautiful rolling hills and mountains in the background.

February 20th: San Diego (USS Midway Museum)
After yet another week of testing, the three of us decided to head down to San Diego and check out the USS Midway Museum. The USS Midway was an aircraft carrier originally built during World War II, but it had been renovated and upgraded a few times since then. It was retired in 1992 and then returned to San Diego where it was made into a floating museum. It was pretty cool to walk through the hanger deck and above on the flight deck too. You can’t believe how big these boats are until you are on one. The flight deck had about 10-15 airplanes parked on it and there was still plenty of room. You could even go below deck and check out the living quarters. You could walk through the kitchen and cafeteria, the sick bay, the movie theater, machine shop, sleeping rooms, and even the brig. It was a pretty neat place and I highly recommend it, but you had better be ready to do a lot of walking!

February 27th: Legoland and San Diego Beaches
So by this time, my work friends had left and gone back home. I stayed behind to complete the final few flights. So after another week of testing, I decided to drive down to San Diego (again) and go to Legoland. I think that this time of year was a good time to go because it was not very crowded. But it was a perfect day… in the mid-60’s and sunny.

So I have always been a big fan of Legos. I had a lot of sets when I was a kid and I always loved the creativity that you could show with them. The Legoland theme park is on the north side of San Diego and it has rides and other attractions just like a normal theme park. But what I wanted to see was what they call “Mini-Land, USA.” This is a large section of the theme park where they have built miniature models of famous cities and places in the US. They have models of places such as New York City, Las Vegas, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Hollywood, San Francisco, and even New England. They also have a boat tour you can ride to see models of the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, and Mount Rushmore. So cool and such amazing detail! Check out the photos!!

So after checking out Legoland, I stopped by some beaches on the way back. The San Diego beaches are simply gorgeous this time of year. It was brisk, but not cold. And the sun provided nice warmth and light. I could have stayed there for hours, staring out over the majestic Pacific Ocean, but I had to get back to my hotel.

February 24th: New Flying Test Bed
So throughout this whole trip, I was working during the weekdays. As I said before, we were testing the GEnx engine on our 747-100 flying test bed (FTB) aircraft. The 747 aircraft has 4 engines, and the FTB airplane is set up so that 3 of the engines are the original engines and the fourth engine is the new test engine, which is set up on the left-hand inboard position. If you look at the photos I’ve included of the airplane, you can see that the one engine is different from the others.

My job was to sit at a computer on the airplane and monitor the test engine for controls issues. So I got to go on every single flight of this test campaign. We made 14 flights all told, with each flight varying from between 5 to 9 hours long depending on the mission. Most of the time, we just flew in circles around the Mojave Desert airspace. But on a few occasions, we flew up and around Montana, Washington, and even out over the Pacific Ocean (where we even saw an aircraft carrier). We flew at all sorts of altitudes and airspeeds and even shut down and restarted the test engine and purposefully stalled it a few times. But the pilots and test team were all very professional and I was not nervous or anxious about flying with them at all. Though I still had to wear the orange jump suit as a safety precaution in case there were any fires on the airplane. Luckily, there weren’t.

So GE has had this airplane since about 1990. It was originally operated by Pan Am Airlines and had carried passengers around for about 20 years since it first rolled off the assembly line back in 1969. When Pan Am retired the plane, GE bought it and converted it into our flying test bed. Since the airplane is getting to be old and requiring high maintenance attention, the company decided to purchase a new airplane to replace it. The new airplane, a 747-400, was purchased from Japan Air Lines. I got to tour the new airplane inside and out and it was very clean and appeared to be impeccably maintained.

So while I was there, GE held a public ceremony to announce the new airplane. The Mayor of Victorville and even one of the Representatives of California was invited to christen the new airplane. Of course, it will not be ready to fly for test for at least another year or two, since there are a lot of modifications to be made before it can be used for that purpose. But it was exciting to be there in person for such a neat and unique announcement. It’s not every day that an airplane is purchased for future use as a flying test bed. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll get to take a ride in the new plane. All but one of the photos below (including the ones of me in the cockpit) are of the current airplane. I tried to get some decent photos of it on our media day. The new plane is the 2nd photo (the white plane with the red tail fin).

March 4th-5th: Return to Ohio
So with our testing finally completed, I had to get back to Columbus for our family get-together at Fort Rapids indoor waterpark. We were all supposed to meet there on Friday night, but we did not complete our final test flight until that Friday. So I did the next best thing… I booked the overnight red-eye flight from Ontario to Columbus and made it back to Columbus at about 10am on Saturday morning (after a lay-over in Atlanta). I tried to sleep a bit on the plane, but only nodded off for a few hours. Needless to say, I was exhausted! I tried to stay awake long enough to swim and spend time with the family, but I was just so tired. Finally, at about 8pm on Saturday night, my dad drove me back home to Cincinnati (since my car was still at home). I got back and luckily my house was still in perfect working order (electric and water and everything was fine) and my car started right up on the first try after sitting there for 7 weeks without running. Amazing!! So I took the following Monday off to get my mail and get caught up on my laundry and other chores.


Trip Summary
It was a great trip, but perhaps just a tad too long. Despite the awesome weather (I was lucky enough to miss the “snowpocalypse” storm of the century), it gets really old living in a hotel for 50 days. Plus, I missed my friends and family and I missed our church here, so I was ready to be back. I returned to a few bills that were about a week overdue, but other than that my house was like I never left (which is a good thing). So I spent the next week or so just switching back to the Eastern Time Zone and catching up on my house and mail. It was a great experience and I was glad that I could go. I would definitely do it again. And I highly recommend checking out the Southern California area if you’re looking for somewhere to go for fun. There is a ton of stuff to do there and the weather is always gorgeous. I think next time I will try to check out some of the National Parks in the area.