Home again home again
I have safely returned from my Hell is Travel excursion.
For professional development, I accompanied the Defense Science Support Group Session #4 on their peregrinations about the country. The DSSG is a program run by my company that exposes academics and some industrial researchers to defense-related research questions, facilities, and organizations. There have been about 140 graduates of the program over the last 20 years; each group holds 8 'sessions' over a span of 2 years. Some of the sessions are all in one place; others are extremely travel-intensive. This was one of the latter.
I flew by commercial air to Seattle on August 6, hooking up with the session at the Marriott Sea-Tac. From there it was:
2 days in Washington -- Ft. Lewis, Boeing
Fly to Edwards AFB (Mojave Desert) by KC-135 tanker
2 days at Edwards -- AF Test Command, Skunkworks, Northrup-Grumman
Fly to Omaha by KC-135
1 day at STRATCOM (formerly Strategic Air Command)
1 day free
Fly to Wright-Patterson AFB (Dayton) by KC-135
1 afternoon guided tour of the AF Museum
1 day at Air Force Research Labs
Fly back to DC by commercial air
Half a day (our anniversary) with my wife.
Fly to Tulsa, OK for two days of software training (Statistica Data Miner)
Fly back three days later, worn to a frazzle.
I have to say, the DSSG trip was really quite fascinating, with interesting people to meet and interesting places to see. And some cool toys, up close and personal. The travel by MilAir was interesting too -- and on the first leg, they brought along a C-5 Galaxy and practiced mid-air refueling manoeuvers all the way down, with the passengers taking turns lying down (2 at a time) at the tail windows with the boom controller. Wow -- the pilots of the other plane were so close you could practically read their lips. That experience was worth the whole trip.
For professional development, I accompanied the Defense Science Support Group Session #4 on their peregrinations about the country. The DSSG is a program run by my company that exposes academics and some industrial researchers to defense-related research questions, facilities, and organizations. There have been about 140 graduates of the program over the last 20 years; each group holds 8 'sessions' over a span of 2 years. Some of the sessions are all in one place; others are extremely travel-intensive. This was one of the latter.
I flew by commercial air to Seattle on August 6, hooking up with the session at the Marriott Sea-Tac. From there it was:
2 days in Washington -- Ft. Lewis, Boeing
Fly to Edwards AFB (Mojave Desert) by KC-135 tanker
2 days at Edwards -- AF Test Command, Skunkworks, Northrup-Grumman
Fly to Omaha by KC-135
1 day at STRATCOM (formerly Strategic Air Command)
1 day free
Fly to Wright-Patterson AFB (Dayton) by KC-135
1 afternoon guided tour of the AF Museum
1 day at Air Force Research Labs
Fly back to DC by commercial air
Half a day (our anniversary) with my wife.
Fly to Tulsa, OK for two days of software training (Statistica Data Miner)
Fly back three days later, worn to a frazzle.
I have to say, the DSSG trip was really quite fascinating, with interesting people to meet and interesting places to see. And some cool toys, up close and personal. The travel by MilAir was interesting too -- and on the first leg, they brought along a C-5 Galaxy and practiced mid-air refueling manoeuvers all the way down, with the passengers taking turns lying down (2 at a time) at the tail windows with the boom controller. Wow -- the pilots of the other plane were so close you could practically read their lips. That experience was worth the whole trip.