Naval Air Museum 07/15/08

Posted by Mike 07/23/08
On July 15th my sister Robbie and her family came to see us and we decided to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation. We had called ahead and reserved time in the F-14 Top Gun Air Combat Simulators. These four simulators, are the real deal. They were used to train more than 1,000 F-14 pilots during the 30 year length of service of the Tomcat. The ride costs $25 for one or two people and includes a pre-flight briefing and 20 thrilling minutes at the controls. The simulators are two-seaters with the pilot in the front seat and the radar intercept officer in the back seat. During my time at the stick I soon realized, that even though I have real flight time (single engine Piper Colt) I'm no match to a 14 year old with countless hours of Nintendo, Play station and X box training.

We plan on visiting again and hopefully we will take one of the guided tours through the museum because this trip was spent riding simulators and shooting parents out of the sky.

The museum is located on the Pensacola Naval Air Station also home of the Blue Angels. When the Blues practice sometime we can sit on Sea Me Knot and get a free show.

A few pictures of our visit.