Trip to Galveston, Texas
 

Last week I went on a trip with our Flight Team to Galveston, Texas. We were one of 7 teams in the Region 4 'Safecon' competition. They hold competitions in both flight and ground categories. In flight, the events were Navigation, power-on & power-off landings, and message drop (you get to drop something out the window to try and hit a target on the ground :P). In ground competitions we had airplane recognition (look at pictures of airplanes and write down what they are) and a few other boring things...

The airport we used was right next to the Lone Star museum (a great museum, if you are in Galveston definitely stop by, linky: http://www.lsfm.org/). One of my events was inside, so I took some pictures (actually, the nice quality ones are from someone from another team who had a real camera, thanks person! :D). I had a lot of fun, and saw some neat airplanes.

The nicest F4U I have ever seen...and it flys! 8)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2799/DSCF56.th.jpg

another plane that is air-worthy and in beautiful condition:
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/4526/DSCF59.th.jpg

F6F with wings-folded...and it flys too!
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/4724/DSCF57.th.jpg

Notice the oil pans under the all the planes:
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1951/DSCF0062.th.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6568/DSCF0065.th.jpg

This P-38 is absolutely beautiful...1425hp on each side...
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/7369/DSCF67.th.jpg

A Spitfire having some maintenance done to the landing gear...also in flying condition! 8)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/7250/DSCF0070.th.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1535/DSCF0075.th.jpg

Mig-21, which is in the second hanger, with the non-flying planes...they also have a B-58 Hustler (4 engine supersonic bomber...badass) in there as well, but the pictures of it came out badly. :(
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/3527/DSCF0101.th.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6599/DSCF0099.th.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/8555/DSCF0097.th.jpg

A nice big V-12 :P
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6471/redone2.th.jpg

A picture around sunset of almost all of the PHI helicopters. Just off the coast of Galveston there are tons of oil rigs, and these helicopters fly back and forth all day long. I think they had around 12, and total there were 40+ helicopters at that airport!
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/9463/redone3.jpg

There's a rainforest inside of there supposedly. ;)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/4466/redone4.jpg

Some radial engines:
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2266/redone7.jpg

I got bored waiting on the taxi-way (no one to talk to in the airplane, we couldn't take passengers on competition flights lol). So I took some pictures. Taken with a crap disposable camera from inside one of our Cessna 172's while waiting on the taxi-way to take-off for the power-on landing competition.
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2641/redone8.jpg

Also taken on the taxi-way, after completing the power-on landings, you can see the pyramids in the far off distance.
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2139/redone9.jpg

We also went to Houston (it was on the way)...damn that city is fucking huge! The car dealerships are just immense...and the Dodge dealer had two brand new black Vipers sitting outside(!)...but we were on the interstate and I couldn't get any pics. I also got my first ride on a motorcycle...I want a motorcycle now! :P

That's cool a spitfire, i think it's the best looking fighter plane