Jenn's Blog

After Houston I headed to Florida to hang out in St. Augustine for a couple of days while waiting for the Jacksonville Sea & Sky Spectacular. I had a whole condo right on the beach to myself for 2 days while Michael and Matt were in Louisiana getting Michael’s Red Bull Air Race medical certificate. The weather was perfect and the beach side location was amazing. I spent the two days resting up in anticipation of a very busy couple of days in Jacksonville working the airshow. Unlike the airshow in Houston, the Jacksonville airshow was remote with the airshow taking place over the Jacksonville beaches. Seems simple enough, but it is a logistical nightmare! I arrived at Naval Station Mayport (where all of the performers were based out of) Thursday afternoon where I met up with Michael and Matt. After all of the rumors I had heard about staying on a military base, I expected the worst. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked in to my hotel room and found a lovely 3 room suite waiting for me. Friday was spent getting prepared for the weekend performances and spending time on the boardwalk down town figuring out where the essential locations were. That evening we went to the “Pre-flight Party” at the Seawalk Pavillion, which turned out to be more of an autograph session than a party. The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun. I spent Saturday at Mayport getting to know the other teams and helping out where I could. Sunday I enjoyed the show from the beach, snapping pictures of the crowd and the show. During Michael’s performance our Team Mechanic, Matt, showed his true “Superman” self during the Superman themed section of the performance. I was also fortunate to visit with my uncle and cousin favorite little cousin Jamie for a little while after the performance. That afternoon Team Goulian headed back down to St. Augustine to get started on work for the 2010 airshow season.

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As part of the DWC overnight ACE Camp (see What is ACE Camp? for more info on the camp itself)  we have always invited the young women attending the camp to join us  two days early for a “Women’s Weekend” at no additional cost. It is gives the women a chance to bond (since they are significantly outnumbered by the male campers…) and get to know women in the aviation industry.

For the past couple of years we have had trouble finding industry professionals who are able to join us for the Women’s Weekend to come talk to the young women. Due to the lack of support we have been forced to cut the weekend down to a “Women’s Day”, and fear that we might be forced to eliminate the women’s portion of the camp completely if we aren’t able to find industry professionals to help us inspire the camps young women.

We are looking for women of all walks of life who work in the aviation industry to come speak at the Women’s Day and spend some time with the girls. Any help would be greatly appreciated. This program is what helped me get my start in aviation, and I would be devastated to see it disappear!!

PLEASE HELP!!!

As a huge aviation geek it was a must for me to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The movie showcased a variety of gorgeous aircraft from the beautiful classics of Enola Gay to the high tech, high powered F-22. Of course I can’t neglect to mention one of my favorites (which I recently had the opportunity to sit in) the sleek and deadly B-1B. Any aviation enthusiast, however, couldn’t help but notice the flaws that come with Hollywood’s interpretation of the capabilities of aircraft. The most obvious was the scene where the characters were preparing to jump out of the C-130. I was impressed by their ability to stay standing during a steep turn that would have left any normal human being pressed flat against the wall. Normally I can overlook minor details such as that but there was one part that particularly bothered me. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is a place I haven’t visited in many years, but if I’m not mistaken it is still located in downtown Washington, D.C. That is why I was particularly impressed when breaking out of the Udvar-Hazy Center’s hangar they found themselves at “The Boneyard” in Arizona. Overall the movie was a fast paced, kick-ass movie that I would recommend to everyone