Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum (Final Part)

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 04/09/2009*

After finishing our Gatorade in the Mess Deck, we headed out to the Pier. The newly renovated Pier looks real good. There are loads of cafe like tables and chairs as well as park benches for museum visitors to take a break or to have a picnic lunch. They even have free WIFI so that you can access the Internet if you need to. From the Pier, we can also check out the USS Intrepid's stern.You can see how the giant spool of thread mooring lines is used to tie it up to the dock.

As we continued to walk towards the end of the Pier, we were greeted by this magnificent British Airways Concorde Alpha Delta G-BOAD. We were pretty excited to see the Concorde up close. This Concorde was built in 1976 and cost $152 million dollars! That was a LOT of money back in 1976, hmmm come to think of it, that is lot of money even for NOW! :P It's the fastest and highest flying airliner in existence, taking less than three hours to fly from New York to London (half the time of regular airliners). Do not be alarmed by the dark black smoke behind the Concorde. The black smoke was coming from a brush fire in New Jersey :D

We were kinda surprise that the Concorde is actually very very slim. It has a max cruise speed of 1,350 mph (mach 2.04) and a cruising altitude of 60,000', high enough for it's passengers to see the curvature of the earth!! It's about 203' in length and a wingspan of 83'. The Concorde is powered by four Rolls Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 engines and is capable of covering 3,900 nautical miles without refueling. An interesting fact that we learned while we were there was the Concorde expands approximately 8 inches during flight due to friction heating. Wow! I didn't know that.

While it was in operation, more than 2.5 million passengers experienced the luxury of the Concorde Alpha Delta. It's so cool that we had a chance to actually go on board to see what it looks like inside. An average transatlantic fare was about $6,000! Wow $6,000! With $6,000, I can get five return tickets to fly home to Malaysia and back!! Another thing I noticed about the Concorde is that the windows are very very very tiny. Look at it. It just slighter larger than a passport. Something like the size of a large PDA. I guess it's so fast you won't have time to look out of the window!! :D

Upon entering the plane, we get to walk through the cabins. The Concorde can hold between 90 to 100 passengers. The seats looks really small and tight. The legroom was alright but the width of the seats were really small. Even the aisle was really tight. I would hate to be sitting in the aisle seat when the food cart is coming by :P Oh, what about if you really really need to go to the toilet and the food cart was there? Man, there is no way to go around it! Hahaha! Talking about the toilets on board, they are really small too!! If you think the regular airline toilets are small, you should checkout the Concorde's toilet.

On the way out of the plane, we had a chance to peek into the cockpit. So many buttons and knobs! The Concorde has a flight crew of two pilots, one flight engineer and six cabin crew. I guess one of the criteria for being a flight crew member, be it pilot or cabin crew is that you must be super skinny. I cannot imagine myself working in that tight and compact environment. No fatties please!

Protest from environmentalists prevented it's supersonic use over the United States and limited airport operations here. A crash upon take off in July 2000 grounded the fleet until 2001. The Concorde flew VIP passengers until 2003 and that's when both British Airways as well as Air France retired their fleets from service. Once we finished walking through the Concorde, we went to check out the little cafe/picnic area under the Concorde. You can just sit UNDER a Concorde for a cup of coffee or a snack. Isn't that wayyyy cool? Where else can you have a cup of coffee under the Concorde as well as enjoy the view of the Hudson River? Very very nice!

From the Concorde, we headed to the other side of the Pier to see the Growler submarine! We read in the museum guide book that we would be able to go aboard this diesel powered nuclear missile submarine. However, our excitement vanish when we saw a big sign saying that it was close for repairs :( Mannn, what a bummer. I read in some article online later on that it was undergoing some repairs because its hull was leaking. The Growler submarine will only be opened to the public in late May. Oh well, it was still cool to see a submarine up close. Here is a photo of the Gowler submarine as well as the 56 ft long Regulus cruise missile.

We headed to the Museum Gift Shop on the way out. There were the usual t-shirts, fridge magnets, key chains, shot glasses, post cards..ect for sale as well as Armed Forces inspired toys and books. They also had some space kits and models of ships and airplanes for children. Guess what we bought from the gift shop? :D

SPACE FOOD STICKS!! We bought one chocolate and one peanut butter flavor ($2.95 each). Yup, that's right. Astronaut food. They were actually developed as high protein energy snacks for early space missions. Kevin told me that he tried astronaut ice cream when he visited the Kennedy Space Center a long time ago when he was a kid. He said that it was yummy so we wanted to try and see if this is good too. The verdict? Boyyy, I have never eaten anything so gross before! We opened the chocolate stick first. It was a weird brown color (looks like poop) and when I tried to break it into two, it wouldn't break! It just bend into half and wouldn't break! I took a tiny bite and I was glad it was a tiny bite! It had this weird powdery texture, had some sort of plastic smell and tasted terrible! Yucks!! The peanut butter stick was even worse. It didn't taste like peanut butter at all!! Just some tasteless plastic smelling stick. Very very bad!!! :P Please remind me never to buy space food ever again. Hahaha!

Overall, we had a greeeaaat time at the Intrepid Museum. It was a very informative and interesting outing. The weather was perfect, with the sun shining brightly and a nice cool breeze was blowing. We had fun and would definitely recommend the Intrepid to anybody who is looking for something fun to do in NYC!

Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum
Pier 86, W 46th St and 12th Ave
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212)245 0072
Web: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum (Part II)

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 04/08/2009*

Alritey, are we ready to continue on the tour of the USS Intrepid? We have covered the whole flight deck and now we will be entering the Island. From here, Intrepids crew members navigated the aircraft carrier, tracked vessels as well as monitored flight operations. It contained all the equipment that was state of the art for it's day. From the Island, we can also get superb views of the flight deck as well as the Manhattan skyline.

The highest level of the Island is the Flag Bridge. Back in the day, when the Intrepid was designated as the flagship of a battle group, the admiral in charge would occupy the flag bridge and command all the ships as one unit. The Intrepids captain still maintained direct command of his ship but took orders related to battle group activities from the admiral. He would exercise his command from the Navigation Bridge, one level below. Here is Kevin, about to enter Navigation Bridge or Captains Bridge which is below the Flag Bridge. Pretty interesting.

Now we are in the Navigation Bridge, where the captain commanded his ship. From the captains seat, he could observe the flight deck as well as look out to sea. The bridge contains controls for steering and navigation. We also managed to get a good look at the helm (wheel), communication equipment that allows bridge offers to send commands down to the engine room as well as telephones and talk tubes to allow the captain and his staff to communicate with other parts of the ship (maybe it's for when he wants to order up some room service food :P). There was also a room with a tiny bed at the back, I guess it's for the captain to rest when he needs to. The Navigation Bridge also allows excess to the Gallery Deck inside the Intrepid. This is where you can look at the Ready Room - the place pilots receive their last instructions before taking off as well as the Combat Information Center. This is one level below the Flight Deck. I didn't take any photos on this deck because it pretty dark and tight, a maze of small walkways and rooms. I actually felt a little claustrophobic in there :P

From the Gallery Deck, we went down one more level to the Hanger Deck. Ahhhhh better. At least it's not so claustrophobic anymore. This is considered the Main Deck of the Intrepid. There are lots of things to do on this deck. You can follow the decks two separate paths, an exhibition of people who lived and worked on the ship which is on the starboard side and we can also explore the Intrepid's technology exhibition which is on the port side. There are also a lot of hands on things for kids at the Exploreum. They can try to land a plane in the flight stimulator, climb into a life boat, pick up objects while wearing an astronauts glove, sit in an helicopter cockpit and a host of other things. Here is Kevin with the Aurora 7 Capsule replica. The Intrepid participated in the NASA space program as a recovery vessel, picking up astronauts and their capsules after ocean landings.

There are also a few airplanes and helicopters on display in the Hanger Deck. After all, this was where they kept all the airplanes back in the day. It was designed to accommodate 90 aircrafts during WW II. I'm seen here with the A-4B Skyhawk. The Skyhawk weighed half an much as the Skyrider and featured a modified delta wing that did not require folding for carrier hanger storage or transportation to the flight deck. It also set a world speed record of 695 mph in 1954. Senator John McCain had also flown the A-4 off the USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War (he previously had flown Skyriders off the Intrepid). This A-4B is painted to resemble one that flew off the Intrepid during her first Veitnam tour.

Now it's time to move to the bow of the Intrepid to the Fo'c's'le (an abbreviation of forecastle), which traditionally refers to the forward part of the ship. Here is Kevin in the Anchor Chain Room. This is where the massive chains of anchor enters the ship. Look at the size of the chains. Each link of the Intrepid's anchor chain weighs 150lbs! The total weight of each anchor chain is a whooping 30,000lbs!! There are three of that positioned at the bow.

Here am I looking amused at the super huge mooring lines. Looks like a giant spool of thread! All we need now is a giant needle, then I can sew the world's largest shirt or something like that. Who am I kidding, I can't sew for anything! Hahaha. The mooring lines is used to tie up the ship to the dock.

The Fo'c's'le also houses some of the Intrepid's officers. This is an example of a Junior Officers Berthing. While Junior Offers bunked dormitory style, higher ranking officers share two person staterooms. Here are two photos of the super small cabin. Bunk beds on one side with some sort of storage and desk as well as a sink and mirror on the other side of the room. I guess they have nothing to complain about. This looks like the Hilton compared to the Sailors Berthing. It looks terrible...three layers that looks like hammocks or cots and each sailor is assigned one of those and a small locker. I couldn't take any pictures because there were too many people and I kept on getting a reflection from the flash hitting the glass enclosure.

With that, we have completed the Hanger Deck. Now, let us proceed downwards to the Third Deck. The entire third deck is also referred to as the Mess Deck. The cooks prepare food for the crew in two large galleys, equipped with grills, fryers and ovens. I saw the biggest mixer ever in the galley..it was as tall as me!! It must be the King of all Kitchenaid mixers :D We also had a chance to look at the officers mess halls as well as the regular mess halls. For crews who had to stay at their post during mealtimes, the cooks would bring basic cold rations to their post. However, Navy 'chow' was (and some say it's true til today) regarded as the finest in the Armed Forces, offering 'three hot squares' a day. The Intrepid Museum has converted one of the mess halls into a cafeteria where we can purchase drinks and snacks. We were so tired from all the walking (it's really really big!), so we took a break and bought some drinks :P

This concludes the tour from the inside of the USS Intrepid. In the final part of this three part tour of the Intrepid Museum, we will head outside to the Pier to checkout the British Airways Concorde as well as the Growler Submarine. Stick around for the final part!! :D

Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum
Pier 86, W 46th St and 12th Ave
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212)245 0072
Web: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum (Part I)

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 04/07/2009*

We have always wanted to visit the Intrepid Museum and we had opportunity to do so last Sunday. We received free tickets from Bank of America under the Museums On Us program and we were pretty excited about it. The regular ticket price was $19.50 per adult, so we already saved ourselves $39.00!! It was such a nice spring day.The skies were blue and the weather was just perfect, not too hot and not too cold. The nearest subway stop is the 42nd St station. You can either catch a cab, bus or walk from the subway to the Intrepid. Since it was a such nice day, we didn't mind walking. Checkout some of the daffodils and white cherry blossoms that we saw along the way. Spring is definitely here!

It was already lunch time and we were getting hungry. So, we stopped at one of the Shish Kebab carts to get a Hot Italian Sausage Dog. It's so funny that he stopped cooking to pose for the photo!

This is a close up of the Hot Italian Sausage Dog. He sliced the Hot Italian Sausage and put some ketchup and mustard (which I didn't want) inside. The taste? Truthfully, it was one of the worst dogs ever! Kevin seems to like it but it tasted weird to me. We couldn't even tell if it was beef, pork, chicken or who knows what. Rat maybe? Hahaha. It wasn't cheap either, set us back $12 for two dogs.

Ok ok, you must be thinking, isn't this post supposed to be about the Intrepid? I guess I got carried away. After the dogs, we arrived at the Intrepid at last! It's located on Pier 86, at 12th Avenue and 46th St. The aircraft carrier USS Intrepid was built in 1943 and served tours of duty spanning from WW II through the Vietnam War. During that time, she also survived five kamikaze attacks, several bomb attacks and one torpedo strike!! Not just that, she also served as a NASA astronaut recovery vessel before retiring in 1974. Pretty cool huh? No wonder the line was sooooo long to get it. Once you get in the door, there is still a long line before the ticket booths. Thank God it was a fast moving line. I think it took us only about 15 minutes to get in.

Once we have passed through the Welcome Center, we were ushered out to the Pier. This is where you can choose to go on the USS Intrepid, checkout the Growler Submarine or the British Airways Concorde. We decided to head to the aircraft carrier first, since that's the main attraction. It was recommended that we start from the Flight Deck, the highest level of the aircraft carrier. So, Flight Deck it was....Welcome Aboard!

The Flight Deck is every boys dream (maybe some girls too). It holds the Intrepid Museums aircraft collection, about 30 airplanes and helicopters. It's a mix of US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp, Coast Guard as well as some foreign aircrafts. I must admit that yes, I guess it's pretty exciting to see all those cool aircrafts up close but I really didn't know what they are, who they belong to and which war it was used in. Kevin on the other hand was very excited and he had to answer all my "what's this, where is this from, and who flew it" questions :P Here is Kevin standing in front of the Vought F-8K Crusader. It's a US Navy aircraft and was the first supersonic fighter designed for carrier use. The one next to it is the Grumman A-6F Intruder and the one with the red stripes is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The F-14 Tomcat was the Navy's first line fighter from 1972- 2006. This is the same type of aircraft that was featured in the movie Top Gun.

Here is a photo of us standing at the bow of the Intrepid with view of the Manhattan skyline behind us. Remember the movie "I am Legend"? Neville (played by Will Smith) was hitting golf balls off an aircraft carrier? Well, it was on the deck here at the Intrepid.

This is a U.S Coast Guard helicopter. The HH-52 was the first turbo-shaft helicopter, flies at 104mph and it has rescued more people than any other helicopter in the world.

I took a picture of this helicopter because I thought that is was very cute :P Kevin later told me that it's a AH-1 Cobra and it was used during the Vietnam War. It was the first helicopter that was designed especially for the ground attack role and it has a top speed of 219 mph. The pilot flies from the rear of the cockpit and the gunner is in front, controlling the mini gun and grenade launcher. Kinda cool, huh? :D

Here is a fleet of colorful foreign aircrafts. The first three are from the Soviet Union. There are also some from Italy, Israel, Russia, France as well as England. I was trying my best to remember when it was flown and stuff like that but I was slowly losing interest (information overload :P). I think there was a Blackbird and Viper from the Air Force too but I didn't take a photo of it.

After walking through all the interesting aircrafts, we reached the stern of the aircraft carrier. What an amazing sight. This must have been the view of the aircraft carrier that pilots got back in the day when they landed their aircrafts. I must say that I was really impressed with the size of the aircraft carrier. I didn't expect it to be soooo big! If I am not mistaken, it's about 912' in length.

We are done checking out the flight deck. Now, we are going into the Navigation Bridge as well as other decks of the Intrepid. Wanna join us? Stay tuned for the next post....

Intrepid - Sea, Air & Space Museum
Pier 86, W 46th St and 12th Ave
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212)245 0072
Web: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/