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Midway 2007

PAT/HC group visits the aircraft carrier Midway.

HC/PAT members just can't get enough history.  While other students were spending spring break partying on the beaches of Baja and Cancun, fourteen HC/PAT members paid a visit to the museum aboard the aircraft carrier Midway.  The carrier was commissioned shortly after the end of WWII and saw service in the Vietnam and Gulf wars.  It was operated by a crew of over a thousand men, has a flight deck that spans four acres, and can accommodate up to a hundred aircraft.  The museum provides a window into life aboard an aircraft carrier, including the flight deck, hangar bay, bridge, flight control area, officers' quarters, engine rooms, mess hall, and sickbay.  The flight deck and hangar bay also display aircraft, such as the F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, F-8 Crusader, F-4 Phantom, and A-4 Skyhawk as well as helicopters, including a Huey Gunship, H-3 Sea King, and H-46 Sea Knight.  After the visit, some of the HC/PAT students continued the fun with a picnic in Mission Bay, the highlight of which was Professor Engen's pulling a hamstring while attempting to play soccer.