Wheeling, WV
Wheeling-Ohio County Airport sits on a Knoxville-Wheeling ridge at 1,195 feet, eight miles south of downtown Wheeling. Single runway 16/34, 5,004 feet. Wheeling itself is built on terraces above the Ohio River — the city was the western terminus of the National Road, the country's first federal interstate, completed here in 1818. The Wheeling Suspension Bridge, opened 1849 across the Ohio, was the longest suspension bridge in the world for several years (1,010 feet) and remains the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in the United States still in use. In 1861 Wheeling's Independence Hall hosted the conventions that broke West Virginia off from Confederate Virginia; the building, still standing on Market Street, is sometimes called "the birthplace of West Virginia." The Cabela's mother store in nearby Triadelphia and Oglebay Park (one of the largest municipal parks in the country) are the modern draws.
The Allegheny River (from the north) and the Monongahela River (from the south) meet at the western tip of downtown Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River, which then runs 981 miles to the Mississippi. Point State Park sits at the confluence — 36 acres of riverfront with a 150-foot fountain at the very tip, marking the site of the colonial-era Fort Pitt (1761) and the earlier French Fort Duquesne (1754) that was the casus belli for the French and Indian War. The Pittsburgh skyline rises directly behind the Point — the Steel City's downtown is wedged into the triangle of land between the rivers, a uniquely compact American downtown bordered on two sides by water. The Roberto Clemente Bridge (yellow), the Andy Warhol Bridge (yellow), and the Rachel Carson Bridge (yellow) — the Three Sisters — cross the Allegheny into the North Shore, where PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium sit on the riverbank.
John Glenn — first American to orbit the Earth, Marine combat pilot, four-term U.S. senator, and at 77 the oldest person to fly in space — grew up in New Concord, just east of Zanesville. The Sears kit house his father assembled in 1923 has been restored as the John & Annie Glenn Museum, complete with costumed interpreters and a one-third-scale Friendship 7 capsule. Glenn met Annie here as a child; she went on to become a noted advocate for people with speech disabilities. His name rides on the Columbus airport and his statue stands in the Statehouse, but this small town is where the dreams started — fitting ground for an app about flying.
In Canton, Ohio — birthplace of the NFL (the league was organized at a Hupmobile dealership in Canton in 1920). The Hall of Fame opened in 1963 and has been the football pilgrimage ever since. Bronze busts of every inductee, the Lombardi Trophy, the Twilight of the NFL Theater. Annual Hall of Fame Game (preseason) and induction ceremony in early August. The HOF Village complex around the museum continues to expand. KCAK is 5 minutes away.
Holmes County has the largest Amish population of any county in the world — over 35,000 — exceeding even Lancaster, Pennsylvania. From the air, the contrast is striking: Amish farms with no power lines, neat rows of crops, often a windmill, surrounded by English farms with electrical service. Berlin, Walnut Creek, Sugarcreek, and Charm are the heart of the community. Amish furniture and quilt shops, family-style restaurants, and quiet country roads define the area. KBJJ (Wooster) is the closest GA airport.