Special Reports Archive

Parallel park this!

More than a dozen Pilot journalists helped create a presentation on the docking of the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.
On Sunday, see The Virginian-Pilot to learn what it takes to dock a warship the size of a skyscraper, and come back to PilotOnline.com to follow the Eisenhower’s docking as if you were on board.
Here’s a preview:

Interactive videos: Docking a carrier

CLICK ON THE INTERACTIVE ABOVE TO WATCH VIDEOS AND LEARN MORE.
 
ABOARD THE EISENHOWER
After a journey of 56,000 miles, hundreds of combat flights and five months away from loved ones, the crew of the Dwight D. Eisenhower is within sight of home.

For Virginia Beach schools, racial divisions remain

VIRGINIA BEACH
E.E. Brickell integrated Virginia Beach schools in 1969, but he figured the first two generations of students would suffer.
Black students had to catch up to their white peers after decades of second hand books and second-class schools, Brickell said. "I thought it would take over twenty years," he said. "I was hopeful, but I was wrong."

The painful legacy of 1989's Greekfest endures

VIRGINIA BEACH Soldiers holding machine guns stood on street corners. Plywood covered more than 100 shattered storefronts, shards of glass sparkling on the sidewalk. It looked like a hurricane had struck a 10 -block stretch of Atlantic Avenue. In a way, it had.

Checkered History: For Va. Beach blacks, power still elusive

VIRGINIA BEACH
On the surface, this city looks like an American melting pot.
It ranks among the most integrated in the nation, with blacks, whites, Asians and a growing Hispanic population living side by side.
Virginia Beach schools have been integrated for 40 years and the city's work force matches the diversity of its population.

Hurricane Camille, Part 1: When the rain came

Aug. 19, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille's assault on central Virginia, in which nearly 150 people died. This series was first published in The Virginian-Pilot 10 years ago to mark the 30th anniversary. By Earl Swift The drought has gone on for two summers now.

Hurricane Camille, Part 5: Clinging to life

Aug. 19, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille assault on central Virginia, in which nearly 150 people died. This series was first published in The Virginian-Pilot 10 years ago to mark the 30th anniversary. By Earl Swift

Hurricane Camille, Part 6: Revelations at morning

Aug. 19, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille assault on central Virginia, in which nearly 150 people died. This series was first published in The Virginian-Pilot 10 years ago to mark the 30th anniversary. By Earl Swift

Hurricane Camille, Part 7: A land transformed

Aug. 19, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille assault on central Virginia, in which nearly 150 people died. This series was first published in The Virginian-Pilot 10 years ago to mark the 30th anniversary. By Earl Swift At daybreak the rain had slowed to a drizzle. Tommy Huffman and his brother Russell stepped outside to a world changed.

Hurricane Camille, Part 8: Living with the scars

Aug. 19, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of Hurricane Camille assault on central Virginia, in which nearly 150 people died. This series was first published in The Virginian-Pilot 10 years ago to mark the 30th anniversary. By Earl Swift The Blue Ridge is an ancient range, the offspring of forces as old as the planet.