Aviation on The Infinite Unknown

The Long Decline: End of the Shuttle Program

Jared Watkins — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

For those who don’t know.. As a nation we have essentially decided to give up our manned space program. While NASA has done amazing things with robots and satellites in space the one aspect that really captivates is manned exploration. As with most huge projects, things haven’t exactly gone as planned with the shuttle or space station over the last 30 years. But now as reality sets in and we see the ending of the shuttle program it strikes me as a milestone that the United States will not have a way to get people into space forcing us to rely on the cooperation of others (who are not our friends) to do so. I wanted to share a few things for those who are interested.

From Penn Jillette in How to Play In Traffic

It’s 3.7 miles away, and your looking at this flame and the flame is far away and it’s brighter than watching an arc welder from across a room[….] The fluffy smoke clouds of the angels of exploration spill out of your field of vision. They spill out of your peripheral vision. It’s the biggest explosion you’ve ever seen but you’re hearing… swamp sounds. You have time to notice the quiet, wrinkle one eyebrow and think to yourself “Hmm it seems so bright and smoky – you know, I would have thought there would be some noise.”

Right as you say the word ‘noise’ in your head, right as those synapses connect, you get hit in the chest. You don’t exactly hear it at first, it almost knocks you over. It’s the loudest most wonderful sound you’ve ever heard. […] You can’t really hear it. It’s too loud to hear. It’s wonderful deep and low.

This is a real explosion and it’s controlled and it’s doing nothing but good and it makes your unbuttoned shirt flap around your arms. It’s beyond sound,it’s wind. It’s a man-made hurricane.”

PCL Prototype Delivered

Jared Watkins — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

My pilot controlled lighting box is done and will be installed sometime after thanksgiving at Goose Creek. As designed.. the system uses a small mic placed near the FBO radio to listen for seven radio clicks in a 10 second period… and it then turns on the runway lights for 15 minutes. This was my first project built around a basic stamp.. and that part of it was pretty cool. I am considering making some improvements to this setup and trying to market it to other small/private airports. I may also try to design a solid state beacon that’s built around high output LEDs for the same market.

R.I.P. 6922T

Jared Watkins — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Yet another plane that I learned to fly in sits in pieces in the woods…

This comes less than a year after my primary trainer 4TK was crashed by another student. I don’t have all the details… but it seems that a 25 hour student took it out solo without checking with an instructor… (as is policy) or getting a weather briefing… and tried to land in 15-20kn crosswind when they were only signed off for 6kn. After a botched go-around.. they ended up in a cross controled stall about mid field at 100′ or so AGL… banked over.. sending them left of the runway.. and ended up hitting the trees nose down. At one point they were banked at about 90 deg.. and actually went off at a right angle to the runway.. according to a witness who was overflown during the accident. The plane is in several pieces… wings shorn off etc.. but the cabin held together and there was no fire. The pilot walked away with only bumps and scrapes… and from the pictures I saw.. they are very lucky to be alive after that little stunt.

You have to wonder what he was thinking… if he was thinking… I foresee changes coming in the policies.. and the control of the aircraft keys. At some level.. in learning to be a pilot you must leave some of the go / no-go decision making to the student.. but if a student shows the wrong attitude about this responsibility.. or shows little regard for safety.. then maybe it’s time to cut them loose and stop the training. In the end.. having unsafe people in the sky is bad for everyone. You have to know your limits.. and have a good feel for when things are not what you expected.

It’s really kinda sad to see both of these planes scrapped… During my training.. I would talk to people on the radio who had learned to fly in those same planes 15 and 20 years ago.. and now.. just a few months after earning my ticket in them… they are both gone. The only good thing is that neither pilot was seriously injured in these crashes.

Once More, Into the Breach

Jared Watkins — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last two weekends I’ve tempted fate by doing some day-to-night transition flying into the goose… my first solo night flying. With any other airport night landings are a non event to me… no more or less difficult than during the day… but goose creek is Not any other airport. The runway lighting consists of twenty 40 watt lights in glass jars along the 2300′ x 35′ runway.. there is no beacon… and it is only lit all the way down on one end… so no matter what the winds are doing you have to land 22. Trees obscure the end of the runway when you are on final… so you have to keep it a little high until the lights are revealed.. then drop it in at a pretty steep angle. The first time out I was in the 152 and ended up going around 3 times to get a setup I was happy with… I kept flying too tight a pattern and ending up too high. Last night I was in the archer and ony had to go around once… had a perfect setup the second time.

This week I’ll be starting work on a pilot controlled lighting switch for the goose.. this will allow the installation of a beacon and lower the operating costs of the airport which might result in better lights. Commercial units are out there of course… but I believe I can build one for far less.. using a basic stamp microcontroller and a few supporting circuits. It will be fun learning about these.. it’s been a long time since I did any electronics work. If this is not too difficult.. I may also try to build a better beacon… one that is solid state using very hight output LEDs.. there may even be some commercial possibilities here.

Why so Many Flying Geeks?

Jared Watkins — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I doubt most pilots I personally know would appreciate being called geeks.. but really… that’s what they are. Don’t misunderstand.. it’s not meant to be a negative label.. just an honest one. Another blog I read called Undefined Value is by a programmer and student pilot down in Atlanta. He recently had this to say about why there are so many techies in aviation:

Underlying it all is a fundamental trust in technology and our ability to master it. It doesn’t scare or mystify us. Unlike a lot of airline passengers, we don’t just cross our fingers and hope somebody sprinkled enough fairy dust on the wings to keep them levitating in the air. We study the machines, we learn how they work, we test their capabilities, and we have the confidence that if something goes wrong, we’ll figure out how to handle it.

I think that’s a pretty good description of what it takes to be a pilot these days. Even if you are not considered a geek in your life away from aviation.. you almost have to be when it comes to flying.. if you are serious and safe about it. You have to know the planes you fly inside and out.. aerodynamics… the engine.. the avionics.. fuel and power systems… you have to know how everything works.. and how those pieces can fail.. and how to deal with those failures. Lots of people have an active dis-interest in knowing how things work… their computer.. their car.. whatever it is… and I would say those people would not make safe pilots… it’s just the wrong outlook.

XC To Pinehurst Again.. Auto Pilot and Being Ignored by ATC

Jared Watkins — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The weather really sucks for flying this time of year… I’ve had to cancel four scheduled times in a row because of either storms in the afternoon or very poor visibility in the morning and at night. So it was nice to get back in the air today for another short cross country flight to Pinehurst. At this point I’m just trying to build some XC time.. so I can then start the instrument instruction… but I’m also building confidence in the Archer. This time out.. I made use of the auto pilot for most of the trip and was able to shave time off compared to hand flying the last time. I tried to get flight following.. but I was pretty much ignored by ATC.. Charlotte kept telling me to ‘stand by’ on my initial call on the way out… and Fayetteville terminated following after just a few minutes on the way back. Still.. it was useful to monitor those frequencies.. even if they were not talking to me.. I could hear the guys they were talking to… telling them about traffic that was sometimes me. I had the new experience of being passed directly overhead by small single going much faster than I was… he was in the clouds and less than 1000′ above me.. but I heard him taking to ATC so I knew he was there.. and knew he saw me… still was a weird feeling though. I had to stay at around 2k’ for both flights.. it was hazy and the cloud base was only about 2500′ with no horizon again. Not the best of conditions.. but I’ll take what I can get.

One Year Mark.. First Passenger!

Jared Watkins — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks 1 year since my intro flight with Tyson at Goose Creek… so of course I had to go somewhere if at all possible.. and lucky for me it was. I did my first X-Country flight in about 6 months.. and carried my first non-pilot passenger… and it was even her first time on a small plane. We took the Archer and did a quick trip out to Pinehurst… aka Moore County KSOP. This was the site of my first solo X-C and it’s a nice easy flight… just about due east of 28A and less than an hour in the air. There was no wind today.. very hazy and no horizon.. visibility was only about 5 miles.. with some cloud layers at 5k’. The people at SOP are always nice… we got out and walked around a little.. checked out the FBO before heading back.

The experience of carrying my first real passenger was interesting… I would compare it almost to the way I felt during the checkride… but for different reasons. I found myself making mistakes I don’t usually make.. thinking of something three steps ahead and forgetting to do something right in front of me. It was nothing dangerous… just little things… like forgetting to turn on the landing light even though I was running the prelanding checklist. I know I’ll get more comfortable with this over time… So who’s next to go up?

Getting Night Current at Goose Creek 28A

Jared Watkins — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:00:00 +0000

I went up with Matt last night in the archer… I’ve not done any night flying since meeting the requirements back in Dec. It was a nice reminder of just how enjoyable night time can be… it’s cooler.. there are no thermals to deal with… and it’s a lot easier to see other planes around you. For anyone who is not familiar with flying the goose after dark I’ll do my best to describe the experience. First biggie.. the runway is only lit all the way down for 22. So no matter what the winds are suggesting.. you have to land 22 at night. The second challenging aspect is finding the airport… the lights in use are not the standard PCL lighting system.. they are more like 60 watt household lights in clear outdoor jars. Trying to pick those out is a challenge as they are yellow in color and blend in with other residential lights. The best way is to approach from the direction of the Monroe airport. There is a road with street lights that will lead you directly into a 45 downwind entry for 22. If you are following that road to the north west.. you will eventually see a stoplight… the runway is about 1 o’clock from that stoplight. Once you get lined up on final you see the other challenge for this field. There are trees that are fairly close to the end of 22. The end of 22 is marked with two green lights.. in the winter you can see though the trees for the entire final leg… so when the lights stop twinkling that means you have cleared the trees. In the summer… as I learned last night… you can not see the green lights at all until you have cleared the trees.. and are very close to the threshold. So… keep the altitude up until you see the green.. then pull power and you should be able to land in the first few hundred feet of the runway.

So I'm a pilot now

Jared Watkins — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 00:00:00 +0000

A few delays aside… yesterday I went for the check ride.. and now I’m a newly minted official pilot.. of the private variety. So what this means.. is that the FAA considers me safe enough to carry any passengers who are crazy enough to want to go flying with me. Only about 2% of the population (US) has this privilege so that’s pretty neat. So who will be the first one to go fly with me?

R I P 4TK

Jared Watkins — Tue, 10 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

They hauled off the wreckage of N714TK the other day… this was the plane I did most of my primary flight training in.

I was there when it happened too… waiting for the guy before me to return from a cross country flight. This has been just one of many setbacks and delays in my efforts to earn a private pilots license. At this point I’m a few weeks away from the check ride if all goes well. Since I’ve been sick and unable to fly I’ve been hitting the books again… there is a ton of info you are expected to keep in ‘working Memory’ and with my knowledge test pushing 4 months ago this is proving difficult. As long as this road has been… it’s definitely worth it. I hope to start working on an instrument rating soon after getting the private.