Funds expired Sept.

(Written on 10/29/2021)(Permalink)

Well that's the point - the FAA grants ended - so that's why the town can change the game - led by some folks who think it is noisy around there.

(Written on 10/29/2021)(Permalink)

"stalls"?

(Written on 10/22/2021)(Permalink)

"Al Diehl, a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said .....the first thing you do when you’re in trouble is call, climb and confess — and he did not do any of the three," Diehl said. “These are very basic rules that flight instructors tell their students.” I hope not. I'd go for "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate" every time. I'll keep "CCC" for when I'm stabilized and in a position to communicate safely.

(Written on 10/15/2021)(Permalink)

Bandwidth. The satellites could not handle the sheer volume multiple event data per second for many aircraft - never mind thousands. There is SOME data available from more modern aircraft (not that old cargo 737) where the cost of uploading (mainly occasional engine telemetry on an "as needs" basis) is offset by alerting maintenance personnel at the next airport to keep to scheule. BTW - LiveATC is a crowdsourced data gathering exercise. Thousands of volunteers have radio receivers all over the world recording "what they can hear" on all the frequencies at and around airports, compresses them and then uploads them to LiveATC using donated bandwidth from their (usually) home internet connection. Though it seems like they "get it all" - they often don't due to line of sight issues never mind if an airport is even covered by a volunteer. FlightAware works in exactly the same way. Volunteers, crowdsourced data capturing aircraft ADSB feeds. It does not show all aircraft. It

(Written on 10/08/2021)(Permalink)

Nope - that is NOT true. It's a commonly held view but not correct. It hinges on folks understanding of the reg that it must read empty when all USABLE fuel is exhausted and so people extrapolate it to mean it only has to read empty when empty. But the actual regs and court interpretations are: 91.205(b)(9) "fuel gauge indicating the quantity of fuel in each tank." The NTSB ruled in Administrator v. Hammerstrand (1992) that an unreliable fuel gauge rendered the aircraft unairworthy. In that case the fuel gauge gave erratic non-zero readings. and certification standards - fuel indicator: 23.1337. (b) Fuel quantity indicator. There must be a means to indicate to the flightcrew members the quantity of usable fuel in each tank during flight. An indicator calibrated in appropriate units and clearly marked to indicate those units must be used. In addition-- (1) Each fuel quantity indicator must be calibrated to read "zero" during level flight when the quantity of fuel remainin

(Written on 07/23/2021)(Permalink)

Interesting - there are two versions of the video out there. And one doesn't include the "de-brief". My comments were based on the "non-de-brief" version. So revisiting it having watched the de-brief version - there is still no analysis of why he ran out of fuel. There remains a fundamental unexplained issue about why that happened.

(Written on 07/23/2021)(Permalink)

Yes well done for getting it into a field. But this should not have happened as presented. On the basis of the video and the student's statement below in the video description - This is NOT "100% my fault" as the student states. His CFI signed off this trip and bears responsibility. "Done the trip before with CFI and not had a problem" points at something not being right this time. The Student was well trained for the emergency but not trained to lean and forgot to lean? There were more winds on the trip and the flight plan didn't get properly reviewed by the CFI who signed him off? And notwithstanding jokes about Cessna gauges only being required to show empty - the LEFT fuel gauge still says there is fuel in the left tank. If there WAS still fuel in the left tank then something else happened. And if both tanks were actually out of usable fuel - then the left gauge is not set up correctly. So the plane wasn't airworthy. And I'm NOT being a "noodge" (though I am sure som

(Written on 07/23/2021)(Permalink)

Probably another case of bad reporting. It was probably speed tape. :-)

(Written on 07/16/2021)(Permalink)

Passenger Ship Stability is as important a safety factor as W&B on an aircraft. In the highly competitive cross English Channel Ferries where designs look (and are) top heavy - they weigh EVERY passenger. And most don't even realise it. As they (with bags) step through the gate - they walk across a mat and are weighed by the scales underneath. The problem to be solved is a little simpler. You need a weight of the whole passenger load at a height above sea level and can make some assumptions that they will evenly distribute themselves and add a fudge for everyone moving to one side to look at the sunset (or whatever). Aircraft loading is a little more nuanced to keep it in CG. But the problem has already been solved in another industry.

(Written on 05/21/2021)(Permalink)