ASCI 202 Intro to Aeronautical Science

  For this week's blog, I am going to discuss the similarities and differences between ground and clearance delivery.  Ground is generally going to be the first person that you speak with when you are ready to move your airplane from parking to the runway, or run-up area. Essentially any time you want to move your airplane, you will want to talk to ground. If you are on an instrument flight plan, the first person you will speak with before you even move the aircraft, will be clearance delivery. This is because clearance delivery is the radio entity that provides you with your route clearance to get to your destination. Often times, you can get your clearance from ground, and vice versa. Also often times you are speaking with the same person, just on different frequencies. Once clearance delivery gives you clearance, you can coordinate with ground and receive your taxi instructions to your designated runway for your departure. Ground will watch you taxi where you need to go and...

 Noise Pollution For this weeks blog, I will be focusing on noise pollution.  I believe that noise pollution is a critical factor when planning, designing, or operating an airport. I will focus specifically on Military operations with helicopters around Class D airports.  Consider a 20,000 LB helicopter with two turbine engines putting out 2000 hp per side.  That seems like small amount for a commercial airline, but for a helicopter, it's quite a lot. Helicopters also tend to have lower pattern altitudes, and of course, they fly lower than regular airplanes on an IFR flight plan. I have taken calls in flight operations in Johnstown, PA where a local resident just screams something like "I was in my bedroom and my house just started shaking because one of your helicopters flew right over my roof", or "I work nights and all I hear all day is your helicopters flying overhead".  Sometimes I just wanted to say "That's the sound of freedom, ma'am, you...

When you think about commercial flight today, it's easy to look past the fact that most of the airlines really began because of the need to send mail over long distances. The Airmail Act of 1925 made this possible by authorizing the Postmaster General to contract out the work to the private sector. Due to this act, by mid - 1927, an effective commercial airline system was providing reliable mail service by air (Smithsonian, 2007). This act added some efficiency to the lack-luster air transportation system (Smithsonian, 2007).   Then, later the Air Commerce Act of 1926 was developed, which started the Aeronautics branch of the Commerce Department.  Today, the Aeronautics Branch is now referred to as the Federal Aviation Administration, and somewhere in the middle it was known as the Federal Aviation Agency.  Either way, without these acts aviation as a whole, today, would be vastly different.  The Air Commerce Act also regulated the licensing and certification of...

Human factors in aviation have a profound effect on everyday life as a pilot. A working definition of human factors are the general things that affect your ability to do your job at 100% effectiveness. the lack, or inability to complete your task can be attributed to exogenous factors such as fatigue, hazardous attitudes, and complacency. All of these factors affect your performance at work, whatever job that may be. This blog will discuss what I see mostly as a pilot, which is complacency.   Sometimes you fly the same routes so many times that you get to know which ATC personnel you will talk to. You learn shifts, voices, the way aircraft are moved on the ramp, it's almost like it's groundhog day, and you are Bill Murray. Sometimes, this is great. Sometimes, you can go through a day on "autopilot", and the day is over before you even feel like it started.  The biggest issue with this is when you fall into a routine, and you constantly do something the same way, you c...

       The threat that I have chosen this week that has really only become an issue in the past 10 years or so is definitely Cyber Security. In the past 10 years the advancements to technology have been profound. Artificial Intelligence and hacking are two threats that have been plaguing the best minds in the world to come up with an idea on how to mitigate the possibility of an airliner and its automated systems being hacked and weaponised, as well as TSA being hacked to allow passengers that could potentially be a threat.  In fact, this has become so profound that there has been House Hearings and hearings to Congress to address the issue and come up with resolutions through TSA and other entities to mitigate this threat. "As devices, aircraft, and systems become more interconnected, cybersecurity will increasingly play a larger role in aviation security (Ratcliffe, 2018)."       There are many ways to use our our technology against us....

       For this weeks blog post, I chose a system that even the most novice of individuals with a complete lack of knowledge about aircraft would be able to relate to.  That system, is the landing gear.  Everyone knows that landing without wheels or floats is a bad thing, like saying you need an engine to take off or wings to fly.      But, let's dive deeper.  There are many indications of landing gear failure.  Those indications can range from a literal light that say "landing gear failure" to nothing but your eyes looking out of the window to verify that the gear is down, and seeing that it isn't.  Landing gear can be either fixed or retractable.  Fixed gear always remains extended and has the advantage of being simple, and low maintenance. Retractable gear is designed to streamline the airplane by allowing the gear to be stowed inside the airplane fuselage or wings in flight(PHAK, 2020).      ...