ASCI 202 Intro to Aeronautical Science

 In my opinion, the greatest risk to aviation operations in relation to weather is Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms and the inherent conditions that come along with them can be devastating in flight. Sure, on a clear day in the south you can circumnavigate thunderstorms by a great distance. But, what if you are on an IFR flight plan, in the clouds, flying along with no issues but there is an imbedded thunderstorm ahead? Weather radar is getting more and more reliable, but not all aircraft are equipped with this feature. Flying IMC and running into a thunderstorm can be incredibly frightening.  I will never forget one time I was about to land in KMEZ, Mena Arkansas, where Barry Seal did his infamous drug smuggling back in the 80's, being really excited about landing there and seeing where the subject of the movie "American Made" happened. At the time, I was a less experienced fixed-wing pilot. The person I was flying with, was very back and forth about whether we should land o...

  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...