I picked a pretty good time to do the polishing since the weather wouldn’t of allowed me to go flying. We had either clouds sitting on top of the mountains or winds gusting in the 30-knot range for the majority of the week. The day after I finished polishing the weather broke and I was able to take a friend over the mountains to a fly-in lunch meeting in Sacramento. I nice end to my time off.

Back at work I had another a 12-day jaunt around Asia. I carry a notebook computer when I go out on my airline trips – it’s an older 6-lb version that both gets me a little exercise lugging it around and keeps me from sitting in the bar on layovers to pass the time. It also keeps me in contact with the outside world. Some of the places where I lay over have little in the way of English television. Almost all have CNN and some have BBC, but often that is it for English ‘entertainment.’  However, as things often go, on the first layover of the long trip my computer started shutting down without warning every hour or so. That makes it very difficult to accomplish anything but it teaches you to save your work often.  The restart was then frustrating too since I would get all those ‘checking files since the program was shut down improperly’ messages. I tracked it down to a failed cooling fan. The computer was heating up, reaching it’s operating temperature limit and shutting down as a protective measure.

My first work-around for the problem was to place the computer over the room air conditioning outlet – one of those units you find under the window that makes the loud noises that keep you from sleeping. That worked for the first night. The next layover had ceiling AC outlets. Hmmm. My solution was to fill a couple of ziplock bags with ice and put the computer on top of them. Surprisingly (or not) that worked pretty well. It wasn’t too stable, but it allowed me to get some work done. (note: it’s best to use bags without holes in them.) One of my subsequent layovers allowed me to visit an electronics store where I was able to buy a reasonably-priced computer stand with two built-in cooling fans. That third method worked the best and was definitely less of a mess to clean up.

The things we do to stay on-line.

Most of us probably are still waiting for the new 406 MHz ELTs to come down in price while still using the cheaper 121.5/243.0 ELTs in our aircraft. We know that the satellites no longer monitor the lower frequencies but we figure that if we get flight following or possibly file a VFR flight plan we are covered in the case of an emergency landing.

Maybe we’re not watched as much as we think.  We all can remember the crash of  Steve Fossett in 2007 and the search effort  that failed to find his aircraft a mere 90  miles from his departure point.  He was not using flight following nor had he filed a flight plan, but family members and friends knew generally where he was planning to go. Would either of those steps helped the search effort?  The following article was published in a recent AvWeb newsletter:

NTSB SAYS FAA SEARCH & RESCUE NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

The FAA needs to do a better job coordinating its search and rescue responsibilities, the NTSB said recently, to ensure that survivors of aviation accidents get help as quickly as possible. "The whole process needs to get nailed down a lot tighter than it is," NTSB radar expert Scott Dunham told the Associated Press. In a [Jan 2010]  letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, the safety board cited several cases when information readily available to FAA staffers was not communicated to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center as quickly or as clearly as it should have been. In one of several cases cited by the NTSB, a 2007 accident in Georgia, the pilot survived the crash of his Piper Tomahawk and activated an emergency transponder code. Due to miscommunications between the FAA and AFRCC, no search was launched until after the pilot’s family reported him missing the following day. When the wreck was found, the pilot was dead. Four other cases cited, from 2006 to 2008, all involved general aviation aircraft.

Today’s AvWeb newsletter also had an article on ELT search capabilities and a new capability under development by NASA. The article said, in part:

…The Search and Rescue Mission Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has developed a satellite-based system that will be able to almost instantaneously detect and locate distress signals generated by 406 MHz beacons installed on aircraft. NASA said this week it is now testing the system and it will begin the transition to it in 2015. Under the current system, ELT signals are received by weather satellites, but the new system will be incorporated into two dozen GPS satellites, which fly in higher orbits. "With a mid-Earth orbit search-and-rescue capability provided by GPS, one emergency signal goes off, and six satellites will be in view," said Mickey Fitzmaurice, space systems engineer for NASA. "Almost instantly, I can begin processing the signal to determine its precise location. Right now, it can take an hour or more before we can even act on a signal."

This sounds like a vast improvement over the current system but its implementation is still several years in the future. It seems to me that the prudent thing to do now as a general aviation pilot would be to make sure that you have established your own flight following program. Some people have elected to purchase and use PLBs – Personal Locator Beacons that use the same monitoring system as the aircraft ELTs. Some have integral GPS receivers and transmit position coordinates when activated. Most seem to have a 5-year battery replacement cycle and are restricted to about 5 test uses during that battery life period to confirm that the unit is working.  A quick price check of PLBs found a range between $280 and $650. Here is an example of how the PLB system works – from an individual who had to activate his PLB when his hiking partner broke his leg while on a climbing expedition.

The way the PLB system works is it sends a signal to satellites that circle overhead every 45 minutes. The PLB is registered at NOAA with my name, emergency contact number, address, etc. When NOAA received the signal, an Air Force SAR coordinator called my wife, who told them where we were and that it was unlikely that I’d accidentally triggered the device. The second satellite pass—45 minutes later—confirmed that the PLB was still on and they rolled the helicopter out then from China Lake Naval Air Station. The Inyo County Search and Rescue team coordinated and was in contact with my wife. I felt bad that she had to get that call but she was able to give them detailed info our climbing route.

But one lesson learned is that the PLB isn’t that precise and you need some way to signal rescuers. They had difficulty spotting us until they saw my red parka. The traditional signal mirror doesn’t help much in a snowstorm.. I was thinking about getting my LED headlamp but wasn’t sure if it was bright enough. Eventually, jumping up and down in a red parka and waving my arms worked to get their attention.

I have elected to go a different route and use the SPOT Messenger rather than a PLB. The SPOT unit uses the company’s own global satellite network which covers most of the world’s surface. When the unit is activated it transmits tracking information to the company’s web site at approximately 10-minute intervals. A separate message function can send emails to as many as 10 addresses to announce that you are all right – or can be used to indicate that the trip has begun or ended successfully. The unit also has an SOS/911 feature that sends a distress signal that is received at the company’s emergency center in Houston, TX. At the same time the emergency function sends the emergency message to email addresses on a separate notification list that you have set up. 

Updated 6/5/2010:

I came across this spot track today. It shows a flight that a friend of mine took  on his way back to Washington after the National Swift Fly-in in Tennessee. It gives a much better idea of the ability of the Spot Messenger than my short trip shown below. His flight started at Bozeman, MT and progressed westward from there.

This is a sample of my tracking site on a recent flight I made from Reno-Stead, NV (KRTS)  to Quincy, CA(2O1) for breakfast.

There were 16 position flags recorded for the flight. I activated the unit when I entered the run-up area at the end of the runway before I took off.  The #16 flag covers that first position since the last position happened to overlap it when I was in the landing pattern.  The #2 flag was recorded as I left the pattern after take-off.  The physical distance between position flags is directly related to the groundspeed of your aircraft. You can see that the #3 flag is most of the way to Quincy. I left the Spot unit activated while the aircraft sat on the ramp in Quincy as indicated by the stack of flags in one location. Then flags #13 – #15 show a different route was taken on the return flight. Zooming in on the map on the SPOT website can get a closer view of multiple flags in close proximity.

When you purchase your SPOT account you set up your individual unit with the email addresses that you want notified. In addition to the main account access you can also set up map access for specific individuals with their own password so that friends or family members can have access to your route progress.

The SPOT and PLB units operate in very different ways. The PLB is a one-time purchase that is designed to be used only in the event of an emergency. The SPOT unit has a lower initial price, but has associated with it a subscription cost for the monitoring and tracking service that runs about $160/year. It is designed to be activated whenever you are flying and will track your progress as you go.

The newest model, the SPOT 2 Satellite Messenger units range in price from $120 to $170. They are available in most sports stores or through Amazon (Affiliate Links below)

Why, go flying of course…

Before we left Japan I had been corresponding with @Captain_Ron on Twitter and had asked him if he was going to go flying that particular weekend. He said he was going to be working and wouldn’t have the chance. I then mentioned that I was going to have a San Francisco layover on Saturday. Ron has a job with flexible hours, so he rearranged his schedule and offered to pick me up at the SFO airport after I cleared customs. It took a bit of coordination and a couple of actual telephone calls (rather than text messages) but we managed to arrive at the same spot at the SFO airport.

Ron is a member of a flying club that has a Cessna 172 tied down at the Palo Alto Airport (KPAO). After we exchanged a few pleasantries we headed off to KPAO.  Ron and I had only met once before – for lunch at the Sacramento Executive Airport (KSAC). That was the day that a group of us toured the aviation museum at the McClellan Airport.

Having just completed a Pacific crossing I wasn’t in any condition to fly, so I watched Ron preflight the plane and then strapped into the right seat. Ron completed a thorough pre-departure safety briefing and we confirmed that although I have a few more hours and ratings than he does, he would be the pilot-in-command and make all of the decisions concerning the flight.

Ron started the plane, listened to the ATIS broadcast , contacted ground and we were soon on our way to the end of the runway. We took off to the north and made a big sweeping left turn to head south and toward a low pass that led  toward the coast and Santa Cruz, CA. When we got to the coast we turned left and followed it south to just past the Watsonville airport (KWVI). From there we turned inland and maneuvered to enter the traffic pattern for a full-stop landing.

As we made our way to parking at Watsonville we passed a couple of hot air balloons being deflated. It turns out that we had arrived on the day of an airport event for handicapped kids. There was a lot of activity on the ramp with groups of kids being shown aircraft on display in a large roped-off area. The local fire department was also taking part and had  tanker and ladder trucks on display. There were also several vendor tents set up on the grass area next to the aircraft parking ramp.

We made our way to Zuniga’s Mexican Restaurant adjacent to the ramp at the airport and sat at one of their outdoor tables so that we could view all the days activities.  Ron was a very nice host and, though I tried to remain coherent  I probably didn’t do a very good job of holding up my end of the conversation. I hadn’t had much luck sleeping during my break on the flight to SFO. I always seem to choose the break time that has the most turbulence. The time went by fast and we were soon on our way back to the Palo Alto airport. As we flew back Ron pointed out the headquarters areas of both Apple and Google. Our route also took us just along the western edge of Moffett Field and the huge blimp hangars which are still there.

After a very nice landing,  a post-flight refilling of the Cessna’s fuel tanks and returning the aircraft to it’s tiedown space Ron drove me to my layover hotel and our quick visit was over. I had a great time in spite of my sleep-deprived state and really appreciate that Ron was willing to take time out of his schedule to spend a few hours with me. I think he really wanted to go flying anyway and I was a convenient excuse – as if as pilots we actually need an excuse to go flying.

I got a great night’s sleep that night and the next morning headed for the SFO airport with the rest of our crew. I was the relief pilot for that leg and was able to get this shot of the Golden Gate Bridge as we crossed the coastline on our way back to Tokyo.  This was one of my better layovers and one I would be more than willing to repeat at any time.

Mike sent me a great story about an ultra-lightweight backpacker:

“Wolf was carrying a super-small pack which weighed 14 pounds including food and water. When asked how he got his pack weight so low, Wolf would reply, ‘All you need to know is that it’s possible. ‘“

How does this relate to going out and learning to fly?  Think about it.

Is flying something that you have always had an interest in experiencing? Has it been a long-neglected goal, pushed to the back burner of your mind because life and all it’s complexities have somehow gotten in the way?

Take a few minutes and wander around the Internet searching for stories of people who have managed to fit flying into their lives. Yes, some were better off than you but many are making their way through life with significantly less than you – both financially and physically.

The point is that the Internet is a huge collection of your possibilities. If you search you will find that those reasons you are using for not attaining your goals are merely excuses. There are people out there who are overcoming those circumstances to make their dreams come true.

As the quote says “All you need to know is that it’s possible.”

Yes, it is.   The decision is yours.

When faced with this opportunity those of us in the aviation community often break out into a big smile and start in with what we feel is a simple, lucid answer to the question. However, what the other person hears is very similar to the explanation of the ‘turbo transmission’ shown in this video.

Aviation and flying are completely foreign to the vast majority of the people you encounter each day. If someone asks a genuine question about aviation, draw them farther into the conversation, find out their motivation and see if you can interest them in taking a short flight with you to help explain your answer to their question. Remember, May 15th is International Learn To Fly Day.