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Monkey Skills

What it takes to be a pilot, or what most people think flying an airplane is all about, are commonly referred to as Monkey Skills. That’s right, any monkey can be taught to fly an airplane. Pull stick up, houses get smaller, that kind of thing.

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USMC Student Aviator

Once the monkey learns how to apply crosswind controls of down aileron and top rudder, or adding rudder to center the airplane with power additions, the are felt more than they are thought about, and are later corrected by the instructor saying “just fly the damn plane”. Some students take longer than other to get a feel for rudder control, but eventually everyone can feel it in their gut without looking at the turn slip indicator.

The other skills that take so long to learn, in simple terms, are task management and prioritization. Commonly referred to as “staying ahead of the aircraft” or catching up when you’re “behind the aircraft”. But what kinds of tasks?

Pilots are always running some kind of checklist. It’s what we’ve flown by since the 1940’s. A lot of them are memorized. In fact, hospitals are realizing now that having standardized checklists can cut deaths by 15%. In a crew airplane like the T-44, the pilot is in charge of making sure all the checklists and communications are taken care of…

I guess I’d better explain with an Emergency Procedures situation:

We are flying in a standard left hand VFR pattern, which is where we fly a racetrack up to 800 feet at 120 knots, and set up to come down for another practice touch-and-go. Lets say right as I level out on the downwind (going back towards the beginning of the runway) the Master Warning goes off in conjunction with a fire light.

(pilot, the student)”Fire warning on the right side, are there secondary indications?”

(copilot)“Yes, I’ve got smoke coming from the engine”

Power up with the good engine, keep the plane flying straight with the asymmetric thrust, “Gear up.” “Gear selected up.” “Flaps up.” “Flaps selected up.”, check airspeed and adjust power.

“This will be an emergency engine shutdown of the right engine, right power lever idle concur?” (point at the correct power lever) “Concur.” (pull it back)

“Right prop lever feather concur?” “Concur.”

“Right condition lever fuel cutoff concur?” “Concur”

“Right firewall valve closed concur?” “Concur.”

“Discharge right fire extinguisher.” (On the CP’s side) “Right fire extinguisher discharge, concur?” “Concur.”

“Close right bleed air valve.” “Right bleed air valve closed, concur?” “Concur.”

Probably approaching the turn point, abeam the end of the runway. Pull power and begin your final turn at 30 degrees bank. “Speed checks, flaps approach,” “Flaps selected approach.” “Speed checks, gear down, landing checklist.”

“Landing checklist: Flaps.” “Approach.”

“Landing gear.” “Down and locked.” “Down and locked”

“Lights.” “Set.” “Landing checklist complete.” “Continue with steps 7 and 8 of the emergency shutdown checklist and call the 180.”

“Cabin temperature mode - off, vent blower - auto. (on the radio) [Tower, Montana 415, left 180, gear down and locked, touch and go.]“ (Tower responds) [Montana 415 cleared touch and go] “[Montana 415, cleared touch and go.]“

Halfway through the turn you should be at 500 feet, check gear down and locked again. Get the plane on the proper visual glideslope to the runway.

“Props full forward, three down and locked, review me complete.” “Reviewed complete, clear to land.” Flare, touchdown.

Then stand the power levers up, reset flaps and trim, and takeoff to do it again. About 14 times per flight. Also, that entire drill should only take about thirty seconds.

It can be a lot to deal with, which is why learning the monkey skills are important.

Posted in PILOT TRAINING.

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Science Sunday - Measurable Morality

Sam Harris on this 18 minute lecture from TED Talks:

“Rather I was suggesting that science can, in principle, help us understand what we should do and should want—and, perforce, what other people should do and want in order to live the best lives possible. My claim is that there are right and wrong answers to moral questions, just as there are right and wrong answers to questions of physics, and such answers may one day fall within reach of the maturing sciences of mind. As the response to my TED talk indicates, it is taboo for a scientist to think such things, much less say them public.”

The video is very thought provoking, but given the limited format of his presentation he had to gloss over several arguments that will be better presented in his upcoming book. This talk has predictably ignited heated debate, to which he responded very completely at his Project Reason website.

I watched the video twice through before reading every comment and then his articulated responses to them. You should too.

Posted in RANDOM.


Things To Do: GOOGLE

Google has become a surprisingly common word in the modern American vocabulary. I remember when google was a brand new phenomenon in high school, it sure beat the hell out of netscape.

I move fairly often given my profession. I like to travel also. And the most beneficial preparation I’ve done before traveling anywhere was a little RESEARCH. An hour on google is all it takes to build a long list of things check out (it’s especially helpful to include prices and phone numbers).

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Absailing in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney, Australia

Without these little searches we may never have found the Heineken Music Festival tour (caught it in Venice). My list in Sydney allowed me to adjust my schedule with a list of activities from rugby games, surfing lessons, absailing (Australian word for rappelling). We never would have found out about the Norman, Oklahoma wakeboarding rail park only an hour away from our house. There are some very cool ‘best kept secrets’ in every area, you just have to look for them. And when I moved to Corpus Christi I was lucky enough to find this: 101 Things to do in Corpus Christi. These guides can be found everywhere.

Even if you don’t travel, I would recommend updating your local calendar every month or two. My searches always include:

  • Music concerts, tours, festivals.
  • Comedy clubs, piano bars, local venues.
  • Sports events:
    • Big college or pro games
    • Minor league hockey, baseball, indoor football, pro lacrosse.
    • Lesser known college sports like fencing, handball, chess
    • Alternative sports like roller derby, motocross, skate competitions.
  • Recreational venues:
    • Paintball,
    • Frisbee golf
    • Camping and hiking
  • College events
    • Guest lectures
    • Performances, musicals, concerts
  • Extreme Sports
    • Skiing, wakeboarding, surfing
    • Skydiving, bungee jumping, cliff jumping
    • Rock climbing, spelunking, rappelling

Do a search and I’ll bet you’d be surprised to find out that your local roller derby team has a bout coming up, or that the monster trucks are coming to town. In fact, it was a whole year before I found out that Oklahoma City had one of the largest indoor climbing facilities in the country, built inside some old grain silo’s (bad on me). We made good use of the rail park though, and I finally put the clips together:

Posted in THINGS TO DO.


The Mighty T-44C

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Last week was our dollar ride in the Navy T-44C. This is the pipeline to fly C-130’s in the Air Force, and I have a surprising number of friends already down here. It has been a blur of hockey games and having a great time in Corpus Christi. But moving in, three weeks of ground school, and 6 simulators later we are flying again.

Piloting is a perishable skill, and after four months since our last flight in the T-6, and the Navy style of laissez-faire training, we felt under prepared to say the least. We had very little idea of what to expect coming from the single-cockpit mentality where you’re responsible for everything and the instructor is just self-loading baggage. However, in the last year or so the Navy’s Advanced Multi-Engine program has changed its focus to instilling a crew mentality. What this means is that you’re acting as pilot, and your instructor as co-pilot, and you’re in charge of directing this flying team. Add on top of this that the Navy is much more lax on the whole, and you’re talking about a big adjustment. It’s a little strange ordering an IP to “Set heading 130,” when I could just as easily set it myself.

cockpit

I am constantly surprise though by how well prepared we are coming from the T-6. We got lucky with our assignment here because we are flying the T-44C (instead of the T-44A or C-12), and as you can see here it has a brand new glass cockpit which we are used to (I think it would be better preparation to fly the old steam gauges but I’ll take the luxury).

It also has two PT6A-34B engines, identical to the T-6’s. These are controlled by the six levers in the middle there, the same format that I will see in the C-130. In addition to the power (left two levers) we can control the propeller rpm (center two) and the engine idle with the condition lever (right two). A little confusing at first, but allows us to use the engine for reverse thrust. The T-44C has a lot more complexity and capability, especially with navigation equipment, so there’s a lot more to manage and get distracted by. And the last big difference is that there are no parachutes, so we do a lot of practice with single engine failures, because there’s no bailing out.

The first two flights went well, but training has been grinding by with terrible weather and maintenance issues. More to come soon.

Posted in PILOT TRAINING.


Things To Do: Disc Golf

“What do you do?”

“I’m in the Air Force, I just moved here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Corpus Christi sucks, there’s nothing here.”

Are you so dumfounded by your inability to google that you consider a city with a quarter million people and miles of drivable beaches less interesting than a Jersey Shore rerun? No, I don’t have anything against Jaega-bombs. I’d just rather do something mentally stimulating like, oh I don’t know, coloring.

All it took was thirty minutes on the internet, and I have a long list of upcoming events, concerts, shows, and cool places to check out while I’m here. Since lots of them cost money, here’s something that doesn’t.

I’m about to introduce you to the underground scene of a cutting edge sport that only those with their finger on the pulse of the city have the privilege of experiencing.

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A seven dollar disc (a little more streamlined than your traditional frisbee) is literally all you need. Disc golf is a great idea for a cheap date, and you score points for being in touch with nature, or whatever. Or bring some beer and have a good time with your equally socially inept friends!

Speaking of ultimate frisbee’ers, some people are CRAZY about this sport. The even have  tote bags filled with driver discs, and putter discs, and 60 SPF hypoallergenic bug repellent. I told you, there is an entire underground culture around these courses that you never even knew about. Some of the newer courses have signs with layouts, just like the pro’s. And yes, there is a national disc golf tournament. Ping pong is an Olympic sport, who are you to judge.

Note: The professional disc golfer is typically also good at a crossover game called Where The Fuck Is My Frisbee!?™

Point is, there’s probably a disc golf course near you. Do a quick search for it and go give it a try. Of course, I just realized that it’s winter somewhere in this country. These people have no idea how good they have it.

We’re going disc golfing this weekend. Probably wearing shorts.

Posted in THINGS TO DO.

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