| Issue 11 | Volume 142 | Tuesday, November 18, 2014 | theavion.com |
Philae Lander Makes History
Photo Courtesy: European Space Agency
Michael Nisip Managing Editor After more than 10 years and four billion miles, the European Space Agency’s “Philae” Comet Lander successfully made contact with comet 67P as part of the Rosetta mission. The satel-
lite space probe ricocheted off the comet’s surface twice before coming to rest in a chasm, a half-mile from the targeted landing site. While the initial landing was softer than planned (.38 m/sec compared to 1 m/sec), the satellite’s harpoons failed to deploy. The harpoons
were designed to anchor the robot to the comet’s surface. Due to the inadequate amount of sunlight in the chasm, Philae’s solar panels cannot charge its batteries, and is therefore currently in standby mode. However, the Rosetta spacecraft is still orbiting the comet and col-
lecting and transmitting critical data to the ESA. Philae’s objective was to sample data about the comet’s composition and transmit the data to Rosetta, which would subsequently transmit the data back to Earth. Fortunately, Philae’s batteries were able to sustain
the spacecraft’s operations for approximately 57 hours prior to entering standby mode. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of people and two very special spacecraft, we now have more data than ever about comets, and have made history for the future of space exploration.
Just Say “No” To ATC Mike Barrett Correspondent On Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7:00 p.m. there was an FAA Safety meeting at the Volusia Room of the Daytona Beach (DB) International Airport. These monthly meetings (always held on the last Tuesday of the month), sponsored by the FAASTeam and redeemable for Wings Credit (an option for pilots to waive the biennial flight review), are a great place to meet other pilots, instructors, aviation sleuths, and other various pilot pundits. They are also invaluable learning experiences which could be helpful to a pilot or student pilot’s professional career. FAASTeam, concerned chiefly with General Aviation safety, has the motto: “Safer Skies through Education.” The seminar speaker was introduced
by Vicki Sherman, President and CEO of Aero Supplies, Inc. Vicki is a local pilot, and she holds an ATP and CFII. She is an FAA Aviation Safety Counselor and business owner. She is committed to serving the Daytona Beach aviation community though her business Aero Supplies, Inc., which is the closest pilot shop to Embry-Riddle, and by providing safety education. Thanks to her efforts and leadership, FAASTeam runs regularly scheduled monthly seminars to educate local GA pilots and students for the purpose of maintaining currency, raising awareness, and increasing safety. The topic of this month’s seminar was aptly named, “Just Say No…To ATC!” Now, you might be asking yourself, “Why would you say No, to ATC?” “A great question,” would
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remark the speaker for the event, Mr. Rick Lovell, a Support Specialist at the FAA’s Daytona Beach, Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT). What better source for all things Control Tower than a local controller himself? The two-hour long seminar (interrupted by one 15-minute intermission) was a very illuminating session which started with the anecdotal story of the infamous Providence, RI Runway Incursion of Dec. 6, 1999. Mr. Lovell played the FAA rendered animation before the audience and accompanying transmission audiotapes in which a United Airlines Boeing-757 airline jet, confused by the nighttime fog conditions, mistook a runway crossing for a taxiway crossing and misreported its position to the tower controller. Since the controller was unable to visually confirm
the error and factoring in the high traffic volume, tower misguidedly cleared US Air 2998 (Boeing-737) for takeoff from the blocked runway. The US Air 2998 captain, suspicious of a potential runway incursion and averse to take a risk with the passenger jet, essentially told ATC, “no.” This clearance refusal almost certainly saved the day, jets and airport from what could have been a major airline disaster. The crew of US Airlines 2998 exhibited exceptional aeronautical decision making (ADM), risk management (RM), Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Situational Awareness (SA) by refusing the take-off clearance and opting to hold clear of all runways until ATC could “figure out what’s going on down there.” Mr. Lovell then lectured on how Florida
aviation traffic is especially challenging for GA pilots, airline pilots, student pilots, ATC and ATC trainees (about 40% of DB ATC Staff are trainees). Since Florida is a noticeably narrow peninsula, dotted with large metropolitan terminals and rife with strategically vital military bases, encountering ATC is an almost certain likelihood for all pilots. Florida’s distinctive geography means that standard conventions for assigning IFR/ VFR altitudes are instead based on north/south and not east/west magnetic headings. Likewise, Mr. Lovell explained that altitude assignments depend on the local controlling authority to regulate even/ odd altitude assignments. For instance, Fort Myers ATC will clear northbound aircraft for odd altitudes whereas Daytona Beach ATC will clear
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these same aircraft for even altitudes. Later, the lecture focused on the idea that as a flying pilot, “You are the Pilot-In-Command (PIC). Being the PIC is not only a privilege, it’s a solemn responsibility. This point was accentuated during the seminar by Mr. Lovell when he mentioned that when ATC gives instructions, the controller expects the “no” to come before the acceptance of instructions. A past scenario was given where a student pilot acknowledged a taxi instruction only to subsequently follow-up with, “unable” while finishing a checklist and after the tower requested an update on the aircraft taxi movement. According to Mr. Lovell, “As PIC, you have the right and the responsibility to say “no” to ATC.” Continued on B3 >>
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