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Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

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Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#161

Post by tzs »

gambiting wrote: post #134
tzs wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I used to be a controller at Los Angeles Center in the 90's, and worked Aspen SR-71's (and later under the NASA callsign when they flew them out of Edwards AFB). They could hear ATC but not other aircraft, because civilian aircraft are on VHF frequencies, military on UHF, and anybody above 60,000 feet (like the SR-71's) were on a separate, center-wide UHF frequency so they wouldn't have to switch frequencies consta…

I imagine they have multiple receivers and can listen to any number of frequencies at once, but as a pilot you won't be listening to civilian frequencies....because why would you? It's just noise that's getting in the way of the mission.

That's covered in the original story. This was a training mission, to get the crew up to the number of hours needed to be cleared to go on real missions. The reconnaissance systems officer (RSO) was the one listening to all the radios, not the pilot.

This seems a perfectly sensible thing for the RSO to do on a training mission, since on a real mission he might need to monitor multiple frequencies:

> I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital

At this point, they have passed their hours threshold and are heading back home. The pilot says:

> Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him.

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#162

Post by CalChris »

chrisseaton wrote: post #127
GuB-42 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, pilots say left/right, although it is more common to use clock positions for that. For example "traffic 3 o'clock" means there is someone on you right. Port/starboard is not used in aviation and I don't know of any equivalent besides left/right.

> Port/starboard is not used in aviation Some things seem to have been carried over though - you still almost always board an aircraft from the port side, don't you? And port/left is still a red light, and starboard/right is still a green light, on aircraft. A good way to remember all this is 'port is red and is passed to the left'.

In sailing, the red/green lights help determine right of way and give way.

  If to starboard red appear, tis your duty to keep clear.
Red Right Returning is used for coming into port in the US. However, in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Africa and most of Asia it is the opposite.

https://www.cruisingworld.com/red-right-returning/

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#163

Post by closeparen »

sharkweek wrote: post #33
elteto wrote: post #17

ATCs have a reputation for never losing their cool and that really shines through here: “Tower, there’s a guy in a jetpack flying outside.” “Copy. To your left or your right?”

I listened to the audio book of “The Only Plane in the Sky” (do recommend), and they played real recordings of ATCs on 9/11 as the planes were hitting buildings. It was surreal listening to them talk about the catastrophe but all while maintaining a total sense of calm.

The New York Times interactive feature on this is excellent. Includes some phone and radio traffic from the air defense system as well.

http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/...

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#164

Post by bagacrap »

achow wrote: post #124
ckocagil wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All sorts of transportation are very fragile. Everyone with a driver's license is trusted with operating tons of steel that can move at enormous speeds. Society's based on some amount of mutual trust. We can't lock everything down and treat every person as a potential criminal. That leads to an inefficient and dystopian country.

Well at the risk of sounding pedantic, things on rails - railways, metro/subway etc. are not in same category.

they aren't easy to derail? aren't wet leaves enough to cause issues?

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#166

Post by dyingkneepad »

mark-r wrote: post #85
bityard wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Negative. Pilots only ever have to worry about one plane. ATCs have to worry about all of them.

ATCs rarely have to worry about dying in the accident.

They just need to forever live believing their mistake caused the death of 350 people?

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#167

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

inopinatus wrote: post #93
abnry wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite admirable. I respect someone able to communicate effectively in a high stakes situation.

I recommend listening to the flight director loops from the Apollo missions. There are thousands of recorded hours available (various places, but try lunarmodule5’s playlists on Youtube, or https://apolloinrealtime.org/ for a museum exhibit style) - including practically the entirety of missions 8 to 13, and most especially try the notorious manual burn of 13 during which everyone sounds like they’re discussing where…

https://somafm.com/missioncontrol

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#168

Post by danso »

dyingkneepad wrote: post #166
mark-r wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ATCs rarely have to worry about dying in the accident.

They just need to forever live believing their mistake caused the death of 350 people?

Would that fear of future shame be as primal as the fear of imminent death, at the moment of conflict?

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#169

Post by aceman22 »

IgorPartola wrote: post #5

You know it’s true because it’s 2020. Remember that whole alien thing back in April? Me neither because about 10 years worth of events has happened in the past four and a half months.

I have a theory that 2020 is not any more unusual than other years, but that information dissemination and digestion has become so efficient that it seems like it's a crazy year. Just think about the Beirut explosion without cellphone cameras. Maybe it would have been in newspapers, but because so many people caught it on camera we were able to understand what 4.1 kilos of ammonium nitrate exploding looks like.

Re: Airline pilots landing at LAX report “a guy in jetpack” flying alongside them

#170

Post by rurp »

hnlmorg wrote: post #105
mark-r wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ATCs rarely have to worry about dying in the accident.

You don't need to be physically sat on the plane to emphasise with the severity of the situation. It's not like ATCs are willing pilots to die. And sometimes not being able to physically control the actions of the pilots can add to the stress.

I can relate to this from rock climbing. Typically one climber at a time leads while the other belays (manages the rope). The leader is the one at physical risk but the most scared I've felt has been belaying.

Being the belayer means you don't have much control and are mostly just watching closely and hoping your buddy doesn't get hurt. Being in a scary lead situation forces you to concentrate which pushes a lot of the fear emotions aside. Worry and fear take a lot of energy, energy which often can't be spared in an emergency where you have some control over the situation.

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