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February 2009 Newsletter

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

From the January Meeting

Jim Kramper

Jim Kramper spoke on the sources of global warming and discussed the various natural sources and human sources. Global warming is seen best if the entire earth temperature is monitored. The smaller the area examined the greater the variation in year-to-year temperature. For example in the St Louis area, only three of the hottest years have occurred since 1990, and one of the 10 hottest years was in 1900, while globally most of the 10 hottest years have occurred since 1990. He emphasized that the interactions between these various sources of global warming are very complex. However, human activity is a major source of the increase in atmospheric CO2, both form the use of fossil fuels and from the destruction of rain forest and other heavily forested areas which are a sink for CO2 and the production of O2. Human activity to reduce carbon emissions, recycle, and generally clean up our planet and the atmosphere will have positive effects on the health of the planet and may slow the process of global warming. There was a long question and answer period after the talk in which the myths about the sources of St. Louis weather, weather balloons, how forecasts are generated, etc. It was a really informative and lively talk and discussion.

February Meeting

The Wednesday, February 11, 2009 meeting will be at The Columns. Erik Kientzy will talk about FAA Enforcement action.

Phone your dinner reservations to Jean Murry at (314)469-3541.

Safety Tip

The recent crash of US Air Airbus 320, brought down by a flock of geese, should remind us how important good training is. These pilots fly every day, and every 6 month they go through a training program of emergencies that they don’t get to see in normal flight. So wouldn’t it be a good idea for us to have a training program that fits our individual flying activities? THINK ABOUT IT. Rick adv.av.training@sbcglobal.net

Upcoming Events

You can always find the latest list of upcoming MPA events on our web site at http://gatewaypilots.org/upcoming-events/.

This year, all meetings on are the third Wednesday of the month except in December. See the upcoming events page for weather minimums and times.

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Gateway Pilots Web Site

Did you know that there are good things on the web site that did not make it into the newsletter? Drop by www.GatewayPilots.org.

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November 2008 Newsletter

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

From the November Meeting

Doug Allen

Doug Allen, who flies a Piper Navajo and several other aircraft for Sanborn, described aerial mapping. It is the most demanding and most challenging flying job he has ever had. Imagine flying a 23 mile ILS, making a procedure turn with no more than 5° of bank angle, and doing it again… and again… and again…. The computer draws the line he must follow and his job is to keep the plane on that line without varying altitude, heading, etc.

Though the job does take him all over the country, he has the “misfortune” of having to kill a lot of time “on location” waiting for the perfect weather. Anything more than 5% cloud cover scrubs the mission. Sun angle of less than 30° above the horizon scrubs the mission. As a result, he spends a lot of time at bike shops, hiking, and enjoying the local ambiance.

Doug brought a couple of large prints with him, one of St. Charles and St. Louis counties which more than covered a 6′ table. Imagine Google Maps blown up large and printed. (Yes, Google Maps is one of Sanborn’s customers.) He also showed off a couple of other prints, an oblique view of the Arch and an overhead view of Lambert field. Sanborn just shot a new oblique view of the Arch, using their latest camera. The computer operators were able to zoom in and read the time off the watches of visitors on the steps of the Arch! It is also fun to realize that the camera points out the belly of the plane so, to get any of these oblique views, the plane has to roll into an almost 90° bank. Go ahead and click on the image below so that you can get some idea of how much detail is in the prints Doug displayed.

Doug Allen with two typical photos by Sanborn

Virtually all of the aerial mapping these days is done with a digital “camera,” shooting through nine lenses and storing data directly to computer hard drives. By combining the views through the various lenses and the GPS data, they can “survey” heights of ground objects from the air within 2 centimeters of accuracy.

New Member

John Carrington

Please join me in welcoming John Carrington as our most recent new member. John rents planes from St. Charles Flying Service and is looking forward to participating in our monthly fly-outs.

December Meeting

The Wednesday, December 17, 2008 party/meeting will be at The Columns. Bring a dessert and a gift ($10 max) for the crazy gift exchange. If you have been to one of these parties and gift exchanges before, you will remember the non-stop hilarity. If this will be your first year, trust me, you’ll catch on to the “rules” pretty quickly. Just one hint: don’t get too attached to the gift you receive.

Phone your dinner reservations to Jean Murry at (314)469-3541.