Brad Templeton

• Personal home page: http://ideas.4brad.com

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• July 6, 2007, on Bicycles:

  Some of the instability of recumbents comes from the fact that many of them have smaller front wheels. A lot of a bike's stability comes from the gyroscopic effects of spinning wheels. Smaller wheels, less gyro. But yes, otherwise they sure are better. It's a shame they are not more popular, as that would make them a lot cheaper. For a rack, I got the one from 1upusa.com They have changed their design a bit since I bought but I like the small footprint and the ease of loading the bike since you lift it less than a foot, compared to putting it on the roof.

• July 3, 2008, on Runway Incursions:

  Many of these problems also relate to other problems being worked out in traffic control. A simple first step would be a constant digital stream indicating what runways and taxiways are clear or in use, and who they are in use by. If the gps/computer doesn't get a signal that a runway is cleared for taxi, it will flash occupied, and sound a warning if the aircraft taxis towards it. If the ATC forgets to clear the runway, the pilot will call and ask "when can I use that runway, I'm waiting..." If the ATC marks a runway as clear when traffic is landing, you could get an incursion, though ideally a system should know what runways have been assigned to traffic, and will create a warning if the ATC tries to assign them to another aircraft. Fancy traffic control systems involve a "reservation system" where each vehicle gets a reservation to be in a particular place in space at a particular time. Vehicles ask for reservations, and get them, and then warn if for some reason they f...

• September 15, 2008, on Ground Monitoring for Part 91 Operations:

  Yes, it's surprising how long data networks in the air have taken. You would think a combination of the cellular network, a few extra towers (which unlike cell towers can be seen for hundreds of miles by private planes) and satellite backup could do the job. Of course they would charge pilots a fortune, because they can. Look what XM weather costs just for one little stream of data that's free on the ground, as much as all the radio stations, and it's one way. However, intermittent copilot could still be very useful. Of course you would have this copilot on takeoff and landing (easy data connection possible there) and in an emergency situation the cost of satellite bandwidth is not an issue. But you could also be updating the virtual copilot's console from time to time whenever you got in range of cheap connectivity. If the copilot saw an urgent situation they could reach you via something like XM or other satellite channels. Most of these copilots need not be full time i...

• November 2, 2010, on Unions and Airlines:

  One thing that is not quite so clear. It seems it is not in the interests of a senior pilot to not make it easy for him to switch to a better offer at a different airline. Sullenberger, for example, should want the freedom to change to United and, after being trained on their procedures, be a senior pilot there. Neither he nor US Air are interested in him doing that huge commute. So why don't the senior pilots seek "free agent" status for themselves?