{"id":11935,"date":"2016-08-07T12:15:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-07T16:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=11935"},"modified":"2016-08-07T12:15:29","modified_gmt":"2016-08-07T16:15:29","slug":"skyfaring-a-journey-with-a-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/07\/skyfaring-a-journey-with-a-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot<\/em><\/a> by\u00a0Mark Vanhoenacker is worthwhile for anyone who wants to know what it is like to be an airline pilot. The author is a first officer for British Airways who has type ratings for the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 747. The descriptions of systems seem to be technically accurate and the writing is graceful. Here’s takeoff:<\/p>\n

But with speed comes the transition, the gathering sense that the wheels matter less, and the mechanisms that work on the air\u2014the control surfaces on the wings and the tail\u2014more. We feel the airplane\u2019s dawning life in the air clearly through the controls, and with each passing second the jet\u2019s presence on the ground becomes more incidental to how we direct its motion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rated pilots will find some stuff here to enjoy, e,.g.,<\/p>\n

On sky maps of the Tasman Sea, the triangles that denote the waypoints hanging like notes on a musical staff arcing toward New Zealand are marked WALTZ, INGMA, and TILDA\u2014a reference to Australia\u2019s unofficial anthem, \u201cWaltzing Matilda\u201d\u2014while many thousands of miles west, running north to south over hundreds of miles of Indian Ocean off Western Australia, is a lyrical sequence that begins WONSA, JOLLY, SWAGY, CAMBS, BUIYA, BYLLA, and BONGS\u2014\u201cOnce a jolly swagman camped by a billabong\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

SNUPY. Near Kansas City are the culinary waypoints BARBQ, SPICY, SMOKE, RIBBS, and BRSKT. Near Detroit is PISTN, surely for the basketball team whose name reflects the city\u2019s heritage of industry; the skies around Detroit also feature MOTWN and WONDR (Stevie, Michigan-born) and EMINN, perhaps for the rap star.<\/p>\n

Boston has etched a particularly intricate constellation of itself onto the ether above New England. There is PLGRM, for the region\u2019s history; CHWDH, LBSTA, and CLAWW for its food; GLOWB and HRALD cover the city\u2019s newspapers; while SSOXS, FENWY, BAWLL, STRKK, and OUTTT chronicle the anguishes of the city\u2019s baseball team across the heavens. Even the region\u2019s speech\u2014WIKID, followed by PAHTI\u2014seems to be mapped.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book describes why modern aircraft are such complex and overweight messes:<\/p>\n

Most airliners now make use of GPS. Often, it\u2019s been added onto an airliner that was not originally designed for it. There are many such technologies\u2014related in particular to communications, and to the avoidance of other aircraft, wind shear, and mountains\u2014that accrete in aircraft systems as layers of progressively higher neurological functions evolve in living organisms, while older systems still twinkle in the lower-down layers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Highly recommended, though keep in mind that I’m biased!<\/p>\n

Related:<\/p>\n