Random musings with an aviation flavor, natch.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Scientists vs. Engineers in the cockpit

I'm a science and engineering librarian for my day job, and have worked with both disciplines for years. The similarities and differences fascinate me.

Mostly I've flown with lots of engineers - when I got back into aviation, it was thanks to engineers at the company where I worked, and my primary instructor the second time round was an engineer (electrical), and most of the folks in my current flying club are enginers.

I've had the fun to fly with a physicist now, and he is good! Equally precise in checklists and data and such as the engineers, but seems a bit less inclined to keep adjusting settings!

Of course, this is an enormous generalization based on only one guy and one experience, but it does seem to hold with physicists' traits vs. engineers' traits I've observed at work, too!

SBP!

Second flight to SBP today!
We both got about 2/10ths actual, and R got to log the approach into SBP as instrument, as she was in the clouds for much of the final approach!
I got the actual busting out of there. It was clear, though hazy, for the final 3rd of the journey home (starting about CMA).
What a great way to spend President's Day, admiring part of our country from aloft!

New task learned! Battery fluid testing

So I learned another new task at our flying club's maintenance day this month! How to test the fluid level in the C182's battery.

I volunteered to do this routinely, as I am small enough to fit all folded up in the baggage compartment area and thus reach the battery in the tail behind baggage easier than the guys who have to dangle lots of legs out the baggage door!

We test in 2 ways:
  1. With a flashlight and an angled mirror, to see in each battery post/well, and see that the fluid goes up the sides a bit, and has that nice look of viscosity and surface tension (hard to put in words, but easy enough to see!), and also
  2. Using the floating ball (well, tube) type hydrometer - looks like a turkey baster with a measured off tube inside - have to squeeze the air out with the bulb, and carefully let the fluid up

Key is not to get this acidic fluid on yourself or the carpet!

It was pretty fun!

Cake for flight club maintenance day!