Lindsay Petre submitted this photo and note: “My helicopter CFI, Mike deMarchi, sent me this glorious sunset photo taken from the helipad at Danbury Municipal Airport (KDXR) in Connecticut.”
Questions from the Cockpit: What’s so mean about mean sea level?
Cassandra, working on her Sport Pilot ticket on the Florida coast, writes: I’ve just started my flight training, and have learned about the two different ways that altitude is expressed: AGL and MSL. Above Ground Level is self-explanatory, but I’m having a harder time wrapping my head around Mean Sea Level. I mean, I get that it’s the altitude above sea level, but what’s the “mean” all about?
NASA’s Mars helicopter completes 50th flight
“When we first flew, we thought we would be incredibly lucky to eke out five flights,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity team lead at JPL. “We have exceeded our expected cumulative flight time since our technology demonstration wrapped by 1,250% and expected distance flown by 2,214%.”
Vietnam Memorial Week slated at Fargo Air Museum
The Fargo Air Museum has partnered with Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 941 to host Vietnam Memorial Week April 29 through May 5, 2023.
New Flight Gear iPad Kneeboard features rotating surface
“A rotating kneeboard is ideal for chart apps,” says Sporty’s President John Zimmerman. “You use landscape to view large sectionals or en route charts, then switch to portrait when you load an approach or airport diagram.”
Student pilot raises landing gear instead of flaps
The student pilot’s unintentional selection of raising the landing gear instead of the flaps during a touch-and-go landing, and the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action, which resulted in the landing gear retracting during the landing roll.
Picture of the Day: Contentment
Wil Esbenshade submitted this photo and note: “While providing an Angel Flight for a special child, this picture shows contentment when surrounded by all of your lovies!”
10 tips for a successful introductory flight
Many comparisons can be drawn between an airplane and a snake. One of the more benign is how getting close to either both fascinates and frightens people all within a heartbeat. I’ve raised snakes and flown airplanes and over the years I’ve learned that there’s just one goal in introducing either to the public: Make people want to have a close-up experience with them again.
FAA weather cameras go live in Maine
The FAA is now hosting 18 camera sites in Maine on its Weather Camera website, with plans to add more sites through 2023.