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?
Aircraft
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.
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.
Registration opens for museum’s summer camps
Registration is now open for a variety of educational, inspirational, and fun half-day Summer Camps exploring everything aviation and space for grades K-12 at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
Five win Cascade Warbirds scholarships
For more than a decade Cascade Warbirds has teamed with several flight schools in the Puget Sound area to provide scholarship recipients with tuition, books, and supplies to complete private pilot ground school, and two introductory instructional flights. Successful completion of the Private Pilot Ground School will qualify a student to take the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam.
Picture of the Day: Sunset over the runway
Dominic Giese submitted this photo and note: “Sunset flight to Grimes Field (I74) in Urbana, Ohio, in a Piper P100i.”