4/30/2002: Ominous stormfront

Storm season again. MSNBC had this absolute beaut of
an approaching t-storm. Awesome.

Remember that line George C. Scott delivered in Patton about war... it kinda sums up the mixed feelings of guilt at being so attracted to a destructive power, like this thunderstorm. "God help me, I do love it so."

Originally posted by Griff
...the mixed feelings of guilt at being so attracted to a destructive power, like this thunderstorm. "God help me, I do love it so."

There's a bunch of weather weenies in ham radio, especially those involved in Skywarn, that would consider this photo delightfully pornographic. Some of the really hard-core folks go stormchaing in vans crammed to the gills with weather instruments, comms gear, and camcorders.

One of the local gals has a quote in her .sig on the Skywarn list "Feast on a smorgasbord of atmosphereic violence.". :-)

I kind of enjoy violent weather myself...as long as I'm not flying a light plane at the time. Like this one:

Originally posted by MaggieL


There's a bunch of weather weenies in ham radio, especially those involved in Skywarn, that would consider this photo delightfully pornographic. ...snip

Thanks for the opportunity to plug Skywarn, ARES and RACES.

Each of these are Ham radio based services that provide information. Yes, some of the folks get off on this stuff, some are trying to provide a service.

Skywarn are weather spotters trained to report into the National Weather service - you do NOT have to be a ham for this

ARES - the Amateur Radio Emergency Service provide emergency communications for various agencies when the agencies equipment is not up to the task. Often they are the only people who can provide communications between agencies with incompatible radio. They were called out for the AutoTrain Crash, and were very active with the American Red Cross in NYC post 9/11 providing almost all the communication between shelters

RACES (Radio Amateur Communication Emergency Service) are a bunch of radio folks who work with FEMA - in case of war they would be the only folks allowed on the air. They are activated at the behest of the President, usually by FEMA - when the are activated, they can not talk with other people

There is also MARS - the Military Affiliated Radio Service - they provide radiophone calls back from overseas to the US

All of these programs are strictly volunteer

Disclaimer:
I am the Queens County NY Assistant Emergency Coordinator for NYC ARES

73
KC2IXE

And you're a shooter, too, I see. Coolness.

I'm just starting to get formally active with our local RACES group. As it happens, the county Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is just up the road here.

They've got a really nice radio repeater and a fairly extensive packet radio setup as well...so in the event there's a massive telephone and power outage here I should still be able to get email in and out though the gateway.

FEMA!?

Aaaagh!

Is Walton Simons the director?

Originally posted by Torrere
FEMA!?

Aaaagh!

Is Walton Simons the director?

No idea - I'm NOT RACES - just ARES - Here in NYC there are different standards for qualification, and I don't (yet) meet the standards for RACES

The FEMA involvement is small in most cases - It's usually used as a credential to allow us into places we need to be

CharlieG he's refering to a game Called Dues Ex which had an organisation called FEMA.

Originally posted by jaguar
CharlieG he's refering to a game Called Dues Ex which had an organisation called FEMA.

Ah - Got it! I don't play games on the PC - no time - besides, I'm like Stef - I suck at them

Where do you fly out of? As I recall, you're in Minnesota... so am I, out of Crystal airport near Minneapolis.

MaggieL's in Pennsylvania, but you were almost sorta close :) You're probably thinking of warch, who is in Minn, if I recall correctly.

Originally posted by Dafydd Wynne-Evans
Where do you fly out of? As I recall, you're in Minnesota...

Uh, nope. I was born right here in Real World, one hundred percent pure-bred, home-grown child of Zion....uh...I mean..."the original Cellar". My flying club bases out of N47, Pottstown Municipal, and I live about 15 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Mag, Is that a random plane or your usual ride?

Originally posted by Griff
Mag, Is that a random plane or your usual ride?

That's the flying club's (only) aircraft, a 1977 model Cessna C-177-B. Four seats, 859 lbs useful load, 2,500 lbs max gross, cruses around 120 kts, service ceiling is supposed to be 14,000 ft , although I've never had it up above 9,000.

My usual ride, IOW.

You fly out of Pottstown? Uhh, let me know what your plane looks like and I'll try to stop "accidentally" firing my rifle in the air when that one flies over :-)



(just kidding. I don't actually have a rifle.)

Originally posted by russotto
(just kidding. I don't actually have a rifle.)

"... it's actually technically a rocket launcher, but I sometimes call it a 'rifle' just for kicks. Once you learn how to lead those things, it's spot on."

Originally posted by russotto
You fly out of Pottstown? Uhh, let me know what your plane looks like and I'll try to stop "accidentally" firing my rifle in the air when that one flies over :-)
(just kidding. I don't actually have a rifle.)

And I don't actually have hard-points on the underwings to mount ordinance either. But I *have* thought about it. :-)

And I *do* have a 9mm sidearm on board. Problem is that the windows don't open, except for those little vent window gadgets. I'd have to shoot lefty and be careful not to hit the prop arc, too...:-)

We are talking about Pottstown Municipal (just off Route 100 at the Wal-Mart) as opposed to Pottstown Limmerick (next to the reactor cooling towers), right?

Some days, tons of planes will fly over going NE, making a left turn about a mile north of my house (in Trappe). I have no idea which airport they are out of; could be Pottstown, could be Limerick, could be Collegeville. But they'll keep coming around.

Unfortunately the FAA frowns on private armed aircraft, the FCC frowns on unlicensed targeting radar, and ATF frowns on AA guns and missiles. Spoilsports.

Originally posted by russotto
Some days, tons of planes will fly over going NE, making a left turn about a mile north of my house (in Trappe). I have no idea which airport they are out of; could be Pottstown, could be Limerick, could be Collegeville. But they'll keep coming around.

In Trappe you're just across the creek and smack dab on the runway centerline from Perkiomen Valley Airport (which most folks think of as "the Collegeville airport").

Most days their traffic pattern involves taking off to the west, with a left turn (to the south) just about directly over Trappe, by which time they should be about 800 feet abover ground level....another left turn puts them on a downwind leg that passes just to the south of the Superior Tube plant. The approach to landing is flown approximately over the Lower Skippack Church.

When the wind is from the east (not often, and usually when there's rainy weather) approaches are flown in the opposite direction, and you'll see planes flying a "base leg" south and roughly parallel to the creek, with a left turn to the east when they get to the runway centerline. At this point they will typically be about 500-600 feet above the ground.

I know these patterns very well, because I learned to fly at Perki. :-) I don't operate out of there much at all anymore, though.