On 5/28/2018 6:02 PM, Kurt Gugisberg wrote:
Does it count if I LCO on an inconsistent basis? <G>
I've always been a big one for making sure we don't launch if we see, or
hear, an aircraft flying over. It's not just the rules, it's that I
don't ever want to have to worry about someone in a low-flying plane
being able to take an iPhone shot off what looks like a rocket being
fired at them (even if it couldn't possibly have reached their
altitude). There's too much at stake (for the hobby) in my eyes than to
treat it otherwise.
I'm probably considered a pain in the butt by some (okay, maybe more
than 'some'), but if I hear a plane over the playa, and I see an LCO
arming the controllers, I'll start yelling 'HOLD' as loud as I can until
we can identify the aircraft and make CERTAIN that it's flying away from
the playa, or at an altitude that it can't POSSIBLY be able to take that
'bad photo'. I know for a fact that some folks have gotten upset with
me for that shout-out, but at least 25% of the time it turns out that
there IS an aircraft in the area that we have to wait for, so I'm
willing to put up with the nasty looks the other 75% of the time...
Just last month (April launch) I was LCOing for a brief while, and at
one point I realized I had just launched a mid-power rocket as an
aircraft went overhead (I'd guess around 3000' AGL). There wasn't a
chance of the rocket hitting the plane, but there certainly WAS a chance
of someone getting that 'bad photo', and I was upset with myself for not
having seen the plane beforehand. BTW, nobody commented on the plane
until after I'd pushed the button, either (I certainly would have
appreciated it if someone HAD yelled 'HOLD' at me).
...and we haven't even talked about the flip side of the coin. I'm
ticked off at the pilots who choose to ignore the NOTAM that we call in
for our launches and either decide it doesn't apply to them, or they're
too lazy to check things out in the first place. We have, after all,
been warning all the pilots consistently for years about the launches --
yet we still get more than our share of idiots who think it's 'cool' to
see the rocket launches up close from the air.
Now, do I think we need to have some sort of 'aircraft warning system'
in place other than our own eyes and ears? Nope. I just think we need
to apply the eyes/ears a little more conscientiously than we have been
(and as you'll note by my story from last month, I include myself in
that...).
David Erbas-White
I, for one, would like to hear from everyone that LCOs on a consistent basis as to how big an issue low flying aircraft has been for them.
Kurt
Sent from my iPhone
On May 28, 2018, at 2:31 PM, Allen Farrington <allen.farrington@xxxxxx <mailto:allen.farrington@xxxxxx>> wrote:
Richard, since you just brought this up yesterday on the chat, I’m not sure if anyone on board has had time to think about it. I, for one, have been building rockets for ROCStock!
Are you concerned about commercial traffic or private/GA aircraft?
Allen
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Allen H. Farrington
http://www.allenfarrington.org
818-653-2284
On May 28, 2018, at 10:21 AM, Richard Dierking <applerocketry@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:applerocketry@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Thank you for the info James. I don’t think the ROC Board is interested in this at the moment. I’m going to use the flightradar24 app that Andrew suggested. It’s interesting just watching the air traffic.
And, no, I wouldn’t watch the screen during a whole launch. But, before I launch a rocket of mine, yes, I would check the app first. And, I want to learn more about what it has to offer.
Just check out air traffic around the Hawaiian Islands with the eruption on Hawaii. Interesting stuff, but sorry, going OT.
Richard
On May 27, 2018, at 5:58 PM, James Dougherty <jafrado@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:jafrado@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I didn't spend the launch monitoring my screen at LDRS.
And ... I spotted 4 airliners in our area at LDRS (two UA, 2 AA), all at FL30 above us.
Maybe you saw the ADSB setup that David brought to LDRS, similar but better UI.
I keep mine under the table. I also modified the code to alert me when something is within 4nm
of our launch site. I can give you the patch if you're interested.
On Sun, May 27, 2018 at 5:34 PM, David Smith <davew6dps@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:davew6dps@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Easy and cheap, and if you want to spend the entire launch
sitting and monitoring your screen.
ROCstock would be a great launch to test it.
See how much useful information you actually get and report back.
Dave Smith
On Sun, May 27, 2018, 5:11 PM James Dougherty
<jafrado@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:jafrado@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Easy, and cheap too.
RTL2832 - https://www.adafruit.com/product/1497
<https://www.adafruit.com/product/1497>
Dump1090 - https://github.com/antirez/dump1090
<https://github.com/antirez/dump1090>
Linux laptop
