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Aviation Weather

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  The Dreaded Thunderstorm Obtaining a weather brief during the summer months in El Paso, TX is always a difficult task. They will brief you with good weather but always end the conversation with "there's a potential for thunderstorms." Then the question becomes, should I fly?  There's always the chance that thunderstorms can build pretty rapidly during the period of mid July through mid September. This is due to there being moisture in the upper layer of the sky, and warm, unstable air at the surface, which ultimately rises. Three ingredients are needed for thunderstorms to form: warm, unstable air; moisture; and something that will trigger motion in the atmosphere (like a front). Thunderstorms can be very dangerous for pilots to fly near and as a pilot, you never want to fly through one. Thunderstorms are capable of producing the following: turbulence, hail, lightning, high gusting wind  heavy rain, and thunder.  Thunderstorms have the potential to destroy aircraft...
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Aviation Security

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 Aviation Security      Ever since the tragic incident on 9/11, airport security has changed significantly. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was established and many security control measures, such as removing shoes and putting any electronic devices bigger than a cell phone into its own separate bin to be screened, have been implemented into traveling. Since the attack, passengers have attempted to bring numerous items on board to try to blow up an airplane and every time an incident like this occurs, TSA responds with a different security measures. For example, in August 2006 terrorists planned to detonate liquid explosives that were carried on board from the UK to America and Canada, but were unsuccessful. TSA responds with no liquid, gels, or aerosols allowed in carry-on bags. A month later, they implement the 3-1-1 rule (3.4 ounces or less that fit in a one quart-sized resealable bag are allowed in a carry-on bag).  Threats still exist to th...
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Ethics in Aviation

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  Not too long ago, my husband and I boarded a flight to Sacramento. After finding our seats and getting ready to take off, he looks at me and says this is a Boeing 737 MAX. It took me a second but then I recalled watching a documentary on this airplane on Netflix called Downfall: The Case Against Boeing. I remembered there being multiple ethical issues that went on behind the scenes. The issue that bothered me the most was the fact that Boeing was more concerned about making money and beating out their competitor than they were about the safety of their aircraft, which resulted in the deaths of 346 people. The pilots had no knowledge of the new system MCAS (maneuvering characteristic augmentation system) and therefore had no formal training on how to override the system that they didn't even know was on the aircraft. The MCAS had known problems as well that the engineers brought up multiple times but were disregarded. The famous saying "money is the root of all evil" def...
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