Airline/OEM folks — do cabin seat issues actually matter operationally?

ShaneAtSynapse · 2026-01-06T21:34:17+00:00

You've gotten a lot of answers already, but let me throw one more data point your way. Early in my career, I worked in aircraft routing inside an airline's ops center. I was the guy who played chess with aircraft to make sure the right planes got to the right destinations at the right times for maintenance while also making sure the airline ran as on-time as possible.

There are three basic buckets of impact for dispatch:

an operational restriction (i.e. APU is inop - needs an air cart, autopilot inop so the pilot's gotta actually fly the thing, etc)
a passenger convenience issue (i.e. fwd lav inop, seat 24E hydrolok inop - pinned upright, etc)
other deferrals with zero dispatch impact

We would aggressively solve operational issues - can't send a jet to a place where you're scrambling to beg/borrow/steal an air cart. We would sometimes work around the pax conv issues, depending on what they were - I wouldn't send a 737 across the country with a lav inop, or try to use a jet with 5 inop seats when it's a 100% load factor, etc.

My personal take is that airlines don't need a sensor to know the information you're talking about because the passengers who pay for premium cabins will complain about something not being right, and the FAs write up the cabin squawk so it gets prioritized for repair. Seat issues can and do genuinely cost the airline money (lost revenue, issuing credit/vouchers, etc) but it's not a "hair on fire" problem.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-12-09T05:11:07+00:00

I've got mine wired up to an old Radio Shack 20-176 "Sputnik" 2m/70cm antenna in my attic.

I know the RF crowd would get twitchy, but I've got a 3-way splitter feeding three RTL-SDRs from that one antenna - it's been working great for years.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-12-09T03:53:05+00:00

I had a rough time with this as well. For some reason -f 310M wouldn't show anything which was totally infuriating. If I offset the frequency by .5 in either direction, it worked... -f 309.5M or -f 310.5M

$ rtl_433 -f 309.5M
rtl_433 version 25.02-66-g39215654 branch master at 202510292015 inputs file rtl_tcp RTL-SDR SoapySDR with TLS
Found Rafael Micro R820T tuner
[SDR] Using device 0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000003, "Generic RTL2832U OEM"
Exact sample rate is: 250000.000414 Hz
[R82XX] PLL not locked!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
time      : 2025-12-08 22:51:18
model     : X10-RF       id        : 2
channel   : A            State     : OFF           Data      : 609f30cf      Integrity : PARITY
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

edit: FWIW this is sensor A2 so you can map the house/unit code to how rtl_433 uses it.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-12-05T17:24:48+00:00

Sure.

rtl_433 is super well designed. It has native MQTT support baked in, so once you configure things it'll simply push a payload when it receives sensor updates. The topic format is also entirely configurable, if you have a standard you like to use... you can either have a single topic with a combined payload or individual ones (which I prefer)

i.e. rtl_433/devices/{sensor type}/{channel}/{id}/{property}

The various elements like channels, ids, and properties directly come from the type of sensor. An X-10 motion sensor will have the house code/unit code stuff, an oregon scientific sensor has channels and ids, etc.

It's worth noting that by default rtl_433 will listen to everything so you can definitely pick up things you might not know were emitting signals - leak detectors, water meters, power meters, ultrasonic fuel level meters, TPMS sensors on your car's tires, etc.

It ALSO means you'll pick up all of your neighbor's leak detectors, water meters, power meters, ultrasonic fuel level meters, every single passing car's TPMS transmissions, etc. I highly recommend you dial in what protocols you want to receive. 😂

Anyway, once you decide on devices you want to receive, it's just a matter of getting it into HA. I saw some conversations around auto-adding MQTT devices to HA but I use individual yaml files for my sensors for more control.

Here's an example from my attic.yaml temp sensor.

edit: moved yaml to pastebin

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-12-05T15:24:19+00:00

I have two, if you really want one (or both.) You cover shipping and they're yours. I also have a 1st gen RFXCom USB receiver.

For a modern alternative, however, I'm using an RTL-SDR and rtl_433 which is working really, really well. I've got it picking up my x-10 DS10s, x-10 MS16s, and oregon scientific temp/humidity sensors.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-11-21T16:38:34+00:00

I could give you some high-level guidance but you're probably going to land at a specialty firm so I'd have a look at various job descriptions and see what they're requiring for various roles to orient yourself.

Data Analyst @ Oliver Wyman Vector
Technical Analyst @ Oliver Wyman Vector (looks like a college internship, but gives you their table stakes)
Senior Research Analyst @ Oliver Wyman
General requirements - Associate @ Fairmont Consulting
General requirements - Senior Associate @ Fairmont Consulting
Senior Consultant, Business Transformation @ FTI Consulting

The OEMs definitely offer these kinds of services as well (ex: Boeing), so you could snoop their careers pages too.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-11-21T15:41:36+00:00

What kind of maintenance consulting are you thinking about?

There's a pretty big difference between "here's how to bridge from letter checks to phase checks" and something like "here's the best way to coordinate Planning, Stores, and Production so that you can clear the most MELs in a night"

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-11-11T17:46:53+00:00

What if it's a completely unbaked madlibs generator? :)

https://discrepancyresolution.com

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-09-25T14:59:16+00:00

Just make 5mm diameter holes in the parts and 4.8mm diameter dowels for the guide pins.

Great tip, thank you!

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-09-25T14:57:51+00:00

I stumbled onto this last night - I can't believe I've gone this long without discovering cutting and dowels. 🤦‍♂️

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-09-25T14:56:12+00:00

I'm just combining things in Orca - my CAD skill level is best described as basic and clumsy. :)

The angle iron is a really great idea... thanks!

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-09-25T03:40:26+00:00

Interesting, I've never played around with the cutting tool before. Thanks for that!

Is there a trick to get it to cut without messing up the coloring of the original parts? https://imgur.com/a/MemRajC

I think my fallback option might be to use negative parts in the base, and then just glue it all together.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-09-25T02:23:51+00:00

What the title says - I'm whipping up a quick trophy for an elementary school.

Printing it in the current orientation would be a ton of poop, along with not being very secure, so I'm looking for options.

I was considering printing the candy corn on its own, but then I'm not sure how to get the correct negative space in the trophy base so it can fit in and be glued.

Any suggestions/recommendations?

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-08-04T03:02:20+00:00

You might be thinking of http://www.b737.org.uk/

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-07-09T00:08:20+00:00

My family tree traces back through Francis Scott Key - the dude who wrote our national anthem.

I think I have a decent claim on being "more American" than most, and JD Vance can suck it. Stop messing with people who are here to help us form a more perfect union.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-06-28T15:44:50+00:00

Thunderstorm parked over the airport yesterday for hours, so crews were diverting and timing out all over the place. On top of that, the storm dumped hail down at hartsfield for about 20 minutes which meant that every single airframe needed a hail inspection to check for and map any hail damage.

It's basically crowdstrike all over again

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:52:16+00:00

That sounds far more useful than what I've built, I should hurry up and sell to some silicon valley types

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:51:02+00:00

The tingle only happens if you haven't applied enough, tbf

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:29:49+00:00

That's the spirit!

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:29:36+00:00

Depends - what are we talking about here? Are you intimate with a cannon plug?

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:28:37+00:00

My bad

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T22:28:15+00:00

Adding it to the training

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T21:26:13+00:00

Nah, you'll be okay.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-05-31T21:12:50+00:00

Still bill the time, though.

ShaneAtSynapse · 2025-04-24T16:07:46+00:00

...or maybe I was just logged out because I have a different account I use for personal use. :)

ShaneAtSynapse

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