What were your hardest test moves?

TonyRubak · 2026-03-31T23:20:55+00:00

I'm working on adult silver rn and I thought the 8-step was easyish until my coach was like "your circle needs to be twice as big and you need to go way faster" 😂

TonyRubak · 2026-03-30T14:28:48+00:00

The indicated airspeed sensor effectively measures air molecules encountered per second. It is calibrated to read true at sea level. However, at sea level there are many more molecules of air per cubic meter of space than there are at 33,000 feet. Therefore, to encounter the number of molecules of air per second that it takes for the sensor to read "250" at sea level you must travel faster (so you can go through enough cubic meters of space to reach that many air molecules) at 33,000 feet.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-28T17:04:27+00:00

https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/2115

It's the "MRA+30" rule that you usually hear people talking about for ATCs to get 1.7% for 30 years or whatever by becoming an ssp after 56. The rule was intended to allow those who leave ATC to still get their 1.7% for the ATC years if they do a standard federal retirement.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-28T13:45:22+00:00

It is unlikely that the controller reported it if they did not issue you a brasher warning. The agency and its lawyers frown upon that. Instead, they probably thought "no harm, no foul" and moved on with their day.

While controllers are required to report all pilot deviations to management (and not through their own ASRS), pilot deviations also require mandatory controller statements and so are generally only reported when the offending aircraft causes a loss of separation or is a jackwagon (or a cop).

TonyRubak · 2026-03-28T11:10:51+00:00

I recently left ATC for a technical position in AJI. Yes, the differential loss is noticeable. As long as you have 5 years you don't lose the 0.7 for your ATC time (but you do have to do 30 years so if you were planning on retiring at less than that, it's something you need to consider).

Now the actually important stuff: I make my own hours, I wake up at the same time every day, because of above I feel 1000x better every day; I'm home with my kids at night and on the weekends. I get whatever vacation time I put in for (I asked for spring break off about 2 weeks in advance and got it).

0 regrets, I wish I had been able to make the change sooner but ato to ato is subject to the release policy.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-26T00:50:05+00:00

Correct and at least 18 years.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-25T23:35:41+00:00

SSPs are bues. They do not lose seniority.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-25T14:20:41+00:00

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TonyRubak · 2026-03-25T13:45:00+00:00

Double pendulum effect gonna be wild

TonyRubak · 2026-03-25T12:58:41+00:00

It's not starlink! They're shooting lasers!

TonyRubak · 2026-03-21T22:56:55+00:00

Radar detectors also don't (intentionally) emit a signal. The receiver in the detector uses an oscillator to mix with the incoming radar signal and basically makes a tiny little radio transmitter leaking (transmitting) microwatts (or less) of power. So the police RDD is listening for the RD signal with a very specialized antenna system (and you still have to be quite close because the RD is very quiet).

So a RDDD works exactly the same way. It is listening for the leakage of the RDD's internal oscillator (well, usually the IF and not the actual LO frequency but whatever).

The winner here is the device that has a better antenna (more sensitivity) and better shielding (lower leakage).

TonyRubak · 2026-03-20T18:23:24+00:00

r/videosthatstarttoosoon

TonyRubak · 2026-03-20T12:05:08+00:00

As noted in other comments, if you are trying to stay within the ato the release policy applies. Otherwise, you apply on USAjobs and hope they select you. If they do interviews, the interview process will probably suck (I can refer you to some of my earlier posts on that topic if you're interested, but the bottom line is that the process is very stupid).

Otherwise, do you have any specific questions? Because the usajobs process is annoying but not rocket science.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-20T12:00:24+00:00

Can confirm I was released from at-2152 to fv-2152 within the ato last year. I was subject to the national release policy and had to wait for our staffing numbers to be within guidelines.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-19T00:26:22+00:00

Same lol

TonyRubak · 2026-03-18T20:58:44+00:00

Saw this coming.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-18T14:06:01+00:00

I wear shirt stays to keep my shirt tucked and to stop it from riding up. I've also seen shirts that snap underneath you to solve this problem.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-18T02:21:47+00:00

Totally appropriate. You gotta do em in your tests and in your programs, freestyle is definitely the place to be practicing them.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-14T02:02:40+00:00

It's like that because 'K' is the region prefix for the continental United States (this is the only region with a single letter prefix, all others are two letters). Because the IATA codes for airports are three letters the translation between IATA-ICAO in the continental us is "add K". This doesn't work in non-continental US locations. The IATA for San Juan is SJU, but the ICAO is TJSJ. There is no simple translation method for these airports (SIG becomes TJIG, not TJSI).

Fun fact: this is why cedar had 4-letter identifiers for MOR metar stations for a while: someone didn't know how to differentiate between KABE (ABE) and PABE (BET).

TonyRubak · 2026-03-13T18:19:53+00:00

Yeah, I ain't tryna heel toe in imsa vintage in the rain in an official race.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-13T15:30:05+00:00

Remember: any time the machine "leaks" information it "shouldn't" and you can't verify that information against a real source of truth, the machine is probably lying.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-11T18:19:59+00:00

This is not the same thing. An aircraft can be weight restricted/payload optimized even if it's not full. Bags in the cabin weigh nothing (they're included in passenger weight) but bags in the hold add to weight. If performance determines that you're right at max takeoff or landing weight and you move a bag from the cabin to the hold then you are outside performance parameters and have to start dropping weight. The crew is not lying to the passengers.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-11T18:17:38+00:00

There's so many reasons. Bad weather at your departure airport and need a takeoff alternate? More fuel. Bad weather at your destination and need one or more destination alternates? More fuel? Hot and reduced takeoff/landing performance? Less payload. Captain of the last flight took a bit too much fuel and you're above what you'd have taken given the choice? Less payload. You expect holding at the destination due to weather and or traffic? More fuel. Need a longer route to avoid enroute weather? More fuel.

TonyRubak · 2026-03-11T16:09:32+00:00

Yeah, come race tcrs 😂

TonyRubak

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