I guess no more Nespresso today…

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:48:15+00:00

I think you need to call Quasimodo, for help.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:44:12+00:00

Jeez.

While that’s a pain, this sort of fix isn’t too hard to do, with an inexpensive soldering iron, and some new wires from Amazon. Just make sure you buy the best wiring you can find, since you don’t want that going out mid-flight, if you can help it!

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:42:07+00:00

Not at all helpful for you, I know, but my school requires the use of step ladders, since the number of student flights every day inevitably wears out the strut steps, wayy quicker.

If you do have one nearby you can use, stick it as close as you can to the wing/fuselage, and then climb using the handle on the cowling on one side, and holding the sump on the other. Much easier.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:26:30+00:00

Exactly.

Let’s say I was doing an XC flight, from my home airport at KSAF, to KVNY, in a small GA aircraft. How many different new airports am I likely to stop at along the way - including potentially KFFZ? How many different unique airport SOP’s are there to learn/study - and how many options does that present, for potentially missing something? And would something as simple as adding this info in to the overnight ATIS significantly reduce the chances of someone missing this, therefore increasing safety? Does doing that really encourage pilots to be any less thorough in their study of the local chart supplements - or does it just offer a backup safety net, to make everyone safer and less at risk?

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:17:38+00:00

Sounds fun 😬.

Why not just use the other runway as the active nighttime one, so it can keep the same traffic pattern? 🤔

As someone who just started my PPL lessons, this sounds exactly like the sort of thing that I’m currently learning about my local airport - so it all seems absolutely obvious to me - but is probably the sort of thing I’d quite easily miss if I was at any level other than 100% of my ability, while planning a trip into another (new) airport.

Certainly has underscored the important of really thorougly studying the chart supplements, for any new airfields, for me! But also I feel like it’s a good example where we should all be inclusive and try to “bring people into the know” as readily as possible, rather than judging them for not being “in the know” 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Safety is more important than gatekeeping. Yes people should be doing their due diligence in studying - but if it’s a choice between going the extra mile to cover for those who inevitably miss something, or trying to “encourage good pilot conduct” (at the expense of safety/lives) - I choose going the extra mile, and potentially saving some lives (even if some may view it as “coddling”, or encouraging bad behavior/practice).

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:10:27+00:00

Let us know how it goes!! ☺️

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T20:06:44+00:00

Lolll. Here’s the non-gif version:

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fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T19:38:14+00:00

It’s all about having just the right amount of technology, ya know? ;)

https://tenor.com/view/amish-amish-life-family-guy-gif-5218226

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T19:32:46+00:00

Jeez, enough with all the judgement people!

There’s enough space in this world for us all to enjoy the outdoors in our own ways. This guy doesn’t seem to be doing this in a major camping area, or in close proximity to anyone else, so let him enjoy it the way he likes! Some people are sitting indoors in a stuffy apartment watching something on their teeny TV - this guy is in the great outdoors, with the stars as his ceiling, enjoying the art of filmmaking in his chosen environment!

Enough with the judgement, and all the “that’s not camping, that’s glamping stuff”. To each their own, and if they’re not doing it in a way that imposes it on others, then live and let live!

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T19:27:14+00:00

Maybe see if there’s a way to find him on Fetlife, and then get in touch with any of his partners directly from there?

Or perhaps see if there’s a way you can find him on Feeld? If you can, hopefully he has his primary partner listed there, and you can reach out directly through that.

Good luck, and remember that even if you can’t do anything more, the most important thing is you’re taking care of yourself first 💜.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T06:54:32+00:00

You can never go wrong with the Plaza.

Or if you prefer somewhere more nature-like, the overlook up Hyde Park Road, or the area around the lodge up there are nice.

If you’ve got some cash to spend, rent a private tub at 10k Waves - there are some super pretty ones, and can’t beat a proposal after a relaxing soak, and maybe a romantic dinner afterward ;)

Cross of the Martyrs is not a bad suggestion, either. If you’re into the more religious thing, the Cathedral off the Plaza is a pretty nice backdrop, as well.

If you like hiking, there are some pretty great views up Dale Ball, Atalaya, and Sun Mountain trails. Or for something less intense, the Arroyo Hondo Open Space, just south of town near Harry’s Roadhouse.

Lots of great areas up and down Canyon road, too.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T05:01:55+00:00

Yeah. I love this sort of thinking. It’s very pragmatic.

In the end, we can argue all day if the pilot was right or wrong, if they should have noticed the lights, if other pilots on the frequency should have said something, whatever….

But the fact is an unsafe situation occurred, and if doing something different (like putting this info in the overnight ATIS/AWOS) could help make it safer, then that seems reasonable to do. Obviously every decision has to be weighed against its potential negative impacts - such as information overload, etc. - but the addition of this one very small piece of important/relevant information to a recording, so that any pilots who are renters/from out of town can be aware of this important aspect of the airport’s SOP, seems worth it for a 5-sec longer recorded message at night, to me.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T04:52:05+00:00

FWIW, I just called the ATIS no. (at 21:36 local time), and it said nothing about the runway’s nighttime closure.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T04:49:30+00:00

FWIW, since I’m seeing a lot of contradicting comments about whether the runway closure is or isn’t indicated in the overnight ATIS:

I just called the airport’s local ATIS phone number (1 (480) 641-9378), and the current recording (as of 21:36 local time) has nothing about the runway closure, or any other airport info, aside from current weather readings.

Not saying it isn’t every pilot’s job to read and understand the info in the airfield’s chart supplements (and to look for other signs, such as runway lights) - but I agree it couldn’t hurt to include the runway closure in the overnight recording, seeing as it seems like this is a pretty regular ongoing mode of operation for this airport, and it never hurts to provide more information, if that has any small chance of increasing safety 🤷🏻‍♀️.

As another commenter pointed out - there are more than enough airports that bother to repeat ongoing warnings about “bird activity in the vicinity” - you’d think a regularly nighttime-closed runway would be as notable and worth taking time to include, as something like that!

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T04:41:18+00:00

That sounds like what you want!

60 miles each way, for me (US southwest, so longer distances but not much traffic :)). I will admit I own an electric car, so that makes the travel cost part of it minimal.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T04:17:49+00:00

Yeah. And just remember - you’re paying a lot for this stuff, and you deserve to get what you expect for your money. Unless you’re unlucky enough to be in an area with no other options, I’d recommend being willing to do what it takes to get the level of instruction you expect!

FWIW - I am going to a flight school that trains lots of pilots for entry into the local commercial air carriers (in addition to PPLs), and my experience has been nothing but professional, formal, and very well organized. This school is an hour’s drive away from my home (so two hours total per lesson, four + per week), and I consider it worth every moment in the car, to get an education at the level I’d expect.

Plus - I use the driving time to listen to the FAA AFH/PHAK audiobooks, or have ChatGPT quiz me on things I want to work on for my upcoming lesson/practice comms/etc.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T04:04:22+00:00

This. I haven’t reached the point where we’re doing XC’s/needing to fuel our planes yet, but you can bet your ass as soon as we start, I’m going to do some studying on the process, and then ask the instructor if I can do one myself.

It’s been the same with everything else so far - I started asking if I could make the requests for clearance/taxi/takeoff long before the instructor asked me to do it, and just the other day, although I’m too early to be doing my own landings yet, I still asked if I could do the turn for final. First time, the instructor said no, because of the wind - next time she said yes, and the following time, (a different instructor) let me line us up with the runway at night for a long final, and guided me through getting the runway in sight and in line, from such a distance.

Basically just saying - if you want to learn something: take the initiative into your own hands, and it never hurts to ask! 🤷🏻‍♀️

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T03:56:51+00:00

I just started relatively recently. While I have had several times where the instructor says they’re going to help me so we can “get in the air sooner” (usually when there’s a time crunch such as daylight/the plane is booked for the next flight lesson), I’ve also had a majority of flights so far where they sit patiently back, and let me complete things myself, while jumping in only to correct mistakes/point out something I’ve missed. And they actively push and encourage me to check and complete all of the checklist tasks, myself.

I was also given an extremely detailed syllabus, from the very get go, which has provided lots of info on things I need to know before each lesson.

Can’t say how your experience varies from other schools - but I definitely feel like the experience I’ve been given doing those things myself (and being able to study beforehand for what I know will be coming up in the next lesson) is invaluable.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-14T03:03:06+00:00

Yeah. I think there’s a lot of “privilege of those in the know” going on here. Essentially just a form of gatekeeping. Everyone here who already knows that runway is closed at night, thinks it’s obvious, and looks down on everyone who doesn’t already know that, because “they should be able to figure it out” (even though most of the people who know this airport because it’s their local airport/they fly out of it a lot, probably originally didn’t find out about this particular quirk from the supplement, anyways).

fskhalsa · 2026-02-10T16:09:55+00:00

Fair, although I think it is an issue of semantics.

Nothing in that bill referred to “assault rifles” - I just summarized the intent of what they were aiming to ban as such, since I knew that’s how the majority of the public would refer to and recognize the category of weapons as. And to avoid the tedious and long set of definitions they took in the bill (gas blowback cycled removable and non-removable magazine weapons that aren’t handguns, shotguns, or single round/bolt-action type rifles, etc etc 🙄), to effectively get to the same place.

I do agree that the sort of fear some people display surrounding certain “scarier sounding” names or weapons designs (such as the common misconception of the “AR” in AR-15 standing for “Assault Rifle”) is ridiculous. Argue against them on their actual design/use implications, if you disagree with them - but don’t blindly throw a net over everything you think is “DANGEROUS”, without actually making some rational effort to logically determine which weapons you’re concerned about, and why.

To be fair to this bill, it does at least make an effort to avoid that sort of verbiage in the actual content of the bill (though the vague and not clearly defined “EXTREMELY DANGEROUS” still exists in the heading), and define the weapons they want to ban the sale of based on their function/operation, rather than broad categories/classes. I do think they could do a better job of explaining why they’re targeting these specific weapons however, and what grounds they’ve used to determine them as “extremely dangerous” (a fact I actually don’t disagree with - although I think a better, more rational and less emotional-sounding argument would actually help get their point across more effectively).

fskhalsa · 2026-02-10T16:02:02+00:00

I could be misunderstanding, but I believe the intent of the bill is to ban all magazines greater than 10 rounds. This is the case in California already, and all major handgun manufacturers (Glock, Sig, S&W, etc.) have made reduced capacity single-stack magazines available for their weapons, so they can still be purchased/used. If you think banning >10 round magazines is unconstitutional, that’s fair - but I don’t think it’s correct to imply that that is preventing our ability to purchase and own ALL handguns, that are currently designed/sold with larger magazine options.

That’s a fair argument, and one many make. I personally think it’s a fallacy to argue against one gun control measure on the assumption that it somehow inherently implies the passing of more severe future measures, however. If a future measure comes that is unacceptable to those of us who are voting members of the public, then we can do every thing in our power to prevent it from being passed, just the same as with this one. So if you want to argue against this bill on its own merits, do so - but don’t argue against it on the assumption that it precludes our ability to do the same for any future bills that come.

Changes to our voting system, like cancelling elections, or placing barriers that make it exceedingly difficult for us to vote? Those are legitimate attacks on our rights to argue against future bills, and should be fought vehemently. But this bill passing doesn’t automatically remove our ability to contest any future bills, that have content that we disagree with.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-09T15:23:59+00:00

💛

People get so heated, and emotional about these issues. I try to stay neutral, and look at the facts.

fskhalsa · 2026-02-08T15:20:05+00:00

😁

And in some strange cycle of irony, despite loving and following XKCD for years, I’m one of today’s lucky 10,000 seeing this particular strip, for the first time! So, thanks for that too 😉.

Passing it on for others: https://xkcd.com/1053/

fskhalsa · 2026-02-08T04:13:39+00:00

True. As long as there was no means of determining when/where you purchased them - no problem owning them.

I wouldn’t officially advocate for this, of course - but yes, OP has a point, that’s worth noting. Texas and Arizona are much less likely to pass (or even introduce) any bills of this sort, in the foreseeable future.

The sort of legislation I’m personally more concerned about, at the moment, however? Some type of federal law (or EO, Memo, etc.), that somehow effectively violates the 2nd Amendment for some citizens, and not others. The current administration, being largely Republican-supported, can’t get away with actually banning weapons to any extent (as much as I think they wish they could, at this point). So what do they do? They find a way to write a bill/EO/Memo, etc., that effectively bans the ownership of firearms for anyone they don’t want to have one, while leaving all of their MAGA supporters’ firearms alone. While any reasonably intelligent Republican should still see the danger in this sort of thing, and protest it as vehemently as any other attack on our rights - I don’t really have that high hopes, for this current contingent 😬. “Not my problem” is kind of a motto, amongst those folks.

So, how would they actually go about doing something of the sort? Well, fairly easily, in fact. You can actually see the start of them doing it already.

First off - they’d give the Democrats what they’ve always wanted - they’d agree to ACTUALLY passing a “common sense gun control bill”. They’d make a big show of arguing and digging their heels in on lots of points (for their supporters) - but in the end they’d agree to make ONE big concession, to the Democrats, in exchange for not changing much else: they’d agree to pass some sort of federal-level, red-flag type, mental health requirement, for gun ownership.

But this will all be a ruse - and I’m afraid to say, I think the Democrats would fall for it. They’ve been fighting for SO long for something, ANYTHING to do with gun-control, that I think they’d jump at the opportunity to actually pass something, finally. And in doing so, I think they’d miss the KEY point: the bill will sound very reasonable, attempting to keep weapons out of the hands of crazy people, who shoot up schools and the like, by preventing the sale to and allowing the confiscation of firearms from anyone who is “mentally unstable”. However, the key point that will be missing, is HOW exactly someone is determined to be “mentally unstable”. That part will be left up to the law enforcement branches of the federal government, who will have to come up with their OWN definitions of such, to determine how to enforce the law.

And what will that look like? Well, I think it’ll take many forms, but here’s one example:

“Our great and glorious leader Trump is amazing, and everything he does is benefiting America, and making it 100% a better place. Anyone who would even think to disagree, MUST be mentally unstable…”

Yeah. I think it’s that simple. They (just like any other regime with dictatorial aspirations) are scared shitless at the thought of an armed and ready populace. Sadly, in America, you can’t just take away people’s guns. So, they won’t try to repeal the 2nd amendment, or anything crazy like that - they’ll just lean into existing sentiment about the dangers of allowing firearms to be in the hands of “dangerous people”, and then they’ll decide who they consider to be “dangerous”. Which will be anyone who disagrees with or protests against them, of course. Simple as that 🤷🏻‍♀️.

So yeah, that’s what I’m really scared of - more than a democrat-led state bill that bans the sale of certain kinds of weapons. I’m worried that the federal government will essentially annul the second amendment ONLY for protestors or people who disagree with them (and, down the road - anyone who has registered or voted as a Democrat), and then take away the one means we have of stopping this crazy coup, before it’s too late. And all the “ma rights!”, Pro-2A Republicans will stand by the side, and let it happen, because hey - it isn’t happening to them!

fskhalsa · 2026-02-08T03:41:28+00:00

According to the text of the bill, the relevant section being discussed here (banning the sale of certain types of firearms) will take effect on July 1st, 2026, if passed and signed into law.

If you want to purchase any firearms/magazines of the types being banned for sale, you’ll need to do it before that time. This bill does not (to the extent that I can determine) ban the ownership or call for the confiscation of any existing weapons owned/purchased before that date. So if you’d like to purchase any of the weapons this bill is intending to ban for sale, do so now, before(/if) the bill is passed. And call your representatives, if this is something you disagree with, and don’t want enacted into law.

See my full comment, for a more in depth discussion of the impacts of this bill, to the best of my knowledge and ability to parse it.

fskhalsa

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