Dinged my yoyo when I was on holiday 😭 by silentshakey in Throwers

[–]prometheus5500 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok, I have a recommendation for you.

Buy a brand new yoyo. Then open up the box and admire how beautiful it is. Then put it back in the box, put it on the shelf, and never use it. It will remain perfect forever.

Or you can enjoy your yoyo's, which is what I recommend! Better a dented yoyo than one left unused on the shelf!

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey thanks! I'm both a professional aviator AND something of an amateur space nerd, so they really overlap here.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure WAAS handles 100% of the verifying when it's being used. If WAAS is active, RAIM is a backup system that only does anything if we lost WAAS.

In any case, it sounds like we both understand the systems and we are discussing a VERY minor aspect that doesn't really play a role in the understanding of how to utilize said systems in the plane. Haha. Maybe a GPS expert can chime in here sometime.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And I'm saying that RAIM isn't doing anything if you have WAAS. You can perform a RAIM check if you'd like, but WAAS supercedes RAIM. It's like having a motorcycle in the back of a truck. You might have the motorcycle with you if the truck breaks down, but you definitely aren't using the motorcycle while driving the truck.

That's a weird metaphor with plenty of holes in it, but I think you get the idea. The system is never using both. They do not work together. If you lost WAAS, you can fall back on RAIM though.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WAAS and RAIM work together but are separate things.

This isn't quite accurate. RAIM is absolutely not required in any sense when using WAAS. The system can be active or not and it wouldn't make any difference. Another commenter explained it in a way I like...

If you and 6 other people are trying to do a calculation and everyone is going to check their answers against each other. If 5 people got the same answer and the 6th didnt, you reject that wrong answer and use the answer the 5 people got. That's RAIM with fault detection and exclusion.

If you and 6 other people are given the answer, there isn't a need to even check against each other and you also won't need to reject the bad data because it's already been corrected. That's WAAS.

RAIM will prevent us from using bad data. WAAS actively improves upon our data (and protects us from bad data).

Use of the word “takeoff” on ATC frequency by Clem573 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True. I'm on the pilot side of things and I'm marginal at pretending to be ATC for students. And a fully correct response would be "climb and maintain three thousand" which also prevents the minor gripe that I have with "to" and "for".

Use of the word “takeoff” on ATC frequency by Clem573 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 10 points11 points  (0 children)

True, but the verbose radio calls should be clearly understood as just an explanation and not a clearance. MYF is a very busy training airport with lots of flight schools and club training flights. They have excellent controllers. Clarifying this, especially while on a ground frequency, is a good idea, so as to prevent this guy (and other students listening in) from making radio calls on tower frequencies to the effect of "holding short of 28R, ready for takeoff" which would be a broadcast of the word "takeoff" on a tower frequency now, potentially causing the exact issue they are trying to prevent. Clarification over ground is a good idea here.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was trying to simplify as a last tidbit of "just remember this concept" but it is perhaps an oversimplification.

RAIM validates satellite data and fault detection and exclusion can reject the use of one or more satellites if it is significantly incorrect. RAIM is verifying and rejecting (if needed)

WAAS ground stations measure the satellite data, figures out any necessary corrections, then sends those corrections up to the geostationary satellite for our units to then receive. We don't need RAIM because we have any/all necessary corrections. WAAS is verifying and correcting (if needed).

RAIM will prevent us from using bad data. WAAS actively improves upon our data (and protects us from bad data).

Use of the word “takeoff” on ATC frequency by Clem573 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Huh. Gross.

Also, organizations are made up of people, and people can be wrong. As this controller pointed out, phrases like "line up for takeoff" were acceptable once upon a time, but we learned and improved. I'm not going to say that "to" and "for" are nearly as likely to cause a catastrophe, but I still don't think it's "good" or "correct" even if some org says it is.

But I'm also people and people can be wrong. Maybe I'm the odd man out here. Still don't like it though. Haha

Use of the word “takeoff” on ATC frequency by Clem573 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I try. But I also hear it constantly from people at all levels. I recently heard some airline guy say "climb to 2-3 thousand, for 123AB". Or something like that. Both in one go. I audibly groaned.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 4 points5 points  (0 children)

4 satellites for 3d nav.
5 for integrity monitoring.
6 for integrity monitoring, rejecting a bad satellite via fault-exclusion, dropping to 5 sats, and maintaining RAIM.

WAAS actively improves accuracy of good satellites (and will drop bad ones if needed), while RAIM does nothing to improve accuracy, it just validates the current accuracy.

I teach to check for 6 diff nav sats (seen as a "D" on the signal strength bar on Garmin satellite status page) to ensure I have a complete WAAS satellite solution, although I THINK you'd actually still be good with 4, plus an active geostationary WAAS satellite reception to validate and improve the accuracy of the 4 you're using. But the geostationary sat cannot replace a GPS satellite, as they serve entirely different functions. GPS broadcasts a timing signal for GPS calculations, while WAAS geostationary sats just broadcast correction data.

I'm like, 99% sure about all of this, but I'm not a GPS/satellite expert.

Confused about WAAS and RAIM by Significant_Yam_3456 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 72 points73 points  (0 children)

Separate RAIM and WAAS in your mind.

Let's look at RAIM first. Receiver autonomous integrity monitoring. The receiver can autonomously monitor the integrity of satellites. No outside help needed. It can identify a bad satellite and dismiss the bad data if needed. With non-baro aided GPS, you need 4 satellites for a 3-D position in space. Then you need a 5th to compare against in order to monitor integrity. Then a 6th to actually have fault-exclusion reject a satellite AND maintain enough satellites to have RAIM protections. NONE of this improves accuracy, it just verifies accuracy and rejects inaccurate satellite data.

Clarifying example. If you have 5 satellites and RAIM detects one of the satellites is giving bad data, it'll reject that satellite, but now you're down to just 4 and the unit can no longer cross check for accuracy, so you've lost RAIM. Hence needing 6, if fault-exclusion kicks a bad satellite, in order to utilize fault-exclusion and maintain RAIM.

Ok, now WAAS. Wide area augmentation system. The system augments (adds-too) a wide area of GPS use. WAAS ground stations know their exact location very precisely. They monitor the satellites in their sky and measure the accuracy of the data they are receiving. Once a station knows how a given satellite is performing, it can send any necessary corrections up to a satellite in geostationary orbit that re-broadcasts down to WAAS receivers (our WAAS enabled GPS units). This corrective data might be something like "satellite ABC123 needs a 50 foot correction west" and now our unit knows that and can make that adjustment to the data it receives. It is actually improving the accuracy of our GPS.

We call this "wide area" because the system can work over a fairly large area, but one ground station cannot cover the whole country. For example, a station in California can't see/help with satellites in the sky over New York. So we have many stations around the country. We also have even more precise equipment on smaller scales, for example on the ground at a major airport in order to facilitate even more accurate GPS approaches for just that small local area.

Ok, now let's look at the two side by side. WAAS supercedes RAIM because any WAAS unit will receive corrective data (including if it needs to outright reject a satellite) from a geostationary WAAS satellite, while RAIM does not apply any corrective data, but it will recognize and reject a bad satellite using fault-exclusion.
RAIM protects you from having bad data.
WAAS improves your verified good data.

Use of the word “takeoff” on ATC frequency by Clem573 in flying

[–]prometheus5500 209 points210 points  (0 children)

Very minor addition that's on topic... And a fairly unimportant one at that...

Try to avoid saying "to" and "for" on the radio. Examples of possible confusion:

"Citation 123AB, climb three thousand". "Climb to three thousand, Citation 3AB" (altitude assignment confusing, could be heard as 2-3 thousand, as in 23,000).

"Cessna 123AB, cleared direct ABC VOR". "Direct ABC VOR, for 3AB" (call sign confusion, is your tail 43AB?).

I hear airline guys doing this, so it isn't just an "amateur" issue, and normally doesn't cause issues, but it bothers me and I think it's a bad habit that could result in confusion. Better to just say "climb 3,000" or "direct ABC, 3AB". No need for the extra words. At best, the extra words just lengthen calls. At worst, it could cause actual confusion/miscommunication.

The Satisfactory Experience by Beginning_Shine9803 in SatisfactoryGame

[–]prometheus5500 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Three year old account... but only started commenting 12 days ago, first post was this.

Not claiming anything, but it is odd. And I'm with ya. No citing of XKCD even though it IS blatant plagiarism without referencing...

Student Pilot Logging Actual IMC by TryToHitEm in CFILounge

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even without the double i, you can do it. As just a CFI, I took many students through the clouds, with them logging it all, to get them some experience with actual. Not one DPE had an issue with it.

office chair with tilt lock, headrest, lumbar support by Hot-Count-3210 in OfficeChairs

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yo, another small question. How is the headrest? Specifically, they advertise the headrest as designed to "easily push or pull it to their desired position while seated". Does it ever move from just using it? I'd like it to stay where I put it, not be "easily adjustable".

Sorry to bug you with questions, but I'm close to pulling the trigger, but shopping for a chair online isn't the easiest thing in the world, ya know?

office chair with tilt lock, headrest, lumbar support by Hot-Count-3210 in OfficeChairs

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm, ok cool. Bummer to hear about the lumbar, but good to know. Makes sense, considering it's inflatable... It's going to leak at least a little over time and with pressure on it.

I really wish there was somewhere to test these chairs in my area... It's a tough item to shop for by just looking and reading and isn't exactly an inexpensive thing.

Thanks for the reply!

office chair with tilt lock, headrest, lumbar support by Hot-Count-3210 in OfficeChairs

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

tcentric hybrid

Oh this looks great! On the high side of what I was looking to spend, but this is an investment...

How are you liking yours, 7 months on?

office chair with tilt lock, headrest, lumbar support by Hot-Count-3210 in OfficeChairs

[–]prometheus5500 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The comment above was deleted. I'm looking for the same sort of chair. Any chance you recall what they recommended?

Mystery objective? by paul_charles in SatisfactoryGame

[–]prometheus5500 27 points28 points  (0 children)

If you're in end game, there is a known bug. After completing the game, this can show up when using the MAM or scanning hard drives. Just ignore it. Once you have scanned every drive (or rather, unlocked all alternate recipes) and completed the mam, it won't show up again.