Week 8 (Week of 3/27)

Another exciting week! I am nearly done with my initial assignment, and I have been given additional duties to complete. These new duties do not have too much to do with TAWS, but they allow me to contribute to the company while learning about engineering/administration. The first task involves checking the changed pin settings between two different ACSS products (T2CAS and T3CAS) and the other was to complete an excel sheet detailing the project man hour requirements for all projects in 2017. Again, these functions do not necessarily help my Senior Project, but they have enlightened me in the ways of engineering management.

Week 7 (Week of 3/20)

I went on spring break this week. I had an excellent time in Prescott National Forest.

Week 6 (Week of 3/13)

I have finished all training, so now I am only left to work on my data analysis! While this is not an entirely entertaining task (in fact it is sometimes the most excruciatingly, mind-numbing thing I have done in my life) I am plugging along. As of right now, the radio altimeter appears to be the cause of the majority of the nuisance alerts. However, the reports I am going through at this point are pretty date (early to mid- 2000's) so there may be variety in the more recent iterations of TAWS containing products.

I am also invited to many meetings. Now, these meetings have absolutely nothing to do with me, but serve to help me expand my expectations for what a future in the engineering field will be like. So while they are not entirely related to my SRP, they are worth their weight in gold.

Week 5 (Week of 3/6)

If I have learned anything from the past week, it is that it pays to be the son of the only pilot who works someplace. ACSS limits me to work only 18 hours a week, which I compress to two nine hour days (Wednesday and Thursday). This week I have been to both ACSS's King Air test aircraft and the TAWS product simulator. Due to the envious looks of the much more senior engineers, these opportunities are not normally available.

The simulator was nothing more than a glorified version of Microsoft Flight Sim, but with incredibly realistic controls and the ability to test the company's products. Unfortunately, the King Air was also a tad disappointing. The interior is being refitted so at the moment is is the mere shell of the aircraft it used to be. To add to the disappointment, while kneeling down to examine some wiring a sharp piece of metal sliced my dress slacks open.

Week 4 (Week of 2/27)

What a week! I started my internship last Thursday. It is more than I could have hoped for.  I get my own very spacious cubicle. These first few days have primarily been occupied with extremely tedious corporate safety and security videos, but I have also been given my first assignment. I have been tasked with compiling all of the useful information from the two hundred plus nuisance reports into a format which can be easily graphically represented. Since the goal of my project is to determine the underlining causes of nuisance alerts, this job is right up my alley.

Week 3 Update (Week of 2/20)

(Unfortunately, due to personal and internship restrictions, there have been a delay in posts to Blogger.)

I am one step closer to finally being able to start at ACSS! I have completed drug and background checks that are required for employment. I should be able to start next week. In the mean time my father has been running me through testing procedures which I may need to use to preform software tests at ACSS's engineering lab.

Week 2 Update (Week of 2/13)

(Unfortunately, due to personal and internship restrictions, there have been a delay in posts to Blogger.)

The boredom continues. Since my internship has still not started, my days drag on. I am still attempting to learn about topics pertaining to TAWS but I doubt the work I do at home is as useful as the work I will be able to do once my internship starts. This week I studied the NTSB report for the CFIT incident of UPS Airlines Flight 1354. This report is significant because it is recent (the incident occurred in 2013) and is a perfect example of pilots ignoring TAWS warnings which results in the destruction of their aircraft.