Deuce Science Flight 14

Bill gets to backseat drive today as Jeb and Val prep the Deuce for departure. Although not a trained meteorologist, Bill will check out the operation of the new analysis console at his seat to monitor instrument data and instruct the flight crew where to go

Deuce has departed from Rwy27 & is climbing to cruise altitude. Weather reports already have them heading northwest for a low-pressure system on the other side of the mountains. From there it will be up to Bill and his interpretation of the data

Val has signed off as they duck behind the mountains, which Bill has already tried to make them fly into. Not on purpose - he can't see out the front and saying "hold at 2.5km" when a cliff face is looming ahead obviously isn't a command the flight crew will follow

back in sight of KSC, Jeb has the aircraft descending for pattern entry. Looks like they went up and down and all around out there. Val says Bill was having a bit too much fun being in charge & once they had to head home with a full data store the flight crew cut the intercom

Jeb just called a go-around on final approach when strong winds out of the north blew him off course turning from base leg. He's going to come around from the south so he's turning into the wind with better sight of the runway from his side of the cockpit

aircraft is taxiing back to the HAB after Jeb had to crab in for landing. Seen in this photo done in a Civvie, the aircraft keeps its nose into the wind so it flies straight on approach. Once it touches down rudder is applied to line up the plane on the runway

Lead Scientist Cheranne is eager to pass on new weather data to her colleagues in the meteorological field while Lead Engineer Simon will be expecting a report from Bill & the flight crew on how the console functioned so any tweaks can be made for future missions