Deuce Science Flight 16

crews are prepping the Deuce to depart later today on a scheduled flight to Sheltered Rock with Jeb & Val in command. Katgan is also along for the ride since there happens to be a small storm north of SRG that could warrant some investigation

Val has signed off with us temporarily as they cruise over the horizon, they'll be in range of Sheltered Rock's aerial in 15-20min. Jeb let the autopilot do its job and grabbed a photo out his window as they flew past Mt Kermon, tallest peak in the KSC/Umbarg region

from the Deuce belly cam looking north as they fly past SRG, seen nestled up against the mountain to the right of the propeller. Calm and clear skies on this side of the Sheltered Rock mountain range belies what is on the far side over the horizon

one final image, the sun setting behind the peaks as the aircraft works north around the mountains towards the stormier weather. The crew needs to now focus on flying - especially since it's going to be night soon, even if most of their flight path should be over lowlands

Katgan has led the Deuce on several passes through the weak low pressure system and told the flight crew enough data has been gathered. They are now setting up for an instrument approach to SRG. With the amount of terrain that needs to be avoided, strict adherence is essential

approach to SRG at night is also possible with visual aids, beacons atop various peaks along the path towards the runway whose colors help keep pilots oriented. But this is nowadays considered a last-ditch backup option in the event of instrument failure & no range for alternate airport

Jeb gave the "yeehaw!" as he steered into "The Chute", where you have to drop nearly 2km of altitude in <2min with pitch angles of up to 15-20° while pulling a hard left bank to line up with the runway at ~140m/s even at full reverse thrust - it's quite the ride!

heading into the weekend with a good report from Lead Engineer Simon that the rocket has passed load checks and will undergo final closeouts at the start of next week. That and more that went down this past week in our Ops Summary: kerbalspace.agency/?p=10164