Commander Valentina heads north to do a brief survey around a mountain that some scientists from WinterOwl Field Research are looking to summit at Zone 7-04
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Kerbal Space Agency
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Cdr Val is finishing up her briefing & heading out to begin preflight of a Civvie. She'll be flying 232km north to bit.ly/Zone_7-04
Kerbal Space Agency
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taxiing out to Rwy27, Wx is mostly clear w/clouds @ 2.8km but thin & wispy pose no problems for VFR flight. Winds out of the NNW @ 5-8kts
Kerbal Space Agency
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Val has departed, climbed past 800m & is turning on course hdg353, skirting the bay & aiming east of the mountains to stay clear of clouds
Kerbal Space Agency
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cruising @ 2.3km over the foothills 46km downrange Val is about to drop out of touch below terrain. We expect her back on comms w/in 1.5hrs
Kerbal Space Agency
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Val is back in sight, retracing her route & reports no issues during the mission. Flight has cleared her to descend & land on runway 27
Kerbal Space Agency
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30% of fuel pumped into rear tank allows for better pitch control on landing, throttle is back to 55% so alternator can still power all sys
Kerbal Space Agency
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Val will use the new appr of keeping off batt power until over the runway then cutting throttle & coasting to land, will be coming in fast
Kerbal Space Agency
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lining up on 3.7km final appr Val's avg velocity has been ~88m/s while a normal approach would be closer to 56m/s. Runway coming up quick!
Kerbal Space Agency
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crossing the threshold @ 72m/s & cutting throttle, it took Val 31s to coast 3/4 down the runway & land but she didn't run off. Excellent!
Kerbal Space Agency
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saving battery power on approach will further help to keep Civvie operating costs down - flying techniques continue to evolve & improve
Kerbal Space Agency
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here's a look at the terrain Val flew over on her flight, pulled from the Civvie TDU & subtracting AGL from ASL, so flat areas is over water
Kerbal Space Agency
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future Ops Tracker plan is to have interactive elevation change graphs like this accompany flight plots. Today's: bit.ly/Civvie_10-25-17
Kerbal Space Agency
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WinterOwl was pleased with Val's aerial survey, have released some images you can view in this album: imgur.com/a/5n7i2
Kerbal Space Agency
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Everyone have a great weekend & don't forget there's a lunch next Tuesday! Catch up on this past week via bit.ly/OpsSummary10-2…
