Page 32 - OCT 19 TNT

Jet Journal Just Plain Magic by Kevin Ware Iam standing well away from the operations area of our airport in the middle of a huge meadow of tall yellow grass, with most of the green stalks having long ago given them- selves over to the inevitability of fall. A shaft of sunlight is occasionally shining through the broken to overcast cloud layer about 2,000 feet above my head. And about 100 yards away a coyote is stalking a field mouse, occasionally giving me a worried glance to see if my presence might interfere with his activity. Circling above the coyote are a couple of noisy seagulls, wondering about possible leftovers from the coyote. Out in the distance, and far away from the wildlife, I can hear a single-engine piston-powered airplane starting on its takeoff run. Shortly after that, it passes through my line of sight just some 20 feet above the runway. I strongly suspect that the pilot, if he can see me at all, has no idea the importance of the aviation equipment I am out here looking at. Until several years ago, I would not have known myself. But what I and three others are doing out in the middle of this mouse habitat, is checking the accuracy of our airport’s AWOS (automatic weather observation system) – the magic of which we pilots are often oblivious to (until it doesn’t work), even though it has made a huge difference to the safety and efficiency of how we fly. 30 • TWIN & TURBINE / October 2019