6 ms·

Don Bateman’s terrain mapping device

92 points by forrest_t 10y ago

jaynos 10y ago
>Bateman was always fascinated with airplane crashes. As an 8-year-old school boy in 1940 in Saskatoon, Canada, he and a friend sneaked out of class after two military planes collided and crashed nearby. As punishment, his teacher made him write a report on what happened. A much more appropriate punishment than detention.
- john_reel 10y ago
  Yeah, that’s really cool.
- tonyarkles 10y ago
  As is the custom, I have to get excited when our small town gets mentioned in either the news or HN. I'm also now going to be doing some research about this accident; we don't have a military airfield in town, but my understanding is that there once was. We additionally had a pile of small airstrips all over the province commissioned during the war which have now been abandoned. It still surprises me that we had these at all, given that uhhh Saskatchewan was quite a ways away from the front lines.
  - Scramblejams 10y ago
    If you come across any information on the accident, please post it as a reply here, I'd like to see it. Thanks.
  - wcarss 10y ago
    My grandfather was an RAF pilot during WWII, who lived in Saskatoon and Kamsack from 1920ish until the 1990s -- I'm not sure if he was stationed there during WWII (I think he might have been put on the east coast) but if he was, he'd likely have known the people in the planes involved. He passed away early this year, so I unfortunately can't ask him.
  - mast 10y ago
    The airfields were part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and they were all over Canada. Pilots were trained for WWII. I believe my grandfather was training in Gimli Manitoba when the war ended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan_facilities_in_Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Commonwealth_A...
mfringel 10y ago
Please include "Crashing Into Mountains" into the subject line. It's a bit clickbaity right now.
- tremon 10y ago
  Indeed. Here I was thinking that ferrying passengers instead of other cargo was the largest cause of death...
  - personlurking 10y ago
    I would think the best way to eliminate the largest cause of death (ferrying passengers) would be with a detachable cabin [1] but given that most accidents occur around take-off and landing, it wouldn't make much sense. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-a-detachable-cabin-probably-won-t-save-your-life-in-a-plane-crash-a6839156.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new...
    - throwanem 10y ago
      Yeah, I'd feel a lot safer aboard an aircraft that's designed to come apart.
    - rsync 10y ago
      This reminds me of my sometimes curiosity into why helicopters don't have a central parachute, presumably located in the center of the main rotor. Not a parachute for occupants, mind you - for the entire helicopter. Why isn't that workable ?
      - Retric 10y ago
        Auto rotation provides a built in parachute when the helicopter loses power. Mechanically losing blades is like a wing falling off an aircraft and basically never happens. There are a few edge cases dealing with loss of control that are rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation In combat helicopters ejection seats are just safer as 'helicopter on fire' is a real risk. Further, parachutes don't really work unless your well above the ground and in reasonably level flight in the first place where ejection seats can be safe near ground level or when the craft is violently flailing around at altitude. Finally, helicopters are one of those things that just barely works in the first place. Every pound you add makes them significantly more expensive over their lifetime.
davidw 10y ago
"Extremely rapid deceleration" ? Title's a bit off, but it's a nice article about a guy making the world a better place.
watersb 10y ago
Terrain map. HITS (highway in the sky) based on current fuel, aircraft flight characteristics, weather. On an iPad. http://xavion.com/ http://xavion.com/
E6300 10y ago
Is it just me, or does the crashes data look really noisy? Yes, since 2001 the maxima are clearly lower, but in the period 1974-2001 I don't see a lot of difference with the period 1950-1974.
- cowsandmilk 10y ago
  It is very noisy and isn't shown as a ratio to passengers (or maybe a ratio to passenger-miles would make more sense). And measuring deaths is weird as well e.g. could have the same number of crashes, just with fewer deaths, if there were improvements to other aspects of safety.
- nether 10y ago
  It should probably be a scatter plot instead of a line chart, since interpolating values between points here is not meaningful. If there were 0 deaths in 1990 and 100 in 1992, that doesn't necessarily mean there were 50 in 1990. Maybe a cumulative count would work better, normalized by total flyers per year.
outworlder 10y ago
> Soliday had more success at United. The airline agreed to help Bateman’s team test it so it could be certified by the FAA, he said. Most other carriers balked. It took another high-profile fatal crash to change their minds. It's amazing how much blood is required to grease the gears of the world's bureoucracy...

92 points by forrest_t 10y ago

>Bateman was always fascinated with airplane crashes. As an 8-year-old school boy in 1940 in Saskatoon, Canada, he and a friend sneaked out of class after two military planes collided and crashed nearby. As punishment, his teacher made him write a report on what happened. A much more appropriate punishment than detention.

john_reel 10y ago
Yeah, that’s really cool.
tonyarkles 10y ago
As is the custom, I have to get excited when our small town gets mentioned in either the news or HN. I'm also now going to be doing some research about this accident; we don't have a military airfield in town, but my understanding is that there once was. We additionally had a pile of small airstrips all over the province commissioned during the war which have now been abandoned. It still surprises me that we had these at all, given that uhhh Saskatchewan was quite a ways away from the front lines.
- Scramblejams 10y ago
  If you come across any information on the accident, please post it as a reply here, I'd like to see it. Thanks.
- wcarss 10y ago
  My grandfather was an RAF pilot during WWII, who lived in Saskatoon and Kamsack from 1920ish until the 1990s -- I'm not sure if he was stationed there during WWII (I think he might have been put on the east coast) but if he was, he'd likely have known the people in the planes involved. He passed away early this year, so I unfortunately can't ask him.
- mast 10y ago
  The airfields were part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and they were all over Canada. Pilots were trained for WWII. I believe my grandfather was training in Gimli Manitoba when the war ended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Commonwealth_Air_Training_Plan_facilities_in_Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Commonwealth_A...

mfringel 10y ago

Please include "Crashing Into Mountains" into the subject line. It's a bit clickbaity right now.

tremon 10y ago
Indeed. Here I was thinking that ferrying passengers instead of other cargo was the largest cause of death...
- personlurking 10y ago
  I would think the best way to eliminate the largest cause of death (ferrying passengers) would be with a detachable cabin [1] but given that most accidents occur around take-off and landing, it wouldn't make much sense. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-a-detachable-cabin-probably-won-t-save-your-life-in-a-plane-crash-a6839156.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/new...
  - throwanem 10y ago
    Yeah, I'd feel a lot safer aboard an aircraft that's designed to come apart.
  - rsync 10y ago
    This reminds me of my sometimes curiosity into why helicopters don't have a central parachute, presumably located in the center of the main rotor. Not a parachute for occupants, mind you - for the entire helicopter. Why isn't that workable ?
    - Retric 10y ago
      Auto rotation provides a built in parachute when the helicopter loses power. Mechanically losing blades is like a wing falling off an aircraft and basically never happens. There are a few edge cases dealing with loss of control that are rare. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation In combat helicopters ejection seats are just safer as 'helicopter on fire' is a real risk. Further, parachutes don't really work unless your well above the ground and in reasonably level flight in the first place where ejection seats can be safe near ground level or when the craft is violently flailing around at altitude. Finally, helicopters are one of those things that just barely works in the first place. Every pound you add makes them significantly more expensive over their lifetime.

davidw 10y ago

"Extremely rapid deceleration" ? Title's a bit off, but it's a nice article about a guy making the world a better place.

watersb 10y ago

Terrain map. HITS (highway in the sky) based on current fuel, aircraft flight characteristics, weather. On an iPad. http://xavion.com/ http://xavion.com/

E6300 10y ago

Is it just me, or does the crashes data look really noisy? Yes, since 2001 the maxima are clearly lower, but in the period 1974-2001 I don't see a lot of difference with the period 1950-1974.

cowsandmilk 10y ago
It is very noisy and isn't shown as a ratio to passengers (or maybe a ratio to passenger-miles would make more sense). And measuring deaths is weird as well e.g. could have the same number of crashes, just with fewer deaths, if there were improvements to other aspects of safety.
nether 10y ago
It should probably be a scatter plot instead of a line chart, since interpolating values between points here is not meaningful. If there were 0 deaths in 1990 and 100 in 1992, that doesn't necessarily mean there were 50 in 1990. Maybe a cumulative count would work better, normalized by total flyers per year.

outworlder 10y ago

> Soliday had more success at United. The airline agreed to help Bateman’s team test it so it could be certified by the FAA, he said. Most other carriers balked. It took another high-profile fatal crash to change their minds. It's amazing how much blood is required to grease the gears of the world's bureoucracy...