Posts about stuff relating to airports
Friday Funny: ChatGPT-generated Airport-themed Limericks
If that title interests you, then come on in!
Hitting the Limits of ChatGPT: Blogging & Background Research
Monday’s post, on SWA1248, was the only where I had started writing before I started this silly blogathon thing. It wasn’t completely written but I had kicked it off early in December with the strong idea that ChatGPT was going to help me write it. It didn’t work out that well.
Today, I want to do a quick review of that experience to keep the levels of excitement around the AI revolution in check.
Please don’t get me wrong, AI is coming and it’s coming fast. I saw a tweet the other day that said (in effect), “AI isn’t going take your job but someone better at using AI will.”
Global Reporting Format: Further Viewing
As you can imagine, our discussion so far has leaned towards the airport side of the GRF story. So, for today, I thought I would share a couple of videos that discuss the GRF from a pilot’s point of view.
Developing Policy for Safe Landings: the Global Reporting Format in Australia
Complete alignment with ICAO is, generally, a good policy to have. Their standards and recommended practices (as well as guidance material) are developed in a thoughtful and considerate way. This process is slow and methodical (perhaps frustratingly so at times). Experts from around the world participate, often in their own time and in addition to their day job, with further support from the ICAO Secretariat. For my part, I enjoy being a part of this process.
But what happens with the standards that don’t quite gel with the operational environment in your state?
But what happens with the standards don’t quite gel with the operational environment in your state?
Accident Review: Southwest Airlines 1248 Runway Surface Condition Reporting
In my day job, I've been working on Australian standards for implementing the Global Reporting Format (GRF). Unfortunately, as with many advances in aviation, this was a change brought about by an accident. While it was likely that there were many influential accidents and incidents, I want to analyse the critical inciting event in this post.
Southwest Airlines Flight (SWA) 1248 was miraculous in that everyone on the aircraft survived. But it was also tragic with the death of a child not even at the airport. And it triggered a lot of action by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and many other civil aviation authorities.
Navigating Vertiport Design Specifications
Just under four years ago, I wrote a primer on “Urban Air Mobility.” I had the best intentions in developing a series of articles on vertiport design concepts and standards. But I never did.
At the time, there was practically no data on aircraft performance nor any indication from regulators regarding how they would manage these new facilities. And I had no idea I would be part of a crack team developing Australian vertiport design, operations and certification standards. But here were are.
In this post, let’s take a moment to review the current state of play.
Effortlessly Summarise Videos with ChatGPT: Vertiports Edition
On the heels of my post on ChatGPT summarising incident reports, I wanted to highlight another summary workflow that is gaining traction, as well as a recent online webinar that included me. In early December, my CASA colleagues Joe Hain, Liam Smith and I held an introductory webinar on the draft Advisory Circular that just went out for consultation.
But maybe you were too busy to attend, and perhaps you’re still too busy to sit there and watch the video.
If this is the case, here comes ChatGPT to the rescue.
Header image: Judit Peter (via Pexels):
Friday Funny: An Airport Love Story
As a generative natural language model, ChatGPT is good at writing. And thanks to its colossal training data set (something like the whole Internet up to September 2021), it already knows a lot of stories. Moreover, it is capable of writing in a multitude of different styles.
So, for a quick “Friday funny” post, please enjoy Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet re-imagined as an airport safety love story (no tragedy in this one).
AI-Powered Incident Report Summaries
Having mentioned this great new technology a few times, perhaps I should talk about what ChatGPT could do for you. Well, at it’s core, ChatGPT reads and it writes and that got me thinking about similar tasks I’ve had to do in the past. Reading incident reports and summarising them for my bosses came to mind almost at once. So, let’s test it out.
Winter Wonderland? Hardly...
Compared to the Arctic Blast that ripped through North America a couple of weeks ago, my experience with airport winter operations has been fairly limited. And while a little snow and ice can be treacherous, the amount of frozen water that was dumped over there was downright deadly.
On the Road to Recovery?
ChatGPT suggested I write a post about the aviation industry’s recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. Still, this week's news suggests that this road to recovery remains bumpy. But I do love data and numbers, so let’s see how we are going.
Big Brother: Tracking Passengers
Passenger tracking technology has become an increasingly important part of modern airport management. From check-in to boarding, passenger tracking systems help airports monitor travellers' movement throughout the terminal to improve the overall passenger experience. In addition, with technological advances in various spaces, airports can gather swathes of data on people's movement around their terminals within tight budgets while being mindful of privacy concerns.
Introducing the 2023 Blogathon (with a little artificial help)
This is a terrible idea. I’ve got a lot to do right now but I’ve somehow convinced myself that this new technology (that is all the buzz) can help me do this. So, here goes…
Collaboration is Key: Revising ICAO's IBIS Manual
I have just spent a week in Washington DC working with an amazing team on a revision of the ICAO Birdstrike Information System (IBIS) manual. This document outlines how States (countries) should send wildlife strike data to ICAO but at thirty years old, you can appreciate how out of date its guidance is.
Header image - me
Hashtag AAWHG 2022 Forum
Now that I’ve had a week to come down from an enormous couple of days at the Australian Aviation Wildlife Hazard Group’s (AAWHG) 2022 Forum, I thought I would share some of my highlights . The AAWHG Forum is the biennial migration of all manner of wildlife hazard management practitioners, researchers, consultants and stakeholders into a select location to discuss, present and chat about anything that relates to the intersection of aircraft and wildlife. But I haven’t the time to give you all a play by play. Instead, I’d like to share some of my bigger “take aways” and one big criticism.
Phase 1 is a Go! Calling all WHM Experts
Apologies for the blog being a little quiet and a little one side of late but I have been working pretty hard behind the scenes to get my PhD up to this point. And now, I can say that we are a go.
Header image: Forest Katsch (via Pexels)
PhD Milestone Achieved...sort of
Just a quick update to say that my University is happy with my proposed research project and has confirmed that it is, or at least will be if all goes according to plan, sufficient for the granting of a PhD. So, I have been granted a provisional confirmation with the next step is human ethics approval.
Header image: Adrian Frentescu (via Pexels)
Non-Strike Wildlife Events: Just as Important as a Strike?
Eagle-eyed* readers may have noticed the new menu item at the top. This new page outlines my PhD research project which is looking into wildlife strike reporting practices and standards. By pure coincidence, a couple of my favourite Youtube channels have just featured wildlife-related aviation events that did not involve collisions with birds. These types of events go to heart of my motivation for taking on my particular research question.
Header image: Janiere Fernandez (via Pexels)
Runway Strip Excursion: Bad Luck or Unintended Consequence?
A little over a week ago, there was another spectacular runway excursion event caught on film and shared across social and traditional media. On the 7th April, 2021, a DHL 757-200 veered off the runway at Juan Santamaria airport in Costa Rica. The aircraft was returning to the airport after declaring an emergency due to a hydraulic issue. The aircraft appeared to have landed safely but towards the end of its roll-out, it veered to the right and came to rest in a low area with its nose high and tail broken. Luckily, this was a freighter flight and the crew evacuated safely.
Header image: Grabbed off Google