Restraints Installed

Quick video of seat restraints installed in the cockpit mockup. Another small item off the list!



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Checklist Development

I spend a lot of time thinking about checklists--they're the only way to be sure all goes well. I imagine circumstances and plan out what to do in those cases, then formalize them into lists of actions. On the one hand, checklists are invaluable; everyone from serious divers to aircraft pilots use them. On the other hand, you mustn't be a slave to a checklist if conditions differ than what you expected...and if you step far outside your front door, that is what you find!

Back to Work!

A month and a half break from the physical system allowed me to think about it at times, and in my notebook I designed four systems to build. Today I took a couple of hours and $10.00 to build a prototype of one, a mechanical and automatic suit pressure regulation valve; it admits suit pressurization gas into the suit, but then shuts off the gas supply when a certain pressure is reached. If suit pressure drops, the system kicks back in and brings it up again to healthy pressure. This PVC prototype, if it works, will be even easier to build in metal. It replaces the 12v DC solenoid, for the same function, that I like except for the fact that it requires power, and batteries fail, and I don't want something so critical as suit pressure to rely on power. Second photo shows cleaning old rubber cement from around a through-fitting, a little detail that will improve the seal.