Different Airports

This is a very different airport environment from Leesburg.  The big difference: no Washington DC SFRA to worry with, of course.  On the other hand, Naples has a tower.

Naples airport (KAPF) has a lot of general aviation jet traffic, a control tower, two intersecting runways, and what seems to be a zillion taxiways and ramps.  It can be very confusing until you catch on.  Moreover, the tower has the habit of telling you to "Report the courthouse on left base" (a big white building in south Naples) or "Report the toll booth" on left base, meaning the toll booths on I-75, conveniently about 2 miles from the runway.  Fortunately the runways are long and wide (6600x150), and the weather is usually, well, perfect. 

Approaching runway 05 KAPF

The airport is right on the coast.  When approaching runway 05, you turn base over the Gulf of Mexico, and it is not unusual to see dolphins in the water and sunbathers on the beach below while you're descending to the runway.

There is a good deal of student pilot work going on in the area, especially by foreigners who have been sent here by their airlines to get their pilot license -- what is called "ab initio" training in the airline business -- so some of the accents and pronunciation leave me puzzled.  But the tower controllers usually seem to understand and make themselves understood. 

Despite being a little testy at times with those who don't know their way around, the tower controllers can be very helpful too.  They don't mind clearing you to land on the grass beside the runway if you ask nicely, especially when they're not too busy.


The Citation and Gulfstream jets come zooming in here at their usual high speeds, and they have to mix with the Cessna 172's and taildraggers.  More than once I've been asked to "make maximum speed" because some Gulfstream is coming up behind me.


The neat thing is that our house is about 2.9 nm from the CYY VOR on the field, and just about directly under the flight path for runway 05-23.  I get to watch airplanes all day long, even while standing on the driving range at the club. And when I take off on runway 05, I fly right over our neighborhood.  The other day departure asked us to stay below 500 feet for separation from some incoming traffic, so we flew right over the house at 500 feet.

Social Media: Lessons for Public Diplomacy

Some of the bloom is "off" the social media rose.

Two years have passed since the initial demonstrations in Tahrir Square, and today not many journalists or other “new media” enthusiasts still claim that Twitter started, sustained or steered the 2011 Egyptian uprising.  Indeed, many of the participants vociferously challenge the idea that Twitter or Facebook were anywhere nearly as important as their own determined efforts.

As part of the reassessment of social media’s role, Marc Lynch, George Washington University’s leading Middle East political analyst, writes an immensely intelligent commentary in Foreign Policy. The subtitle foretells his principal point:   “How social media is hurting the Arab Spring.”  

(Image from Foreign Policy)

In his article, Twitter Devolutions, Lynch defines seven lessons, seven ways the Internet and social media played a role in the post-uprising struggles in several Arab countries. I think he is right in concluding that social media may have done more harm than good.

While Professor Lynch targets his critique on the impact social media made on the Arab countries, his article offers an equally valid insight into how Western diplomats, journalists, and academics misappraised the role of social media in those revolutions.

Indeed, there is a strong argument that in the Arab Spring, mis-reading and over-interpreting social media led to leaps of faith, even Western policy mistakes. There was too little attention to just how few individuals in the region actually use social media, where information comes from, and the insights obtainable from data-driven network analysis.

Marc Lynch

Marc Lynch believes social media serves academics, journalists and government analysts as a source of information and insight.  He says he relies on social media for information and unfiltered opinions from hundreds of Arab citizens every day.

This is the key lesson about social media, especially for public diplomacy: you go into social media to listen, not to talk.

Just recently, Twitter announced its intention to buy Bluefin Labs, a social analytics company that specializes in data about what people are saying about television programs while they are on the air.  For example, companies like CBS or HBO pay Bluefin for information about what is being said about them online, while shows are airing. It is invaluable to get those indications of opinion trends and sentiment shifts early, while you have time to act on them.

By now, everyone has heard of the “United Breaks Guitars” case and the viral video. As an example of how much the corporate world has learned since 2009, listen to the Airplane Geeks podcast  interview with Jon Bird, director of social media for American Airlines. Companies large and small are listening intently to their customers every second of the day.  And, more and more, corporations are agile in reacting to what they hear.

Is public diplomacy listening enough? Is our diplomacy agile enough?

[See the Public Diplomacy Council website for the original version of this post and comments.]

Tail Wheel Endorsement

I got my tail wheel endorsement today! We flew Naples (KAPF) to Immokalee (KIMM) to La Belle (X14) where they have a grass strip alongside the runway, and back to Naples.

All in all, it took a lot of three-point landings, wheel landings in crosswinds, zooming around the runways (but never a ground loop!), grass field landings, and soft field take offs. In fact, counting up all three separate days of flight training here in Florida, I believe we did 75 landings and take-offs.

Here is a link to Cloud Ahoy's record of the flight, recorded by my iPad as we flew it today.

I assembled some in-the-cockpit camera video into a YouTube record of what some of the training looked like.  As the below video shows, there were a few bounces, some "go-arounds", and for me -- a new landing technique -- the turning side-slip in a crosswind to make a landing. 

Getting my tailwheel endorsement was a great learning experience for me as a pilot.  Thanks go to my CFI, Ted Brousseau and his trusty, ever-so-forgiving Cessna 140A. 

Sunset Over The Fourth Fairway, White Course

It was just one of those very special sunsets over the lake at Wyndemere this evening. 

 

There is an eagle who roosts in one of the tallest trees near here, and I'm determined to get a good photo of him too. — at Wyndemere, Naples, Florida.

 

Number 4, the White Course