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I would say my favorite part of the job is not really what you'd think. You'd think it's maybe strapping in an airplane and going up and flying - and that's a wonderful opportunity, and I love it absolutely - but really the greatest thing at NASA, and I think most people would agree, is working with the people that we have here.
Because the people that come together with an eagerness to explore and to experiment with things and discover new opportunities and things like that - working side by side with those people is what really gets your heart pumping and makes you excited to come to work each day. So that's what I'd say is my favorite part of the job.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
Yeah, that's a wonderful thing. And whether you're flying low level, over the earth's surface, or way up high in the earth's atmosphere like with the ER-2, there's different sights.
One thing I like about flying low level is the vegetation, the hills, the mountains, the water - where you see details in the waves and the trees up close that are just absolutely beautiful. Conversely, when you're way up high you see everything. And that's where you realize how many different pieces of the earth's surface come together, between the oceans, the big lakes, the mountains and everything, and the colors are so different that all they just paint an incredible picture from 13 miles above the earth.
And when you look from the surface up through the beautiful atmosphere that we have from where the sky moves from a light blue color and then gradually gets dark blue and then purple and even starts to turn black way up high, that's just an incredible sight that I feel real privileged to see every time I go up there. It's a privilege, it's just amazing.
What's the most beautiful natural scene uou've ever seen personally, as in Aurora Borealis, volcanic eruption, or something that made you seem like the Earth should be treasured?
On a daily basis? That's a good question, because when you think of people that might be dressed in flight suits and things or have the duty title of a pilot, that's not all we do.
Most of our time is actually spent working, coordinating with teams, whether it's scientists with different objectives, learning what they want to do so that we know how to translate that into where we need to put the airplane, to put their instruments in the right place to measure what they want to look at. Or with engineers, when we're redesigning or modifying aircraft so they can perform the way we want.
That combination there is really pretty amazing.
What do you do on a daily basis?
Oh, for the year to come in 2020, what I'm mostly looking forward to is new opportunities to explore. That's been one of the most fascinating things in my seven years that I've been a research pilot at NASA is working with different engineering and science teams and learning more and more everyday.
I feel like - it's just like going to graduate school over and over and learning great new things about the earth's atmosphere and flight research every day. I just don't have to take written tests or write a thesis or anything like that. So it's a great way to go to school and learn and explore.
What are you most excited for in 2020?
Yes, there’s several paths to get to where I am right now and where the other researcher pilots are here at NASA. We have some that come up through civilian flying and they’re educated in different areas. Typically most of us have engineering or STEM related degrees in college, and usually Masters degrees on top of that.
The flying portion, most of us actually come from a military background because that’s the best way to get a lot of intense experience very quickly. So most of us are retired military pilots from all different services, but then we do have several pilots who have grown up flying corporate jets, larger airplanes and became test pilots for companies like, say, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, things like that. And then they get hired at NASA based on their depth and breadth of experience.
So several paths to get there, but these are the most common.
I want to pursue a career in aeronautics and want to get into NASA. Any advice?
Yeah, flying's great. It's a completely different sensation. You know, you can compare parts of it to things like riding a bicycle, skateboarding, surfing, things like that - even skydiving. It's a real feeling of freedom when you're actually controlling *makes wing gestures* the aircraft flying through the air - a little bit like a bird.
And that's an amazing privilege to have, and it's really a nice opportunity to get up there and maneuver in three dimensions - really four dimensions if you consider speed - through the earth's atmosphere. I absolutely love it.
How does flying feel?
After serving 25 years in the Air Force, as a pilot flying a variety of different airplanes, the more and more I got into different types of missions this just became a fascinating thing looking at everything NASA does with aircraft flying in and out of the earth's atmosphere. So the opportunity to just make flight research and earth research flying a variety of science platforms was really what attracted me to the job.
What made you want to become a pilot for NASA? What’s your favorite part of this job?
Yeah, that's a great question and that's exactly how it feels. Once we get up about 13 miles above the earth, and get everything set up and start doing the science collection, every now and again you have to kind of stop and just take a minute to look around. And it's a fascinating sight up there.
On a normal clear day looking down at the earth, you can see the curvature of the earth out in front of you, and then the sky is just a really dark purple up there because you're above all the moisture in the air that causes the dark blue to turn to light blue down towards the earth's surface. And it's such a different sight, it really makes you understand how small we really are.
What does it feel like to be up there and look down at the Earth? I've always imagined it would send me into a moment where I feel so small compared to the expanse and beauty of Earth.
Other than flying in combat in my military days, I would say my time at NASA when I've been exploring--probably the scariest time that I had was taking off in the ER-2 behind me on the island of Oahu off a cliff into the ocean of Kaneohe Bay.
And the reason for that is it climbs up so steep on initial take-off that at night you just go into pitch black, and all you can see is dark sky and dark water, so you can't tell what's what. And that gets a little unnerving for about the first minute or two of the flight until you know your way up and away from the water. Otherwise it's a little disorienting and you could be diving into the water.
Have you ever been scared while flying? What was the event that scared you the most?What's your favorite plane to fly?
Hi, I'm Dean Neeley. I go by "Gucci". I"m the deputy chief pilot at Armstrong Flight Research Center. And I'm excited to be here and answer some questions to everybody who's calling in through tumblr here. This is a great opportunity to share with you.
It’s kick-off time! Pilot Dean “Gucci” Neeley is reporting for duty with answers to your questions in today’s Tumblr Answer Time!