PreSolo Flights/Instruction 
 
Sunday April 22, 2006 - Lesson 1 - 1 Total Landing - Includes 1 Today
 
Arrived at ORH at 9:00 AM... this was my second time to see Jeff, and the first time to be flying in 23 years.  Back then I had around 8-9 hours at an uncontrolled country airport in NJ.  Not really enough time to do too much in the way of learning, but enough to learn that I really enjoyed the sensation and freedom that flying offered.  Today, I think Jeff - my instructor - was more nervous that I was, and why wouldn't he be???  He has no clue who I am or what I'm up to.  Once we got in the air, things were fine.  Today, he let me lift the plane off the runway, and gave me directions to fly.  We wound up flying over my home in Brimfield, MA.  Very cool.  Pretty smooth flight, completely lost, a little bit of trepidation about being in a small airplane again, but nothing that I didn't enjoy. Jeff let me assist in landing the airplane, but I have to say, he pretty much did it all, which is just as well at this point.

Tuesday April 25, 2006 - Lesson 2 - 2 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today
Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today Jeff let me lift the airplane off the runway again, full coaching on everything. Today was my second flight, and the focus was on the 4 fundamentals of flight - Pitch and Bank, Straight and Level.  We worked on climbs and descents, and Jeff is teaching me how the airplane controls don't do what you think they should.  For example - you expect to climb when you pull back on the stick, but it makes you slow down.  You expect to speed up when you increase the throttle, but instead you climb. So what I am trying to learn, is that to climb, you increase the throttle.  If we want to speed up, we point the nose down.  The airplane can fly in any attitude you want or need to - nose-down or nose-high.  And yes: to climb, you do pull the stick back but without adding any throttle, the airplane will slow, and the wings will eventually stall if enough back-pressure is held.  Same thing is true in reverse  - point the nose down and you land longer.  Point the nose up and you land shorter.  If you want to descent, reduce the power.  Very interesting, and THIS is going to take some time to get used to.   Jeff landed the plane, the tower told us to make a short/steep approach, so I'm definitely not at that point yet.

 
Sunday April 30, 2006 - Lesson 3 - 3 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today
Arrived at ORH at 6:30 AM... today Jeff let me lift the airplane off the runway again, full coaching on everything as before. Today we flew out to our practice area - western MA, and the focus was on continuing the 4 fundamentals, particularly reviewing the essence of climbing and descending (using power) and pitching the airplane (using stick).  After a little time on this, Jeff had me add full flaps and slow the airplane to Vs - Minimum Steady Flight Speed, 63 Knots.  Adding full flaps - 40 degrees - really makes the nose jump up.  To negate this pitch up, you have to apply down-pressure on the stick, in a coordinated way.  Very interesting...
After we practiced slow flight in different configurations - full flaps, no flaps, he had me do a power-on stall... which is done at cruise power, (no flaps) and continually feeding in more backpressure on the stick.  The nose pitches to an unbelievable high attitude and the airspeed bleeds off.  Pretty soon, you get the wing buffeting and the stall horn goes off.  At which point, as Jeff says, its Power Up, Pitch Up and Clean Up.  In other words, you add immediate full power, down pitch on the stick and then clean up the airplane attitude.  We also did stalls in slow flight landing configuration, which means 63 knots, full flaps, and the same routine as above.  Even though we did not take the airplane to a full-blown stall, I understand that in a full stall, as lift dies, the "most-stalled" wing will break and pitch the aircraft down sharply.  In a spin, both wings are stalled, (one more than the other) - something I hope to never experience.  I'm reading a great book, written in, like 1944, called Stick and Rudder, and there is an interesting passage.  It says, when you are practicing stalls, the ground comes up to you and says "Boo!".  But in a full, unanticipated stall, the ground simply comes after you.  I understand many pilots don't realize when they are in stalls, which is why I suppose they spend so much time teaching them to you, so you can recognize and respond.  The ONLY was to recover from a stall - and avoid a spin - is to push the nose down.  It goes against human nature to want to dive the airplane when it's already diving.  But I know this is a lesson that must absolutely be learned and adhered to - no matter what: in a stall, push the nose goes DOWN to recover.  More on May 5.

 
Friday May 5, 2006 - Lesson 4 - 4 Total Landings - Includes 1 Today
Arrived at ORH at 6:00 AM... I am getting pretty good at flying the plane off the runway, but still have some radical veering on rotation. I am still really just getting used to feeling the airplane and its responses to control inputs.  Jeff says as time goes by, things will "slow down", particularly in the landing stage.  Right now there seems to be a lot going on, a lot to have to focus on at the same time, and sometimes, I reach for the wrong control, or do the wrong thing.  Like, when Jeff tells me to climb.  The inclination is to pull the stick back, but again - its really increasing the throttle that makes the airplane climb.  Today we did more stalls, more slow flight and started work on turns: 10 and 20 degree turns.  "Turning", for me has always been one of the fun parts of flying, so its not something I worry about or really even think much about.  I just love the sensation of smoothly pivoting on a wing, all the while applying back pressure to hold the altitude, and finally, to recover from the turn, a quick little opposite-rudder brings the wings level quite nicely, thank you very much.  My previous instructor taught me I could turn quite steeply - 45 degrees, hold the back pressure on the stick to maintain altitude and apply opposite rudder to snap out of the turn.  I really love that sensation!  Jeff has not mentioned this technique to me, and I am wondering if it is a given that pilots should use this technique, or if maybe not too many do.  It works, I love it and it really gets the wings level without any wing-waggling.  Still making small steps, I am realizing flying is not something you learn quickly, but rather a series of small steps all put together that equals a pilot.   Scheduled to fly again on Sunday - more then.
.......

Sunday, January 7, 200 76 - Lesson 28 
95 Total Landings, Includes  5 Landings Today

WOW, it feels like a long time since my last flight, and indeed it was!  In spite of warmer than usual temperatures, neither the weather nor my work (or vacation) schedule has been cooperating to make this easier!

Cindy and I enjoyed the Christmas and New Years holidays in Rome, so that was 13 days alone out of the flying schedule... not that Rome was so terribly bad.  ;-)  (in fact, it was g-r-e-a-t!)  Happy Christmas, and New Years to All!

 
I thought I should post some photos of 26-Juliet, since I keep talking about her so much.  She is an older bird, rated for IFR flight, 1976-ish, and gets more flying time and maintenance/servicing than most privately owned birds; she is safe and a joy to fly...and golly... I wish she were mine.  The way to keep aircraft in good shape... is actually to fly them...often, and Juliet gets probably, in a good week, 30 - 50 hours.  Its when aircraft are ignored that things begin to disintegrate, so we are glad that the flight school's aircraft are kept flying rather constantly.

 

After the rough landings, and absence of almost a month, Jeff and I took off, and went through all the basics - climbing and descending turns, power-off stalls, emergency landing procedures, flight "under the hood", i.e. by instruments only.  The 5 landings were fine - one - the first, was a bouncer, one was a perfect squeaker, the other three were just fine.  Next lesson, he wants to practice navigation using VOR, and then some solo work in the pattern. 

 

The lessons to come, I will do some solo flight out of the pattern to local airports, etc.  I have a few more hours to do towards the basic requirements - recovery from unusual attitudes, night flights, instrument flight, etc., and then the final remaining work will be the cross-country solos, and finally, preparing for and taking the "check-ride" where I will (hopefully) earn my pilots wings with the FAA Examiner.

 

This lesson was pretty usual, except because of the beautiful clear day, the traffic pattern was busy busy busy.  One of my biggest hurdles has been needing to be able to relax and "slow things down", particularly so I can understand and respond to the Air Traffic Controllers. There was lots of traffic in the air AND on the radio, and I was able to handle all of it, without any assistance from Jeff, including some rather complicated calls to "extend the downwind leg",  or "execute a 360 and re-enter the pattern", or "execute a short final" --- all of these calls in order to avoid other aircraft on departure or landing cycles, or other calls like, "you have permission for the option, use discretion", or "cleared to land runway 29-er, exit taxiway foxtrot, proceed to park, remain this frequency".  A friend recently asked me, how can non-native-English speaking pilots ever master ATC communications, and the answer is... its like learning a foreign language, yes, but with an extremely limited vocabulary, maybe 100 words or less.  Most of the time, I've learned, you can anticipate the calls, but even when not, if you know the 100-word vocabulary, you'll be fine.  Which is why on some international airlines, the pilots speak barely-understandable English over the intercom, but can understand and communicate to ATC perfectly.  Its that limited vocabulary.
 
So, thank god, I feel like I am finally "getting it"... it is all finally coming together, and not seeming like such a huge impossible task. The flying is under control, the communications are under control, now if I can just get the radio navigation and weight/balance calculations under control, I'll be real close to where I need to be to qualify for my license.  Flying again next weekend, will continue then.


 Wednesday, January  10 , 2007
< no> 

 Sunday, January  14 , 2007
< no>
 
Thursday, January  18 , 2007
< no>
 

Sunday, January  21 , 2007- Lesson 29 
100 Total Landings, Includes 5 Landings Today 
 

< aircraft> Worcester Tower, this is Skyhawk 7987-Charlie, inbound, 2 miles north of the field, request full stop>
 
< worcester> Cessna Skyhawk 7987, contact tower 3 miles out, make right traffic, you are number 1, cleared to land runway 29-er>

< warrior> Worcester Tower, 26-Juliet is mid-field, downwind left pattern for touch-and-go>

<worcester> Warrior 26-Juliet, be advised Cessna Skyhawk making right traffic on downwind leg, advise when you have traffic, you will be #2 to land after the Skyhawk, continue left-hand traffic on climb-out>
 
< warrior> 26-Juliet is looking for the traffic, no contact on the traffic>
 
<worcester> Warrior 26-Juliet, extend downwind, advise when traffic in sight>
 
< warrior> 26-Juliet has the traffic>
 
<worcester> Warrior 26-Juliet, you are cleared runway 29-er for the option, #2 to land behind the Skyhawk>
 
< warrior> 26-Juliet will do the touch and go, cleared #2 behind the Skyhawk, left-traffic on climb-out>
 
< worcester> Cessna Skyhawk 7987, Expedite. Exit Taxiway Charlie as soon as possible, you have traffic landing directly behind you>
 
So... who would have believed it... but 29 lessons later and today marked 100 landings.  As you can maybe tell, the first nice day in quite sometime, and the airport is busy with traffic.  Radio work is definitely under control, standard landings are no sweat.  Have been practicing VOR navigation and courses on MS Flight Simulator X which is a HUGE help.  Today also marked more practice on cross-wind landings, which means the aircraft is crabbed at an angle to the runway, instead of lined up straight with the runway. More challenging, but really just a variation on the theme.  (This is a GREAT example of an extreme cross-wind landing, 'gotta check it out! - MAJOR CROSSWIND LANDINGS
(Click the back button after viewing to return to this page).
 
Also, we practiced slips - which is a maneuver one does when high on final approach... essentially, you are apply left-full-rudder and right-full-aileron.  In this condition the controls are said to be "crossed" and the effect is that the airplane flies straight ahead, but descends rapidly.  A great way to get lower fast, although not so recommended with passengers!
 
Lessons progressing but weather is definitely NOT cooperating.... More after this weekend's lesson, and maybe more photos!
.........

Thursday, May 24, 2007- Lesson 38 -  Solo Flight
128  Landings, Includes 2 Landings Today 
Sunny/Hazy - 9:00 AM takeoff - Winds 270@8 - Temp 63°

Completed FAA Requirement for Local Area Solo Time

 

Today, for the first hour, Jeff reviewed the flight planning process with me including cross-country planning: establishing checkpoints and calculating time, distance, speed and fuel between checkpoints. The original plan was to fly dual to Concord, NH - one of the airports I must fly to solo, which is 60 miles from Worcester.  But we ran late with the flight planning lesson, and I was short on time, it being a work-day.  So rather than take a couple hours to fly to Concord and back, I suggested doing a solo flight to Gardner to build my solo time, and Jeff agreed.

 

This solo flight completes my local-solo requirements - now I  have a couple of long distance solos and can then prepare for my FAA check-ride. 

After a smooth liftoff, 'turned right out of the pattern to Gardner and the first communication received (in a somewhat higher-pitched voice than usual) was:

<worcester> "Warrior 8226-Juliet, be advised, Boston Center reports converging traffic your altitude, 10-o'clock."

<me> "Worcester Tower, that traffic just flew right by us"

 

I had spotted the traffic just before the call from the tower - a single engine aircraft heading into the pattern at Worcester as I was heading out... close but not too close - maybe a couple hundred feet away...as we say, "traffic not a factor".  But to the radar controller in Boston Center who made the call to Worcester Tower, it must have also seemed that the two converging blips had converged into one at our nearest point of flight.  Anyway, it really was not a factor - it is not a regular occurrence that we see other traffic so close, but we do see traffic every so often.  And it is also good to know Boston Center is keeping an eye on Worcester Class D Airspace.

 

What really differentiated this flight to Gardner more than anything else was the visibility.  Even though the sky was clear blue on the ground, once at altitude, there was a great deal of haze which erased all but the nearest landmarks. Leaving Worcester, none of the landmarks I count on - especially Mount Monadnock- were visible until closing in on Gardner Airport, and by that point, Mount Wachusett - a landmark on the return trip had disappeared.  I am very comfortable on that routing - Worcester to Gardner and back, so no real issues.

 

Landed at Gardner, taxied back to the runway and took off, back to Worcester.  Smooth flight, but hazy-hazy-hazy. 

 

Next lesson I have to put together a flight plan to Concord, NH based upon current winds aloft and Jeff and I will review it together.  Then we plan to actually fly the flight plan - this is my next step:  using the visual ground references and the chart to guide me to my checkpoints, time each leg and calculate speed and fuel burn and ETAs for each leg.  Sounds like a lot.

 

Saturday, May 26, 2007- Lesson 39 -  Dual Instruction
129  Landings, Includes 1 Landing Today 
Sunny/Hazy - 9:00 AM takeoff - Winds 305@11 - Temp 65°

Again, the first hour today was consumed with creating a flight plan which Jeff planned to execute with me, in part anyway. It's 'gonna be a little tough to explain flight planning so I'll try to keep it short and simple, but you have to imagine the sky as a constantly moving air-mass, which moves faster as you go higher... and the airplane flies within and is affected by this wind-mass. The first thing to be done is calculate the winds aloft along the course-line.

 

To determine the course-line, the computational part goes like this -
Calculate your True Course
Compute your Wind Correction Angle based upon Winds-Aloft forecasts
Calculate your True Heading adjusted for WCA
Convert True Heading to Magnetic Heading
Convert Magnetic Heading to Compass Heading


After this is done, the 2nd half of the task is to calculate time and fuel.  Using the trusty E6B flight computer, you calculate the estimated time between checkpoints and the total time en-route based upon winds-aloft. When this is done, you can calculate your expected fuel consumption.   Now you theoretically know how long the trip will take and how much fuel is required.
 

Here's what the flight plan looks like (pls see PDF in original)
 

The actual flying part isn't much easier... it means orienting the aircraft to a starting point on the course line and flying the magnetic heading course... starting and stopping the stopwatch between checkpoints which you identify on the ground according to references on the sectional chart.  At each checkpoint, based upon the time it took to reach the checkpoint, you can recalculate the ETAs, fuel burn and fuel required to make the trip.  All the while holding the aircraft at a steady speed, attitude, altitude and heading, stopping and starting the stopwatch and recording the times, looking for checkpoints and using the flight computer.  Add in a little turbulence and haze... and.... its a busy cockpit.

 

In theory it works fine, but in reality, not many pilots I've spoken to actually do this once they pass the check-ride.  Every pilot I have spoken to depends on GPS to do all this, and some of the fortunate ones have their autopilots slaved to the GPS so they don't even need to steer the course or manage the flying.  In fact, GPS is so accurate with the new enhancement called WAAS (wide area augmentation system), that the FAA certifies aircraft equipped to this standard to make approaches in the most limited of weather conditions.  In fact, it is this system that the FAA envisions as the basis of the "Highway in the Sky".

 

At any rate, during the actual flight planning process, my chronometer failed and threw everything off.  We got almost as far as Manchester, NH and then turned around for home.  In actual practice with the turbulent air, its a tough-tough-tough thing to do - almost a juggling act and I can see it is going to take a little while to get up to speed with it. 

 

Next lesson, we are going to do the same thing again, probably going all the way to Concord, NH, to where I will be flying solo soon, about 60 miles.  After that, more dual instruction again, actually into Manchester Airport, which is Class C (more complicated) airspace. Then a longer solo to Concord and Sanford, Maine.  Then, who knows... more solo flights for fun and prep for the FAA checkride. 
 

Extra:  Here's a nice video of a 757 taking off in less than 100' of runway... 

Saturday, June 30, 2007- Lesson 43 -  Solo Cross Country
136 Landings, Includes 2 Landings Today 
Sunny - 74° - Winds 290@8


Hey, not to make this political or anything, but today I figured out another reason I'd don't like GeorgeW.  Today was supposed to be my solo cross-country flight to Concord, NH...but GeorgeW had other ideas...  take a look below at how much airspace this guy commands when he travels...


OK.  You are looking at a map of the southern coast of Maine, the entire coast of New Hampshire and the northern coast of Massachusetts.

Like I was saying...   I  - if you follow the red "I" to the left... straight up, two inches or so... you'll see KMHT in green letters.  That's Manchester Regional Airport in Manchester, NH.  An inch to the northwest of KMHT is KCON in magenta letters. That's Concord Airport, Concord NH.  The gray circles are "do not enter" zones... essentially these TFRs (Temporary Flight Restriction zones) take up the entire coast of New Hampshire, much of Maine's coast and quite a bit of space to the west.  KCON is on the very edge of the TFR- you really can't fly there unless you are willing to risk getting upclose with a few unfriendly F-16s. My next solo after Concord will be KSFM - that's Sanford Airport in Maine - where Air Force One lands when the President visits Kennebunkport. (Actually to bring the Presidential 747 onto the 6,000 foot runway there is pretty damn good - short runway for big plane.) Below KSFM and to the right is a permanent no-fly zone - notated by a square blue box with the designation P-67, (which on the chart above looks like P-57).  The "P" stands for "Presidential or Permanent".  Anyway, invade any of those temporary spaces without authorization from the Secret Service anytime from June 30, 2007 to July 2, 2007... or that "permanent" space anytime and you will be the personal guest of the U.S. government while you undergo interrogation as to why you flew into those areas.

So I thought you'd be interested to see how much airspace is commandeered while our Commander in Chief travels.  Definitely stepped on my plans.

What it means to me, is that instead of being able to fly my solo cross-country today to Concord... I flew as far as the edge of the Manchester Class C Airspace - denoted by the purple lines surrounding KMHT, and then turned southwest to KGDM (Gardner, MA) airport, and then finally back to Worcester.  A total flight of over 100 miles.  To have counted as a cross-country solo, it has to be a minimum of 50 miles from your home airport to the farthest point of your destination.  Concord is the only airport exceeding 50 miles or more that as a student pilot am permitted to land at.  So even though the total distance was 100+ miles, the flight doesn't count as a cross country because I did not travel 50 miles away from my home airport. 

Tomorrow - Sunday, I will check to see if the TFR is lifted or revised for Concord.  If it is, I have the airplane from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, so I will do it then.  If not, I will have to wait until after July 2, when the TFR is lifted and GeorgeW has departed the northeast.

Anyway, that aside, the flight today was great, weather was clear, skies were a little hazy but the flight went perfectly.

I've taken some photos along the way of this solo and added commentary here....

Hopefully more to report tomorrow.


Sunday, July 1, 2007- Lesson 44 -  Solo Cross Country
139 Landings, Includes 3 Landings Today 
Sunny - 72° - Winds 360@8

Completed FAA Requirement for 50 Mile - 2 Hour Cross-Country Daytime Solo


Today, exactly one year after my initial solo in the pattern, I completed my first 50 mile cross country solo.  Its taken a long time to get to this point because of the weather.  As I've said before... to get 40 hours of perfect flying weather in New England just is not as easy or fast as you might expect, or hope.

So here I am, with two requirements remaining in order to go for my check-ride: a long solo to an airport 100 miles or more away with three stops (and 3 more hours of cross-country solo time).  Also, a two hour night cross-country with dual instruction- weather permitting - This night cross-country will happen this coming Saturday night.

Today, my route took me the same as yesterday, but the Temporary Flight Restriction area was lifted around Concord, so I was able to complete today what had been sort of a test run yesterday.

Unlike yesterday, there was some light to moderate choppiness, and due to the broken clouds at 5,000, I was unable to fly above the Manchester Class C Airspace at 4,500 and still remain in abeyance of the rules - (rules require a minimum of 1000 feet below clouds, a minimum of 500 feet above clouds and a minimum of 2000 from clouds).  Also, a further rule applies to you as a student pilot - that you be able to see the ground below you at all times, so a student pilot is not allowed to fly above a broken cloud layer.  Therefore, instead of flying over Manchester Class C Airspace, as the red arrow #2 shows, I had to make a slight detour to the west in order to remain clear of that airspace, denoted by concentric magenta circles at Manchester Airport, just south of #2 - Concord Airport.

Today's flight took me from Worcester (MA) Airport #1 to Concord (NH) Airport #2, to Gardner (MA) Airport #3, and back to Worcester. This is an overall flight distance of around 130 miles, but the key is that the furthest distance (Worcester to Concord) must exceed 50 miles, in order to count as an FAA Cross Country flight, for the purposes of qualification for the private pilot's license.

As I did on yesterday's flight, I took photos as I flew, and have posted them here, along with some more details of the flight.

All in all a great experience... similar to yesterday in that it was a tremendous confidence booster, and I have the confidence that I can now fly almost anywhere from point to point.
(Except maybe not in Class C or B Airspace.)

More details next flight, after the dual-instruction, 2-hour night cross country flight.
.......

Saturday, December 5, 2007 - Flight 62 - 1.3 Hrs
202 Landings, includes 2 today
Clear - 42° - Winds 295@4 - RWY 29 in use
79.3 hours total flight time including 8.5 hrs from 1983

Today, again, dawned cold and clear. Winds were rather calm, and after a bit of engine pre-heat, I took off and headed northeast - the goal of the trip was Nancy's Airfield Cafe in Stow, MA, which has received a lot of good comments from visiting pilots. Normally, cafes and diners on the field are visited mainly by pilots - this one is quite popular with the locals; in fact - when we were there, it was quite busy and we appeared to be the only flyers visiting.

After an extremely smooth takeoff from RWY 29, 'followed Wachusett Reservoir to its end... GPS said Nancy's was only 6 miles away at that point.  Because of the recent snow, I wanted to assess the runway condition, so I overflew the field to check it out.  As everything seemed fine, I descended to the pattern altitude and self-announced entering the pattern at the 45 on the left downwind.  The landing was a little rough with a few embarrassing bounces, and the runway was even rougher.  Even though there was no snow or ice present, the runway was full of patches which made for a very rough landing and taxi.  Alas, no harm was done and I taxied to the parking ramp, careful to avoiding hitting the high piles of snow with the wingtips. Then, 'went in and ordered lunch.  Service was great, everything was fine... stayed there approximately and hour, and then it was time to depart.  At departure time, it became quite busy with a few incoming aircraft and a few departing helicopters.  Its a great little respite that I recommend to everyone who can get there.

Departing on RWY 21, 'flew back towards the Reservoir, and at the corner of the (Prohibited Airspace) Ft Devens Airspace, turned right so we could circle Wachusett Mountain and still avoid the airspace.   Again - I recommend to every new pilot- GPS helps you find and avoid these types of MOA and Prohibited Areas - if you don't have one, GET ONE.  My instructor, (rightly I think) would not allow me to use GPS until I had my license, but I think there are plusses and negatives to that approach.  Sure, you learn the "hard way", but it would have been a tremendous psychological comfort on my long solo to have had it with me.  In fact, the instructor I met at my long cross-country solo destination recommended that every student pilot should have and use one.  Anyway, back to this flight - Wachusett Mountain was very busy with skiers, as we have had heavy recent snows, and it was quite pretty to see.  From there, we headed back to Worcester, got the ATIS, contacted Worcester Tower and was cycled into the pattern, #1 to land with two other aircraft following.  A great and fun trip...  I plan to go back to Nancy's Airfield Cafe, this coming Thursday with Cindy, weather permitting, for a nice breakfast.  More details then!

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The Hotel Arcangelo is named after the statue standing out on the near Castel Sant’Angelo in the likeness of the Angel who alighted on the peak to put an end to the Black Death at the end of 500 A. D.

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Asparagus, which thrives in alkaline soil, would like the Martian dirt, which Phoenix measured to have a very alkaline pH of between eight to nine. Strawberries, meanwhile, like acidic soil, he said.

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The Nili Fossae region of Mars is one of the largest exposures of clay minerals discovered. In this HiRISE false-color image, dark blue regions are volcanic minerals. Light-toned areas are clay-rich material and may contain water and organic materials--a possible place where life can be supported. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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