THE KWAJALEIN HOURGLASS Volume 39, Number 96 Friday, December 3, 1999 U.S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Kwajalein Hourglass THE KWAJALEIN HOURGLASS Volume 39, Number 96 Friday, December 3, 1999 U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands ALTAIR tracks Fleet down to one Dash-7 Leonid storm Investigation into Saturday mishap still ongoing By Peter Rejcek By Peter Rejcek brought it back to Kwajalein, he Its one of the most watched The Dash-7 returned to service said. All the emergency notification storms of the year, and some of Thursday, but with only one-third of procedures went very well, with emer- the most sensitive eyes in the the fleet available to take flight. gency crews standing by. world kept watch on it last month Only one of three planes is now in As the plane touched down, the as it raged thousands of feet in service and that may not change gear collapsed, and the aircraft slid the atmosphere. for at least a couple of months as off- about a thousand feet on its nose. While its primary goal is to island repairs are made to the other There were no injuries among the 15 support space surveillance and two aircraft. passengers or three crewmembers, missile testing missions for One plane is out of action after Wallace said. USAKA/KMR, ALTAIR has a sec- Saturdays accident on Kwajalein After the scene was cleared, FOM ond and much larger mission when the crafts front landing gear personnel used heavy machinery to area, providing support to U.S. collapsed as it touched down. Origi- lift the plane up so aviation workers Space Command for the space nally headed to Roi-Namur Saturday could get the gear down, allowing the surveillance mission. evening, the plane returned to Kwaj airplane to be towed back to the han- ALTAIR and optics personnel when there was an indication the gar for repairs. collected data on three different nose landing gear wasnt locking Everyone did an excellent job, occasions, according to Sigrid down, according to Steve Wallace, Wallace said of the response by per- manager of Aviation Services. sonnel to the emergency. Close, space track surveillance (See FIRST, page 2) analyst for MIT/Lincoln Lab. The crew did the right thing. They Optics and ALTAIR collected si- multaneous data twice in the early morning hours, while AL- TAIR pricked up its powerful ears shortly after noon on that Thurs- day. This year the big storm finally A cultural happened, Close noted. At its feast peak, as many as 2,000 meteors an hour about the size of a Kwajalein third grain of sand were counted. graders perform for a sold-out luncheon On a typical night, one might see honoring Native one or two meteors (shooting American History stars). A Leonid meteor shower Month. Singing, might produce up to 15 meteors dancing and poetry per hour. While a powerful storm, describing the like the one in 1966, recorded Indian culture was complemented by over 100,000 meteors per hour. the Native Ameri- While one of the strongest Le- can menu prepared onid meteor storms in 30 years by Executive Chef was expected in 1998, it was this Bob Baker Tuesday past November that its intensity at the Yokwe Yuk peaked. However, the best spot Club. for observation was in the North- ern Hemisphere over Mediterra- nean longitudes. Cloudy condi- (See SATELLITES, page 2) (Photo by Cynthia Brewer) www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.html Friday Page 2 Kwajalein Hourglass December 3, 1999 First aviation mishap in over 10 years under investigation ... (From page 1) great job backing us up, which is OK That service may be needed again The cause of the accident is still for a while, but gets tiresome for in the near future with the Dash-7 under investigation. Wallace said the them, as well as for the passengers, fleet flying on the wings of a single problem is unrelated to a landing Wallace said. aircraft. gear snafu on Nov. 23, when an Tom Dillon, manager of Marine Well do the best we can to keep it indicator light for the crafts right Services, said the additional flying all the time, Wallace said. wing gear flashed red intermittently. workload is particularly challenging Based on the history of these air- Different causes, same plane, he for the boat captains, who must planes, we may experience some noted. The aircraft will be ferried to navigate the ferries for the entire delays. Inspections may force flight the states for repair in conjunction two-hour and 20-minute trip to Roi cancellations for at least one entire with previously scheduled off-island about twice the length of the day, as well. maintenance. usual Meck run. There may be some days where well A second plane is also scheduled The catamarans dont have auto- have to send the boat, Wallace added. to go off-island for repairs after a matic pilots, Dillon explained. For those nervous about flying the scheduled maintenance check found Additionally, the marine depart- Dash-7 following Saturdays acci- corrosion damage inside the wing. ment has been running both cata- dent, Wallace said the departments Wallace said it is still unclear how marans one at 6 a.m. and the past safety record shows its commit- and where the aircraft will be re- second in the afternoon to allow ment to passenger well-being. paired. some flexibility for the workers on We are very careful about finding We believe it will have to fly out of Meck, as well as for workers and problems, he said. Were not going here to the mainland to be repaired, residents on Roi. to let them fly until were confident he said. That will take a while, Were trying to provide the added theyre in good shape. We still have because we have only one ferry sys- service to the Roi residents, in addi- an excellent safety record. This is the tem. tion to the regular commuters, first [major flying accident] in over The entire fleet was grounded up Dillon said. 10 years. until Thursday as the third Dash-7 underwent a scheduled maintenance Satellites safe from meteor storms ... check. In the meantime, the marine (From page 1) department had been running two ors will affect our satellites, Close catamarans between Kwaj, Roi and tions at Kwaj, Close explained, fur- explained. Meck as it ferried workers and resi- ther limited the amount of optical With over 500 operational space- dents between islands. data that could be collected. craft now in orbit around the Earth, The marine department is doing a However, information concerning the chance they will be sandblasted The Kwajalein Hourglass meteor head echoes a region of by a meteor shower does exist. While plasma at the front of the meteor there is concern of a direct hit by the Commanding Officer.......Col. Gary K. McMillen Public Affairs Officer..............Preston Lockridge and meteor head trails was recorded. particles small, but traveling 200 Editor.............................Pat Cataldo, Jim Bennett Funded by the U.S. Air Force, the times the speed of sound the real Associate Editor...............................Peter Rejcek project data collected will be sent to problem involves the possible en- Feature Writers.........................Barbara Johnson Bob Fore Lincoln Lab in Lexington, as well as ergy interference created by these KW Hillis the University of Western Ontario, fast-moving objects. Graphics Designer ...........................Dan Adler for analysis. At 155,000 miles per hour, the Circulation Manager.................Bobby Lamug Sr. The Leonids are the result of the particles can create an electrically The Hourglass is named for the insignia passage of the Earth through the charged cloud, a plasma, to form. of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division, which path of the debris cloud of the comet This plasma can cause a sudden liberated the island from the forces of Impe- Tempel-Tuttle. The meteor activity electrical pulse that can upset sensi- rial Japan on Feb 4, 1944. The Kwajalein Hourglass is an authorized associated with the comet is called a tive electronics. publication for military personnel, federal em- Leonid event because the meteors It is rare, Close said of the pos- ployees, contractor workers and their families appear to be coming from the direc- sible damage to satellites. assigned to USAKA/KMR. Contents of the tion of the constellation Leo. There is This is the second year ALTAIR has Hourglass are not necessarily official views evidence that this comet has created tracked the Leonid meteors. In 1998, it of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, De- meteor showers and meteor storms also observed and recorded data from partment of Defense, Department of the Army the Perseids, another major meteor or USAKA/KMR. It is published Tuesdays for more than a thousand years. and Fridays using a network printer by Tempel-Tuttle, named after Ernst shower, which occurs in August. Raytheon Range Systems Engineering edito- Tempel and Horace Tuttle who first ALTAIR dedicates 128 hours per rial staff, P.O. Box 23, APO AP 96555. discovered the comet in 1865 and 1866, week to providing data to Space Com- Phone: Autovon 254-3539; local 53539. is about four kilometers in diameter. mand on nearly every aspect of space Printed circulation: 2,300 The fundamental reason were surveillance. Tim Kirchner is the KMR doing this is to determine how mete- program manager for this work. Friday December 3, 1999 Kwajalein Hourglass Page 3 Better safe than sore Physical problems may have workplace remedy By Barbara Johnson a previous muscle strain in her back Houston said the pain went away Oh, that aching back, neck, wrist was starting to bother her again. She almost immediately. or elbow.