Posted on 12/24/2018 11:14:02 AM PST by tcrlaf
In blizzards and white outs, they tie ropes between the buildings to guide you.
Rarely do aircraft sit on the tarmac for more than a few minutes, they taxi directly inside.
We are only there because it is so close to Russia.
6.5 hour flight from Anchorage.
I missed that adventure...used to fly from Miami to Lima, and later MIA- Lima - Santiago.
I then started Dallas - Santiago...then Atlanta to Santiago which was the best connection and Business class on Delta is pretty good.
I got tired of AA doing routine loading dock maintenance after they stuffed passengers on the plane.
SEVERAL times after boarding AA flight, three hour delay while a bunch of guys in white coveralls poked around in one of the engines.
The best AA partner airline is LAN...flew LAN Chile and affiliates all over SA.
Merry Christmas
Wow! That is amazing that the high power radiation was a hazard to ordinance. At McClellan we had M/W shots to the HF XMTR and RCVR sites, Davis and Lincoln. A couple of times a week the microwave would crash when a plane in the glide slope flew into the path.
A back of the envelope calculation would put the average power density in the near field of PAVE PAWS at about 200 Watts/square meter or about 275 volts RMS per meter, in the near field. (Peak power for up to 0.016 seconds is four times that.) The diffraction near field of the antenna is about 700 yards downrange. I worked with EEO fusing on spacecraft in another life. Typical activation energy is about one milliwatt-Second. One volt across one ohm for about 0.001 second. The short time constant was to achieve precision separation.
EEO are generally shielded and protected from external RF fields. Stupid shit like connecting them to large open wire loops or flying through a high power radar beam can get people killed.
Line-of-sight microwave data links are typically about 10 watts, or less. Aircraft can either obscure (shadow) the path or Doppler scatter off the aircraft can add an interfering signal that looks like high phase noise to the victim receiver.
I don’t live far from Westford, Massachusetts, home of MIT’s Haystack Radar. It’s a powerful X-Band radar (with , I believe W-Band heads, as well) that tracks and images satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Because of the high power and large aperture it would fry the electronics of anything that flew over it. It is definitely a no-fly zone. The radar operators keep in touch with Boston regional FAA just in case any aircraft strays into the exclusion area.
The guys in ATC radar tech school said their instructors talked about frying police radar guns in speed traps near the base that happened to be close enough they could point a dish down their throats. It sounds apocryphal but as you point out power ratios make it possible I guess.
The MicroWave equipment we had at all three fixed facility sites where I was stationed, was LENKURT AN/FRA-90 Radios and 45BX3 Mux. I saw it also in the civilian world but only got up close a few times every other month, because I was always troubleshooting back in the Terminal or Junction and the Radio guys had that covered.
You may have guessed, I started in Tech Control. You real techs and engineers dig a lot deeper into the electronics but even I know that Large open wire loops can act like antennas. I couldn't count the number of times a dispatch tech or cable tech said the RFO was bridge taps or protector coils left on shared cable putting interference right into a customer's subscriber line.
side story that map reminds of 1978. Was going eastern from LAX to Baltimore. They had a triangle fair for $1 The guy i was working with suggested we invite our wives and go to Jamaica., Villa on the north shore east of Ocho Rios, maid cook butler, 425 a week. On the coast with pool and beach walk down.
flew Atlanta to Montego Bay and then to Baltimore. $1 more than the original ticket.
Eastern Airlines...WOW! Haven’t heard that one for a loooong time.
Geez, what an ordeal!
My most challenging was pretty tame by comparison...Idaho Falls-Salt Lake City-Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
At least the Amsterdam to Dar was on KLM which is staffed by the prettiest blond gals, (can we still say ‘gals’?) And Bus class on KLM is very nice.
Now that I recall...that was a 24-hour ordeal as well.
Happy to be retired and not banging around airports all over the world.
Cheers
Interesting comment on that article:
“What if those packages of drugs had been bombs instead?”
Well, the incentive for drugs is far more lucrative than for bombs, but, still, worth a thought.
Milton Friedman would have a thought or two on your excellent leverage of monetary incentives!
I only flew the North-South America routes, albeit every two weeks, so you were in a much harder world going across time zones. My wife recently took an international position and now flies, literally, around the world. She’s a beast.
I couldn’t do it, although those KLM “gals” might help a bit (me, not her).
Fun bantering w/ you all. Thanks & Happy New Year!
No, they were not joking. Not then, not now.
Few things in life are worse than a bad, or hateful cook on a rig or in a man camp.
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