malagajohn
29th Mar 2007, 06:22
From the TELEGRAPH
Passenger jet in near miss with spaceship
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
Last Updated: 3:04am BST 29/03/2007
A passenger jet was less than a minute from being struck by the burning wreckage of a Russian spaceship as it fell from orbit.
The pilot of the plane, which was flying from Santiago, Chile, to Auckland, New Zealand, reported seeing flaming space junk over the Pacific about five miles away.
Travelling at roughly 500mph, that means the Airbus A340, owned by LAN Airlines of Chile, was less than a minute from the wreckage.
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The pilot told air traffic controllers in Auckland that he could see a piece of debris lighting up as it fell through the atmosphere on Tuesday. He could hear it "rumbling" over the aircraft's engines.
New Zealand aviation officials yesterday blamed Russian space authorities for supplying inaccurate information about the spacecraft's re-entry time and location.
The emergency was picked up by an Australian who was tuned in to the high frequency radio broadcasts. The pilot "reported that the rumbling noise from the space debris could be heard over the noise of the aircraft", the enthusiast said. "He was one very worried pilot, as you would imagine. It's not something you come across every day."
The controllers sent an urgent warning to an Argentinian aircraft, which was in the same area.
Steven Anderson, assistant secretary of the Australian and International Pilots Association, said the debris could have had catastrophic consequences if it had struck the aircraft.
"For the pilot to have heard it means one of two things - the debris was a lot closer than he thinks or it was bigger, and going at quite a high speed."
Captain Anderson said the noise meant the pieces were travelling faster than the speed of sound "which is what he has heard - the sound barrier." Analysts believe the spacecraft was Russia's Progress 23P cargo freighter, launched last October to dock with the International Space Station.
The unmanned vehicle already had a troubled history, with astronauts having to conduct a space walk to free an antenna that had become wedged in the space station's handrail when it arrived.
Progress left the space station on Tuesday and was due to burn up in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The Chilean jet was about 2,000 miles east of New Zealand and cruising at around 30,000 feet when the incident happened. It later landed safely at Auckland.
Ken Mitchell, a spokesman for Airways New Zealand, which provides air navigation services in New Zealand, told The Daily Telegraph last night that a warning had been issued to airlines based on information received from the Russians. He said that debris falling about five miles from the plane meant there had been a "very close miss", given the jet's likely cruising speed of around 500mph.
"We are taking this incident very seriously," Mr Mitchell said. "It is an event that we certainly don't appreciate happening in our airspace, and we want to make sure nothing like it happens again."
A report has been logged, and recordings of conversations between the pilot and controllers are expected to be handed to investigators in the next few days.
Passenger jet in near miss with spaceship
By Paul Chapman in Wellington
Last Updated: 3:04am BST 29/03/2007
A passenger jet was less than a minute from being struck by the burning wreckage of a Russian spaceship as it fell from orbit.
The pilot of the plane, which was flying from Santiago, Chile, to Auckland, New Zealand, reported seeing flaming space junk over the Pacific about five miles away.
Travelling at roughly 500mph, that means the Airbus A340, owned by LAN Airlines of Chile, was less than a minute from the wreckage.
advertisement
The pilot told air traffic controllers in Auckland that he could see a piece of debris lighting up as it fell through the atmosphere on Tuesday. He could hear it "rumbling" over the aircraft's engines.
New Zealand aviation officials yesterday blamed Russian space authorities for supplying inaccurate information about the spacecraft's re-entry time and location.
The emergency was picked up by an Australian who was tuned in to the high frequency radio broadcasts. The pilot "reported that the rumbling noise from the space debris could be heard over the noise of the aircraft", the enthusiast said. "He was one very worried pilot, as you would imagine. It's not something you come across every day."
The controllers sent an urgent warning to an Argentinian aircraft, which was in the same area.
Steven Anderson, assistant secretary of the Australian and International Pilots Association, said the debris could have had catastrophic consequences if it had struck the aircraft.
"For the pilot to have heard it means one of two things - the debris was a lot closer than he thinks or it was bigger, and going at quite a high speed."
Captain Anderson said the noise meant the pieces were travelling faster than the speed of sound "which is what he has heard - the sound barrier." Analysts believe the spacecraft was Russia's Progress 23P cargo freighter, launched last October to dock with the International Space Station.
The unmanned vehicle already had a troubled history, with astronauts having to conduct a space walk to free an antenna that had become wedged in the space station's handrail when it arrived.
Progress left the space station on Tuesday and was due to burn up in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The Chilean jet was about 2,000 miles east of New Zealand and cruising at around 30,000 feet when the incident happened. It later landed safely at Auckland.
Ken Mitchell, a spokesman for Airways New Zealand, which provides air navigation services in New Zealand, told The Daily Telegraph last night that a warning had been issued to airlines based on information received from the Russians. He said that debris falling about five miles from the plane meant there had been a "very close miss", given the jet's likely cruising speed of around 500mph.
"We are taking this incident very seriously," Mr Mitchell said. "It is an event that we certainly don't appreciate happening in our airspace, and we want to make sure nothing like it happens again."
A report has been logged, and recordings of conversations between the pilot and controllers are expected to be handed to investigators in the next few days.