-[Tin] me'm bi. cho+`i wi'nh ....
- From: "[2Le]" <sir2le@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 27 Mar 2007 21:58:05 -0700
Flaming space junk narrowly misses jet
28th March 2007
Pieces of space junk from a Russian satellite coming out
of orbit narrowly missed hitting a jetliner over the Pacific
Ocean overnight.
The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340, which was travelling
between Santiago, Chile, and Auckland, New Zealand,
notified air traffic controllers at Auckland Oceanic Centre
after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just
five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane about
10pm last night.
According to a plane spotter, who was tuning into a high
frequency radio broadcast at the time, the pilot "reported
that the rumbling noise from the space debris could be
heard over the noise of the aircraft.
"He described he saw a piece of debris lighting up as
it re-entered (the earth's atmosphere).
"(It's) not something you come across everyday and I am
sure the Lan Chile crew will have a tale to tell."
A spokesman for Airways New Zealand, which provides
air navigation services across airspace known as the
Auckland Flight Information Region, confirmed the incident
this morning.
Airways New Zealand had been warned by Russian
authorities almost two weeks ago that a satellite would
be entering the earth's atmosphere sometime today
between 10.30am and midday NZ time.
"But clearly there has been a timing issue," the
spokesman said. "Either the time that was indicated to
us was incorrect or the satellite de-orbited early."
Because the timing was wrong, the coordinates of
where the satellite was supposed to enter the Earth's
atmosphere also turned out to be incorrect.
A formal report about the incident has been logged
and recordings of conversations between the pilot and
air traffic controllers were expected to be handed over
to investigators in the next few days.
FAIRFAX
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