[meteorite-list] Nininger Moment #17

From: almitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:44 2004
Message-ID: <3ECEF563.43B610C7_at_kconline.com>

Subject: A Nininger Moment #17
Date: Friday May 23, 2003
From: almitt <almitt_at_kconline.com>

Air Pilots and Meteor Hazards

During Nininger's time a number of airpilots reported having to take evasive steps
to prevent collisions with falling meteors. One such newspaper reported an startling
account of how a resourceful pilot battled a shower of meteors by making a serious
of dips and swerves to avoid the incoming falling meteors saving himself, his eleven
passengers, as well as the aircraft. One other pilot was said to have dipped his right
wing to avoid a similar collision of a meteor which happened in Nebraska. Yet
another pilot near Cheyenne Wyoming said he narrowly escaped injury when en-
countering one of those pestiferous fiery projectiles which threaten to side swipe him
from the left. He "ducked", however and the missile sailed by, leaving him unharmed.

>From the Standpoint of Nininger who had been studying meteoritic events and falls
and spending much time at it, he considered the reports humorous at best. Nininger
reasoned that there were about two thousand times more automobiles on the
ground than airplanes in the air. Meteors reaching the lower atmosphere where
these pilots saw these events would certainly reach the ground also, yet at that time
no recorded automobile had been struck. A highly reported case happening in
Crawfordville, Indiana had been discredited by scientists who investigated the
matter. Nininger stated that you would expect one thousand automobile impacts
for every one aircraft strike.

The stories were even really more incredible for another reason. Astronomers know
that the fall of a meteor is an event most often seen in the higher atmosphere. Only
two exceptions were noted where a meteor came closer to the ground than 4 miles.
The vast majority of them extinguishing before they come within ten miles of the
ground. Nininger stated that in other words, the meteor, or the light resulting from
a meteorite's [meteoroids] encounter with the Earth's atmosphere is limited to the
region of the stratosphere, far above any height ever reach by airplanes of that day
in ordinary flying.

Nininger knew of the fall of those cited above and concluded that the second pilot
who thought he saw the meteor below him, plotted the meteor height at the burnout
point at about 17 miles high, above the northeastern New Mexico soil. The second
pilot who saw the same meteor fall was slightly more than a hundred miles from it
at its nearest approach. The pilot over Nebraska that dipped his wing to avoid
collision was 68 miles south of the line over which the dreaded missile was speeding
at an elevation of approximately 20 miles.

Nininger concluded that pilots are no less reliable in such matters than are ground
observers, but the fact is that no one is able to judge the distance from him of a
bright, dazzling light. He concluded that pilots apparently share the ignorance of
the general public as the to the behavior of meteorites. Nininger stated that
hundreds of other examples could be cited similar to the high school super-
intending who told him exactly where a meteorite had landed in the neighboring
field. From where he stood he was confident and pointed out the fall location.
Fortunately, he knew the hour and minute of the fall and gave an eloquent
description of the phenomenon, which sounded familiar to Nininger, as the
story had been told by observers from all the way where they stood to where
the meteorite had landed some 350 miles away!!!!

It is absolutely impossible for any single observer to judge the distance of a
meteor. It's location can be determine only by a crossline survey. To this,
pilots might contribute considerable information if they would take account
of their exact location upon sighting and determine with their instruments the
exact direction and altitude of the point where the meteor vanishes. Also
recording the angle of decent would prove helpful. A pilots observation
using these methods would be more than helpful than a person on the ground
without any instruments to record what they see. Nininger also stated that at
that time no report from an airpilot had ever been used to calculate the fall
of a meteorite. He believed however that with his methods being noted that
such reports could be very valuable.


The Nininger Moments are articles or books written originally by Harvey
Nininger and put into a consolidated form by Al Mitterling. Some of the
items written in the moments might be old out dated material and the
reader is advised to keep this in mind.

--AL Mitterling
Received on Sat 24 May 2003 12:30:28 AM PDT