[meteorite-list] B.O.: Purina Iron Chow unlikely; Bloomington Airport probably ruled out

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 19:32:24 -0800
Message-ID: <A8044CCD89B24B458AE36254DCA2BD07032A15F6_at_0005-its-exmp01.us.saic.com>

Hi Sterling,

Well-sleuthed! I think we can rule out a cat food factory
as a likely source for a flying piece of metal slag... ;-)

I tried another route: I investigated flights coming in
for a landing at Bloomington (KBMI) that Monday morning.
There was only one at the approximate time of the incident:
Mesaba Aviation flight 2783 arriving from Detroit. On some
mornings this flight will make its final approach from the
northwest (potentially flying over the impact house) before
landing on runway 11/29, but on this particular morning it
landed in the opposite direction from the southeast,
arriving at 9:50am. Given the light prevailing wind from
the NNW, it makes sense that they landed flying into the
wind.

So if an aircraft is to be blamed, it would have to be
one that was simply flying over Bloomington, heading
east or southeast. --Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: Sterling K. Webb [mailto:sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 6:08 PM
To: Matson, Robert; Meteorite Mailing List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Wind speed, direction,house orientation
for Bloomington, IL iron

Hi, Rob, List,


The "industrial" facility is:

Sic: 204898
PURINA MILLS INC
113 S EUCLID AVE
BLOOMINGTON IL 61701
309/829-1261

You will note that under that vast roof is,
not a building, but an array of metal silos
for grain storage. (I'm assuming you're
looking at the same Google Earth view
I am.) The industrial activity carried on
there is the grinding of grain into flour, a
nicely neolithic task which is frankly unlikely
to flang pseudometeorites about in vertical
arcs.

The SIC code indicates that it processes
soybeans for oil. The facility is operated
by Cargill, Inc. If you want to call them,
contact Ray A. Dostal, 309/827-7131, and
explain that you're NOT from the EPA who
monitor the plant by photo reconnaissance!

I've got just such a large facility right in the
heart of the downtown of my town, on the
edge of the Mississippi River, operated by
Con-Agra, antique and built of stone, not
sheet metal. It's surrounded by the downtown
business district on two sides, and has never
flang a pseudometeorite in a vertical arc, to
my knowledge. (Occasional dust explosion
is fun, though, but not enough to flang.)


Sterling K. Webb
Received on Tue 06 Mar 2007 10:32:24 PM PST