[meteorite-list] Jetliner Nearly Hit By Russian Satellite Coming Out Of Orbit

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:27:36 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200703281627.l2SGRa012464_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/jets-flaming-space-junk-scare/2007/03/28/1174761528947.html

Jet's flaming space junk scare
Sydney Morning Herald
Jano Gibson
March 28, 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.

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].

"He was one very worried pilot, as you would imagine.

"Auckland is talking to [an] Aerolineas Argentinas [pilot] who is
travelling [in the] opposite direction at 10 degrees further south
asking if they wish to turn back to Auckland.

"They have elected to carry on at the moment.

"[It's] not something you come across everyday and I am sure the Lan
Chile crew will have a tale to tell."

The assistant secretary of the Australian and International Pilots
Association, Captain Steven Anderson, who flies for Qantas, said that
based on the details of the report, the debris could have caused
catastrophic consequences had it actually struck the aircraft.

"For [the pilot] to have heard it, one of two things - [the debris] was
a lot closer than he thinks or it was bigger and going at quite a high
speed.

"In other words, it's caused the piece to break the speed of sound which
is what he's heard - the sound barrier.''

A spokesman for Airways New Zealand, which provides air navigation
services across airspace known as the Auckland Flight Information
Region, confirmed the incident to smh.com.au this morning.

He said it occurred about 10 minutes after the Lan Chile flight had
entered the Auckland Flight Information Region.

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].

Airways New Zealand then provided that information to airlines and
pilots that would be travelling in that region at that time.

They could then decide for themselves whether they wished to fly during
that period.

"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, he said.

The Lan Chile flight landed safely at Auckland Airport at 3.55am today,
he said.

The Airways New Zealand spokesman was not aware of the name of the
Russian satellite but it was likely to have been the Russian Progress
23P cargo freighter.

The unmanned spacecraft left the International Space Station on Tuesday
and was due to burn through the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere
over the Pacific Ocean about 11.20am today [NZ time], the Spaceflight
Now website reports.

The Russian Progress 23P had docked at the ISS last October to supply
fuel, oxygen and repair parts, it said.
Received on Wed 28 Mar 2007 12:27:36 PM PDT