transaeroyyz From Canada, joined Dec 2010, 114 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 8743 times:
Today's meteorite strike in Siberia produced a series of massive sonic booms, besides the meteorite itself posing a threat what is the likelihood of a boom knocking a plane out. Luckily none were affected today as that is a big corridor for flights. Thoughts?
MrBuzzcut From United States of America, joined Jan 2008, 20 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 8711 times:
A sonic boom isn't going to affect aircraft in the vicinity, at least to my admittedly limited knowledge, and it is my firm opinion that if your aircraft is hit by a meteorite, well, it was just your time, because the odds are just inconceivable. If you survive it, start buying lotto tickets.
trav110 From Canada, joined Jun 2005, 483 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 8622 times:
While yesterday's "impact" might not pose much of a risk, I wonder what would be the case if a meteorite the size of the one involved in the Tunguska event were to hit the atmosphere.
For those unfamiliar, the Tunguska event was a meteoroid that exploded upon hitting the atmosphere in 1908 over northern Siberia. The resulting airburst flattened 830 sq. mi of forest, and is estimated to be 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Newark727 From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 1175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 8584 times:
Quoting MrBuzzcut (Reply 2): A sonic boom isn't going to affect aircraft in the vicinity, at least to my admittedly limited knowledge, and it is my firm opinion that if your aircraft is hit by a meteorite, well, it was just your time, because the odds are just inconceivable
Yeah, that. It's just too unlikely to plan for, seems to me.
kalvado From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 471 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 8502 times:
Quoting trav110 (Reply 3): While yesterday's "impact" might not pose much of a risk, I wonder what would be the case if a meteorite the size of the one involved in the Tunguska event were to hit the atmosphere.
Estimates for Tunguska are 5 to 35 Mtons of TNT equivalent. You may compare that with tsar bomb ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba ) 50 Mtons, and Tu-95 bomber barely survived the event being 28 miles away from the epicenter.
I would expect airliner has a decent chance of surviving Tunguska event being more than 50 miles from the point of impact.
UA772IAD From Australia, joined Jul 2004, 1635 posts, RR: 3 Reply 6, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 8294 times:
Asteroid - the rock while it's still outside of the atmosphere Meteor - the rock once it has entered the Earth's atmosphere Meteorite - the fragments of rock remaining from the meteor's collision.
Didn't know the difference myself until I heard it on the radio today...
zkojq From New Zealand, joined Sep 2011, 784 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 7648 times:
There was an incident a couple of years back when a LAN Chile Airbus A340 flying from Auckland to Santiago was 'nearly' hit by either a Russian satellite reentering the atmosphere or a meteor. So clearly there is some risk, even though it must be miniscule. http://avherald.com/h?article=3f1c5718&opt=0
Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 6): Asteroid - the rock while it's still outside of the atmosphere
Meteor - the rock once it has entered the Earth's atmosphere
Meteorite - the fragments of rock remaining from the meteor's collision.
Didn't know the difference myself until I heard it on the radio today...
skywaymanaz From United States of America, joined May 2012, 149 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 7529 times:
When TWA 800 went down this was one of the theories I read that was being considered somewhat seriously at one point. I think they thought it was a once in 100 year event that could happen with an airplane and small meteor fragment colliding.
Geo772 From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2004, 497 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (3 months 1 week 1 day ago) and read 6964 times:
Quoting trav110 (Reply 3):
While yesterday's "impact" might not pose much of a risk, I wonder what would be the case if a meteorite the size of the one involved in the Tunguska event were to hit the atmosphere.
For those unfamiliar, the Tunguska event was a meteoroid that exploded upon hitting the atmosphere in 1908 over northern Siberia. The resulting airburst flattened 830 sq. mi of forest, and is estimated to be 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
This was mentioned last night on the BBC. The Tunguska event was described as a 1000 year event, so we're unlikely to witness something like that in our lifetimes. If an airliner was in close proximity to that there would be little chance for it. Of much greater worry for an event like that is it hits the sea causing a Tsunami or even a direct hit onto an urban area. Both of which are likely to be pretty bad.
Flown on A300B4/600,A319/20/21,A332/3,A343,B727,B732/3/4/7/8,B741/2/4,B752,B762/3,B772/3,DC10,L1011-200,VC10,MD80,1-11
maxpower1954 From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 854 posts, RR: 5 Reply 13, posted (3 months 1 week 22 hours ago) and read 6002 times:
One of the theories offered after Comet Yoke Peter exploded over the Mediterranean in January 1954 was a meteor. The second Comet midair breakup eliminated that one.
PHLwok From United States of America, joined May 2007, 376 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 months 1 week 20 hours ago) and read 5125 times:
This is one of those things that even if you want to plan for a defense against it, the engineering challenge to do so is practically impossible. These rocks enter into the atmosphere at better than 30,000 mph - how would we engineer a defense against that for an aircraft? Even if one were coming right at the plane and the crew saw it, would they have any time to get out of the way? Yes, one may eventually be downed by one, but there are just so many other challenges in the world that could benefit from attention ahead of this and be a more worthwhile use of limited resources.
threepoint From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 2091 posts, RR: 8 Reply 15, posted (3 months 1 week 18 hours ago) and read 3941 times:
Quoting PHLwok (Reply 14): Yes, one may eventually be downed by one, but there are just so many other challenges in the world that could benefit from attention ahead of this and be a more worthwhile use of limited resources.
Are we still talking about meteorites or this a general comment on the state of the US-led paranoia against airborne terrorist threats?
'Cause it applies in either case.
The nice thing about a mistake is the pleasure it gives others.
nycdave From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 518 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (3 months 1 week 16 hours ago) and read 3086 times:
Quoting MrBuzzcut (Reply 2): If you survive it, start buying lotto tickets.
Actually, you'd never want to buy a lottery ticket -- the odds of having TWO infinitesimally likely events happening to you in ONE lifetime? Well, that's (freakishly lucky)*(unbelievably lucky)!
soon7x7 From United States of America, joined May 2006, 2802 posts, RR: 14 Reply 17, posted (3 months 1 week 15 hours ago) and read 2774 times:
Quoting skywaymanaz (Reply 11): When TWA 800 went down this was one of the theories I read that was being considered somewhat seriously at one point. I think they thought it was a once in 100 year event that could happen with an airplane and small meteor fragment colliding.
It indeed did and continued on to hit Charles Schumer in the head. He hasn't been the same since..
XT6Wagon From United States of America, joined Feb 2007, 3133 posts, RR: 4 Reply 19, posted (3 months 6 days 15 hours ago) and read 994 times:
I think there are better places to worry than the threat of Meteorites. There have been exactly 0 losses do to meteors. I'm willing to bet feral dogs are a bigger threat to aviation than meteorites.
Gr8Circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2988 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (3 months 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 875 times:
Quoting LLA001 (Reply 18): I was hoping to see an air-to-air shot of the meteorite, I guess there were not many airliners flying nearby the event.
Yeah, I was wondering about that too.....considering that it must have been visible for hundreds of miles around, I'm sure some aircraft pilots must have spotted it......getting it on camera would be that much less likely as they wouldn't have that much time to pull out a camera or phone and shoot it......
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