Sky is Failing NOTAM

[ComplexHiAv8r]

Talk about a NOTAM.

!FDC 8/5536 FDC SPECIAL NOTICE ..
THIS NOTAM REPLACES FDC 8/5501 DUE TO ADDITION OF CONTACT NUMBER.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL 0803092300 UTC.
AIRCRAFT ARE ADVISED THAT A POTENTIAL HAZARD MAY OCCUR DUE TO REENTRY OF SATELLITE USA-193 DEBRIS INTO THE EARTHS ATMOSPHERE. FURTHER NOTAMS WILL BE ISSUED IF MORE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. IN THE INTEREST OF FLIGHT SAFETY, IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL PILOTS/FLIGHT CREW MEMBERS REPORT ANY OBSERVED FALLING SPACE DEBRIS TO THE APPROPRIATE ATC FACILITY TO INCLUDE POSITION, ALTITUDE, TIME, AND DIRECTION OF DEBRIS OBSERVED. FAA HEADQUARTERS, AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEMS OPERATIONS SECURITY, 202-493-5107, IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY.

[Chris_Ford]

Direction? Down? No?

[minitour]

hmm...I thought NORAD had enough technology to do this. Now they need PIREPS?

-mini

[H46Bubba]

Originally Posted by minitour

hmm...I thought NORAD had enough technology to do this. Now they need PIREPS?

-mini

NORAD tracks that stuff. It's basically ATC wanting aircraft to report debris, so they can warn other aircraft in the vacinity.

[Tiger815]

When the Columbia disintegrated and fell through a huge chunk of airspace all the FAA could do was to start re-routing every one they could all along the path of the shuttle flight.

Since that time they have developed tools and procedures that track the progress of the reentry and projects the airspace that would be affected if the shuttle came apart again.
Its time and altitude based, so the number of airplanes that could be affected is minimized.

I suspect they will use the same system if the debris from this sattelite is projected to fall into US airspace. Some good sized chunks of that thing are likey to make it to the ground and the FAA can't just count on the "Big Sky, Little Bullet" method.

[Minuteman]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1582379.ece

Granted, its the breathless Limey-style of reporting on aviation, but it happened nevertheless:

Falling satellite misses jet by seconds
Bernard Lagan in Sydney

March 29, 2007

A jet aircraft with 270 passengers on board was within 35 seconds of crashing into a blazing Russian satellite as it was falling back to earth yesterday.

Pilots of the A340-300 Airbus suddenly saw fiery debris streaking through the midnight darkness, directly ahead of their aircraft, which was travelling at about 800km/h (500mph). The falling metal, about five miles ahead, broke the speed of sound, causing a sonic boom that drowned out the jet’s four engines.

The incident happened over the Pacific Ocean, about four hours southwest of Auckland, about ten minutes after LAN Airlines’ flight LA801 entered the far western reaches of New Zealand’s oceanic flight information region.