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Nininger Moment #17
Air Pilots and Meteor Hazards
During Nininger's time a number of air pilots 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 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
superintendent 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 at that time, no report from an air pilot
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
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