Regarding...

>Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 22:04:54 -0800
>From: mprice at mindlink.bc.ca (Michael Price)
>Subject: Re: They Came From Outer Space - Or Did They?

Michael wrote:

>>This is obviously of great interest and I'm extremely grateful.

>Nice of you to say, James, but show us the *money*! Just make the
>cheque payable to the Tweeters Benevolent Fund for Superannuated
>Birders. '-)


Michael,

The...err...cheque's in the e-mail. ;)


>>"What startled me the most was the fact that I could not find any
>>tails on them".

>How close *was* he?

Well, that depends on which version you believe. In what was possibly
Arnold's first radio interview, he stated:

"I was approximately 25 to 28 miles from Mt. Rainier, I climbed back
up to 9200 feet and I noticed to the left of me a chain which looked
to me like the tail of a Chinese kite, kind of weaving and going at
a terrific speed across the face of Mt. Rainier. I, at first, thought
they were geese because it flew like geese, but it was going so fast
that I immediately changed my mind and decided it was a bunch of new
jet planes in formation".

Later, he gave a far greater estimate of the objects' distance.

That's one of the difficulties with the case, but not a matter for
this list.


>>One thing I couldn't find anywhere was confirmation of the typical
>>airspeed for an AWP.

>With those big barndoor wings they're like large herons: they always
>seem to moving slower than they actually are. I'd guess somewhere in
>the 50-80 km/hr range.

Another informed opinion I obtained suggested:

"Typical airspeed of AWP = 20 - 25 mph (These are ponderous birds, but
of course they soar marvellously on thermals and glide effortlessly.)"

That's actually much slower than I would have thought.


One other question I wanted to clarify was the highest likely altitude
of AWP's during migration.

Any opinions gratefully received.


>Speaking of which--testing, not classified data--have any credible
>studies ever been done on the mortality, short- and long-term impacts
>on local wildlife communities by atmospheric or subterranean atomic
>testing? Just curious.

That's an interesting question. I'm familiar with the history of the
Manhattan project and later tests, but I can't recall ever seeing an
environmental study of the effects on wildlife.

Given the sometimes apparent disregard for the effects of the tests
on human life, perhaps that's not surprising.


Again, thanks for the recent feedback from Don and yourself.



James.
E-mail: pulsar at compuserve.com