Floating Krathongs Pose Aviation Hazard

[george]

Ubon Ratchathani Airport warns floating lanterns pose aviation hazard

UBON RATCHATANI: -- The Ubon Ratchathani Airport has requested that local residents refrain from releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport during the Loy Kratong Festival due to possible aviation hazards to airliners.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport, Mrs. Ampawan Wannago (อัมพวัน วรรณโก), revealed that during Loy Kratong Festivals local Ubon Ratchathani residents typically released large numbers of floating lanterns, many of which entered the airspace of the airport. Mrs. Ampawan said that the lanterns pose aviation hazards to airliners and may cause accidents.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport is therefore requesting that local Ubon Ratchathani residents cooperate in preserving life and property by not releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport when airliners are in operation during the time periods of 7-8 AM, 2-5 PM, and 8:30-9:30 PM.

--thaisnews.com 2006-11-05

[george]

Loy Krathong Forum:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showforum=109

Post your pics and win 5,000 Baht:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=91456

[phibunmike]

Ubon Ratchathani Airport warns floating lanterns pose aviation hazard

UBON RATCHATANI: -- The Ubon Ratchathani Airport has requested that local residents refrain from releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport during the Loy Kratong Festival due to possible aviation hazards to airliners.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport, Mrs. Ampawan Wannago (อัมพวัน วรรณโก), revealed that during Loy Kratong Festivals local Ubon Ratchathani residents typically released large numbers of floating lanterns, many of which entered the airspace of the airport. Mrs. Ampawan said that the lanterns pose aviation hazards to airliners and may cause accidents.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport is therefore requesting that local Ubon Ratchathani residents cooperate in preserving life and property by not releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport when airliners are in operation during the time periods of 7-8 AM, 2-5 PM, and 8:30-9:30 PM.

--thaisnews.com 2006-11-05

I thought Loy Krathong was November 5th, not April 1st

[Thaddeus]

Ubon Ratchathani Airport warns floating lanterns pose aviation hazard

UBON RATCHATANI: -- The Ubon Ratchathani Airport has requested that local residents refrain from releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport during the Loy Kratong Festival due to possible aviation hazards to airliners.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport, Mrs. Ampawan Wannago (??????? ??????), revealed that during Loy Kratong Festivals local Ubon Ratchathani residents typically released large numbers of floating lanterns, many of which entered the airspace of the airport. Mrs. Ampawan said that the lanterns pose aviation hazards to airliners and may cause accidents.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport is therefore requesting that local Ubon Ratchathani residents cooperate in preserving life and property by not releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport when airliners are in operation during the time periods of 7-8 AM, 2-5 PM, and 8:30-9:30 PM.

--thaisnews.com 2006-11-05

I thought Loy Krathong was November 5th, not April 1st

Helium may be in short supply, but there is a surplus of hot air

[Rinrada]

Still using Flying Boats up there in Ubon are they.....no doubt Howard Hughes doing his thing....

[VTR1000]

Still using Flying Boats up there in Ubon are they.....no doubt Howard Hughes doing his thing....

Actually, I'm a way down south and there were dozens of the things going up tonight - all just before the arrival of one the daily flights from BKK. Thankfully, I was on the ground.

[turnpike]

was in phuket a couple years ago for loy kratong. there were literally thousands in the air, flying out over the ocean.

beautiful to watch, but i just hate to think how many of those large plastic bags end up in the water. i wish they'd make a law that using plastic bags was illegal, and go back to the originals (correct me if i'm wrong) which were made from rice paper.

[Lusifer]

Smart man this airport dude.

for those of you who are thinking that is NOT hassard,,, think to be in the plain when it hit to engines,,, im sure you whoul hoping to be ground that time as well.....

If the bird can take plain down,, what you think the 1.5meter plastic bag can do and if there is few additional....pleasent flying....

Ubon Ratchathani Airport warns floating lanterns pose aviation hazard

UBON RATCHATANI: -- The Ubon Ratchathani Airport has requested that local residents refrain from releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport during the Loy Kratong Festival due to possible aviation hazards to airliners.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport, Mrs. Ampawan Wannago (อัมพวัน วรรณโก), revealed that during Loy Kratong Festivals local Ubon Ratchathani residents typically released large numbers of floating lanterns, many of which entered the airspace of the airport. Mrs. Ampawan said that the lanterns pose aviation hazards to airliners and may cause accidents.

The Director of the Ubon Ratchathani Airport is therefore requesting that local Ubon Ratchathani residents cooperate in preserving life and property by not releasing floating lanterns in the vicinity of the airport when airliners are in operation during the time periods of 7-8 AM, 2-5 PM, and 8:30-9:30 PM.

--thaisnews.com 2006-11-05

I thought Loy Krathong was November 5th, not April 1st

[cdnvic]

I think he meant khom loy as aircraft rarely fly low enough to interact with krathongs.

Air Ubon flight on final approach

[Jai Dee]

beautiful to watch, but i just hate to think how many of those large plastic bags end up in the water. i wish they'd make a law that using plastic bags was illegal, and go back to the originals (correct me if i'm wrong) which were made from rice paper.

You should have see all the khoms in the water at Jomtien last night... what a mess!

[macb]

there were dozens of the things going up tonight

Does you wife know about this -

[Tony Clifton]

From my hospital room I could see the floating lanterns setting the hills on fire around Chonburi 2 years ago.

[Asian Frog]

About the plastic bag,

Mostly of the time it will do nothing the occurence is very small, but we cannot exclude the worse scenario which can be: obstructing partly the airflow during a very short time, causing a "stall and surge" in the engine compressor, as a consequence some blades of the compressor will break, followed by an overheat in the turbine and may be engine fire can follow due to dispersal of the blades around the engine casing, in any case after a "stall & surge" a modern turbofan is damaged in 99% of cases.

I repeat the occurrence is slim and it depends on the size and quality of the bag: I have no knowledge of experiments on this issue (Due to the costs certainly)

Asian Frog

Edited November 7, 2006 by Asian Frog

[Tywais]

I have no knowledge of experiments on this issue (Due to the costs certainly)

Asian Frog

There have been experiments by shooting whole dead chickens/geese with an air cannon into running turbines with virtually no effect at all until they got up to many pounds. A few ounces of plastic would disintegrate nearly instantly.

[Asian Frog]

I have no knowledge of experiments on this issue (Due to the costs certainly)

Asian Frog

There have been experiments by shooting whole dead chickens/geese with an air cannon into running turbines with virtually no effect at all until they got up to many pounds. A few ounces of plastic would disintegrate nearly instantly.

[Asian Frog]

I have no knowledge of experiments on this issue (Due to the costs certainly)

Asian Frog

There have been experiments by shooting whole dead chickens/geese with an air cannon into running turbines with virtually no effect at all until they got up to many pounds. A few ounces of plastic would disintegrate nearly instantly.

The Chicken canon is used to test the resistance of thwe windows, concerning the birds or other things sucked by engines, it is call a FOD and unfortunately it is damaging the engines

[Asian Frog]

"Bird ingestion/FOD

Airplane engines ingest birds most often in the vicinity of airports, either during takeoff or during landing. Encounters with birds occur during both daytime and nighttime flights.

By far, most bird encounters do not affect the safe outcome of a flight. In more than half of the bird ingestions into engines, the flight crew is not even aware that the ingestion took place.

When an ingestion involves a large bird, the flight crew may notice a thud, bang or vibration. If the bird enters the engine core, there may be a smell of burnt flesh in the flight deck or passenger cabin from the bleed air.

Bird strikes can damage an engine. The photo on the next page shows fan blades bent due to the ingestion of a bird. The engine continued to produce thrust with this level of damage. Foreign Object Damage (FOD) from other sources, such as tire fragments, runway debris or animals, may also be encountered, with similar results.

Bird ingestion can also result in an engine surge. The surge may have any of the characteristics listed in the surge section. The engine may surge once and recover; it may surge continuously until the flight crew takes action; or it may surge once and not recover, resulting in the loss of power from that engine. Bird ingestion can result in the fracture of one or more fan blades, in which case, the engine will likely surge once and not recover.

Regardless of the fact that a bird ingestion has resulted in an engine surge, the first priority task of the flight crew is to "fly the airplane." Once the airplane is in stable flight at a safe altitude, the appropriate procedures in the applicable Airplane Flight Manual can be accomplished.

In rare cases, multiple engines can ingest medium or large birds. In the event of suspected multiple-engine damage, taking action to stabilize the engines becomes a much higher priority than if only one engine is involved – but it is still essential to control the airplane first. "

From

http://fromtheflightdeck.com/Stories/turbofan/

[Axel]

It should be mentioned that the chickens are to be defrosted before used to test the resistance of the windows.

[Tywais]

It should be mentioned that the chickens are to be defrosted before used to test the resistance of the windows.

FAA Assisting British in Windshield Safety Tests.

In a recent issue of "Meat & Poultry" magazine, editors quoted from "Feathers," the publication of the California Poultry Industry Federation, telling the following story:

It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the plane flies.

The theory is that if the windshield doesn't crack from the carcass impact, it'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight. It seems the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, speedy locomotive they're developing.

They borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher, loaded the chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken shattered the windshield, went through the engineer's chair, broke an instrument panel and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to recheck the test to see if everything was done correctly.

The FAA reviewed the test thoroughly and had one recommendation:

"Use a thawed chicken."

[Asian Frog]

Yeah, they are defrosted... However are they from Grade A or B ?

This is an extract of CAP 680 From UK-CAA about damage caused by birds particularly engines:

UK_CAA_CAP_680.doc

[Asian Frog]

About the plastic bag,

It is not the shock but the fact that it can modify the air flow during a tiny fraction of second that may be sufficient to create the conditions for a stall and surge.

Without any external influence, on modern jet engines you can get a "stall and surge" on acceleration or in altitude (or a combination of the 2) if your engine is not perfectly adjusted or a little too old, this is due to the fact the best efficiency of the compressor is obtained nearby the stall curve. On a modern jet engine you have accessories like the Engine Bleed Air valves or the VSV (Variable Stator Valves) which intervene to adjust the air flow to the fuel injection and the RPM, a small deviation may be sufficient to create " a stall and surge" and on a turbo fan stall and surge is a deterioration at 99% of case.

We are working with really a small allowance. I personally remember a case of stall and surge on B747 "Pratt & Whitney" engine during a regular acceleration test in Antananarivo following a maintenance intervention(Madagascar- 4000ft altitude). Mandatory visual inspection (Boroscope) of engine gives nothing but on the beginning of descent to an European airport after 9h of flight we've gotten the overheat on this engine, we finished on 3 and the engine has to be replaced.

( No problem, the B747 is a "good truck" and can fly on 2 only for a short while)