So much for the end of the dust - the worst one of the year so far rolled in last night. I can tell if the dust is back when I wake up because my throat will be dry and I can taste the dust (not to mention the fact it is all over my pillow). It was that way this morning plus the wind was rattling the windows so I knew it was a good one. Right now I can’t see more than bout 50 yards. I was supposed to fly today but the decision not to was pretty easy. Instead I took the opportunity to finish up fixing the cooling systems in the aircraft. They now work in all the cockpits. The guys in the back have the same setup but they think it is too much of a pain to get it running and not worth the effort. They might change their minds once the 120F days hit and we are staying cool up front. Between the dust and lack of missions there hasn’t been much going on. 081 is all packaged up and ready for shipping so the maintainers are all waiting for us to fly some more hours and drop the next aircraft into phase. The newest fad over here is horseshoes. We have two sets over here (the one that I brought is holding up quite well – thanks parents). Whenever the weather is even halfway decent you can hear them clanking away in the back. The dust does keep the temperature down – yesterday was 106.
Dust H 82 L 76
3 comments:
Wow, David, dust on your pillow! is nothing sacred? These pictures are such a sharp contrast to those of you and Wendi in Canada.
Would there ever be a time when you would have to fly? Dust or no dust? (Like movies when the waves are 100 feet high and the hero says "I can make it sir!") or is that only movie talk? I know dust eats up the aircraft. (Eventually) Communication systems? No trouble? I am ignorant in these matters. Is visibility so bad that people could actually get lost moving from, say, room to food? Or is this just in old desert movies? With camels. (:
Russ,
It is quite a dramatic change. After being over here for months I forget just how clear the air is in other parts of the world. Even on what we call clear days over here everything looks kind of blurred. I think it has to do with the lack of contrasting colors - everything has a dust hue to it.
We have well established guidelines for what weather we are allowed to fly in. Of course just like in the movies if the need is great enough then all that goes out the window. But you always have to consider the lives of those flying - you may end up killing a lot more people trying to rescue a few. So it is all situational dependent but we are always told that the vast majority of the missions we do over here are not worth dying over. They can always be done another day. As far as the aircraft go, they handle the dust just fine. Over time it does cause a lot of damage but actually flying in it is no problem.
The visibility isn't so bad here that I would worry about getting lost while walking around but then we have buildings every hundred yards or so. If you were just a mile off base with no compass it would be pretty ugly. The same with flying - there is nothing to orientate yourself off of over long distances.
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