A TV cries 'wolf'.Last October, Chris van Rossman's TV set sent out a cry for help that bounced off two satellites and reached Langley Air Force Base Langley Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 3,195 acres (1,293 hectares), SE Va., N of Hampton; est. 1917 and named for aviation pioneer Samuel P. Langley. in Virginia. A team of sheriff's deputies and Civil Air Patrol  The U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was created on 1 December, 1941 by Administrative Order 9, with Maj. Gen. John F. volunteers soon appeared at Van Rossman's apartment in Oregon. They told him to keep his TV turned off or face $10,000 in fines a day. Like all electrical. appliances, the TV had been giving off energy. But a malfunction mal·func·tion v. 1. To fail to function. 2. To function improperly. n. 1. Failure to function. 2. Faulty or abnormal functioning. caused the TV to emit electromagnetic waves at 121.5 megahertz--a frequency that is reserved for international distress signals. Each year, thousands of these signals send rescue teams scrambling. Many are accidental false alarms from beacons aboard ships or aircraft. But once in a white, the culprit is a malfunctioning appliance--like Van Rossman's TV or even a quirky pizza oven. "It's not as bizarre as you would imagine," says Major Allan Knox of the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center As the United States' inland search and rescue (SAR) coordinator, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC) serves as the single agency responsible for coordinating on-land federal SAR activities in the 48 contiguous United States, Mexico and Canada. at Langley. "We see it a couple of times a year." |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion