Tampa Bay's "Otter"

[kevin922 0]

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TAMPA - Brace yourself.
Starting Wednesday, people who live near Tampa Bay in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties may see a research airplane flying low and slow to collect information on air pollution and how it affects water quality in the region's estuary.
It's part of a $2 million state and national study called the Bay Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment, or BRACE for short. Experts from all over the country have zeroed in on Tampa Bay to study weather patterns and air pollution during the month of May, which also is Clean Air Month.
The twin propeller-driven research airplane dubbed ``The Otter'' is loaded with sophisticated gadgets, including ``NOx boxes,'' or devices to measure nitrogen oxide, a component of smog. The plane has special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to swoop as low as 500 feet from the ground to collect data, said Winston Luke, a physical scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The research flights are intended to complement information collected at a ``super site'' weather monitoring station set up in an isolated hay field at the Valrico Waste Water Treatment Plant in eastern Hillsborough County, as well as air monitoring sites at the Gandy Bridge in Tampa and scattered elsewhere in southern Hillsborough and Pinellas County.
Flight patterns are expected to include north-south routes along the eastern Tampa Bay shoreline between McKay Bay and Simmons Park in Ruskin, between Clearwater and Azalea Park in Pinellas County and across the Weedon Island and Gandy sites in the middle of the Bay.
Scientists hope to use the information to determine how algae-fueling nitrogen gets into the Bay. Some measurements also are geared toward gauging the amount of microscopic dust particles in the region's air that could cause breathing problems. Scientists also hope to use the information to pinpoint pollution sources.
The study is being coordinated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Hillsborough County's Environmental Protection Commission is in charge of air monitoring stations on the ground.
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So I'm wondering how much convincing it would take to get to do some free base jumps from the plane. Hey, it's already paid for with tax money why not!
:)
kevin
http://www.interone.net

[ChromeBoy 0]

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So I'm wondering how much convincing it would take to get to do some free base jumps from the plane. Hey, it's already paid for with tax money why not!

[puttin' on my Bill Von hat] It would still not be considered a base jump because it is from an airplane and it is moving.[taking off the Bill Von hat]

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[Spy38W 0]

Thanks BillChrome... guess it would be a LALO? Low Altitude, Low opening?
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Give them a sip of the darkside, and they just thirst for more.

[kingbunky 3]

they could always give you some instrumentation to drag along with you, you know, to get mutli-altitude samples of stuff ... and things! yeah, that's the ticket!
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bunky
get crazy, before it gets you.