FAA to Pilots: Watch Out for Falling German Satellite Debris

In a reassuring warning, The FAA is alerting pilots to be on the lookout for falling debris from the 2.7 ton ROSAT. The FAA has warned of 30 huge pieces of the satellite would be falling from the sky sometime this afternoon until early morning on Sunday. We reported several weeks ago that the re-entry path of the satellite was unknown and that prediction still has not changed. Have a nice flight

"In the interest of flight safety, it is critical that all pilots/flight crew members report any observed falling space debris to the appropriate [air traffic control] facility and include position, altitude, time and direction of debris observed."

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I had a tree limb fall on me when I was doing yard work today. First thing that popped in my head as it hit me was this.

According to Sky and Telescope it already re-entered somewhere between India and Kamchatka, probably over China.

I'm sure the warning was required, but realistically speaking, how easy would it be to dodge a piece of metal flying that fast in a commercial jet? I'm going to guess not very, once you're aware it's coming toward you.

Genny said:

I'm sure the warning was required, but realistically speaking, how easy would it be to dodge a piece of metal flying that fast in a commercial jet? I'm going to guess not very, once you're aware it's coming toward you.

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It's just so they can announce to the passengers, "Please return to your seats. We may be experiencing some turbu-"

I feel compelled to "copy&paste" my previous post on a similar subject..

Thankfully, we have a secondary tracking utility.....

@NASA, Joe Biden spins the globe velcro'd to his mostly vacant desk..
::Shakes Magic-8 Ball:: "Will it land... here?"

::Magic-8 Ball:: "Ask again later"

::Joe:: "Fuck...", calls up the ESA.. "Hey, Hiney.. when's that Row-Sat thing gonna re-entry again?" "Ok,.. thanks"

::Shakes Magic-8 ball again...:: "Signs point to yes"

::Joe:: "Well, I already knew it's gonna fall outta the sky.. but where?" Shakes the Magic-8 ball again....

::Magic-8 Ball:: "Better not tell you now...::

::Joe:: "Dammit!!!".. Grabs a NASA engineer... "Make this thing work!!!"

maybe it's a cover up for mass UFO earth bound re-entries?!

Genny said:

I'm sure the warning was required, but realistically speaking, how easy would it be to dodge a piece of metal flying that fast in a commercial jet? I'm going to guess not very, once you're aware it's coming toward you.

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this is what i first thought but simply reading the news clip in the first post shows this is more to help locate where the pieces fell than actually thinking pilots can avoid getting hit by one if they somehow seen it early enough.