How to Survive an Earthquake – The Triangle of Life

Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands of earthquakes but the only ones to make the headlines are those that impact significantly on us humans. 2011 was a bad year for such events – I don’t need to name them as they will all flash into your mind as you read this.

For a while now I’ve been composing a blog post with the provisional title “The Ultimate Seismograph – How to Survive an Earthquake”. It describes an earthquake I was in and the very unique situation that transpired. While putting the finishing touches to it I realised that “How to Survive an Earthquake” demanded a separate blog post of its own, so here it is. [Read more…]

Welcome to the New Satellite Spy Website

Welcome to Satellite Spy’s new website at https://satellitespy.net.

For previous followers of the blog when it was located on Blogger – Congratulations! You’ve found its new home.

I’m still fighting a few glitches with the new site, not the least of which is that the Landing page is wrong, coupled with the fact that currently there are two Home pages.

I don’t have the final locations for the different pages nailed down yet, but hopefully that will be sorted out in the next couple of days. When it’s completed [Read more…]

Oh Deer – The MX Missile, a Flying Coffin and the Twin Towers

Manhattan Skyline With World Trade Centre

Manhattan Skyline With World Trade Centre

The anniversary of the atrocity committed against the USA has triggered memories of a day some 30 years ago which culminated in a picture-perfect flight into NYC’s La Guardia airport, the approach being down the Hudson River with a sharp turn to port across Manhattan onto the final approach. A stunning afternoon view of Manhattan and the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

However, the story starts the day before. I was marketing & sales director of a company that I’ll call F-Corp (if there’s a real company called F-Corp, I apologise. It’s not you!). I’d been in the States visiting customers and I flew into the town of Binghamton in upstate New York at about 9:00pm one evening. It was early spring, very cold and with recent snow on the ground.

Why Binghamton? Well, F-Corp had developed a completely new technology for very high-performance, small, light weight microwave filters. These devices had major advantages in airborne and space applications where light weight and stability in extremes of temperature and pressure were essential. They met the US military’s MIL STD 5400E environmental specifications. [Read more…]