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Show 10 Tmit„ TIMES Aug. 30, 2012 HILLTOP TIMES Launch into Antelope Island Stampede BY MARY LOU GORNY Hilltop Times editor T STAFF SGT. VALERIE SMOCK/U.S. Air Force The sun is seen trying to break through the thick clouds surrounding the WC130J aircraft as it penetrates Tropical Storm Lee in this file photo from Sept. 2, 2011. The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" were gathering atmospheric data to relay to the National Hurricane Center for their forecast models. Hurricane Hunters provide critical data during major storms he Antelope Island Stampede Festival, a threeday event, begins Friday, Aug. 31, with hot ar balloons launched over the 1-15 corridor Friday at 7 a.m. Area residents may spot them as they begin their ascent from Kaysville Ponds Park. Flights will be held on the island during the evenings, weather permitting. Activities at the island will include all day entertainment including such groups as local bands, professional kite flyers and kite-flying clinics. The kite entertainment will include a group flying kites to music in choreographed movement. Para gliders are planning to launch off Buffalo Point. 50/50 BMX demos and clinics will be held three times each day on Saturday and Sunday. BMX Dew Tour Champion Josh Hulti will be present as will other professional tour athletes. Saturday, Sept. 1, a Beatles tribute band, Imagine, will perform from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. There will be more than 40 vendors in- cluding food, merchandise, a kids tent, inflatable bounce area, and fly your own kite area. Cost to the general public is $15 per car payable at the gate, cash only. * SWAP MEET ALL YEAR ROUND * MOTOR VII DRIVE-IN & SWAP l¥ 2 %Mgt MEET 394-1768 SATURDAY & SUNDAY 8 AM - 1 PM BUYERS FREE ON SAT! Visit Our Indoor Shops! A Great Place for Those Hard to Find Bargains! 4 SELLERS VISIT US AT www.motorvu.com or call 394-1768 * SWAP SHOPS AVAILABLE FOR RENT * • Hill AFB Job Openings Site Internal civilian announcements are posted on the USAJOBS web site. Announcements for bargaining unit positions are posted any week day. The website is www.usajobs.gov . On the home page type "HILL" in the box titled "What". In the box titled "Where" type "UT" and hit the Search Jobs button. To view all vacancies that are currently open, under "Refine Your Results", top left hand section, select the "Jobs for Federal Employees" bubble. Armed Forces News Service K EESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. 4 As the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, better known as the "Hurricane Hunters," wrap up their mission flying through Hurricane Isaac, one of the unit's pilots provided an insight into who they are and some facts and STAFF SGT. VALERIE J. SMOCK/U.S.Air Force figures about how they perform during their dangerous The center of circulation of Tropical Storm Lee missions. can be seen in this file photo from Sept. 3, 2011. Lt. Col. Jeff Ragusa is based with the unit out of day. It takes at least three planes and Keesler Air Force Base, in Biloxi, crews. Miss., and posted a series of quick • We fly as low as 500 feet during facts about the unit on Facebook. the infancy of a storm. The unit flies with 10 WC-130J air• Hurricane Katrina, on a similar craft equipped with palletized meteopath as Isaac, devastated the Mississiprological data-gathering instruments pi Gulf Coast, where Keesler is located and can put together as many as 20 on Sept. 29, 2005. Many of the Hurricane Hunters, who are all Air Force aircrews. Ragusa and his crew are currently flying out of Ellington Field Joint Reservists, live near the base. Reserve Base, Texas, as Keesler is in • Despite great personal losses, the the path of Hurricane Isaac. He pointunit never missed a tasking from the National Hurricane Center. ed out a few facts that aren't commonly known about the unit and its mission: • Data and observations gathered • While commercial airliners ofby the Hurricane Hunters helps make the forecasts by the NHC 30 percent ten fly at 40,000 feet, we never fly in storms above 10,000 feet. Hurricanes more accurate allowing local officials can extend up to 60,000 feet. to make critical decisions about safety and property • We only fly storms over water. The Hurricane Hunters organization When the storm hits land, our mission is complete. actually goes back to 1943, when on • Our missions can last as long as a barroom dare, two Army Air Corps 14 hours and use as much as 60,000 pilots flew a propeller-driven, single engine AT-6 "Texan" trainer into the eye pounds of fuel. • We have a minimum crew of of a hurricane. Maj. Joe Duckworth five: pilot, co-pilot, navigator, weather actually flew into the hurricane twice officer and loadmaster/dropsonde that day — once with a navigator and operator. (A dropsonde is a weather later with a weather officer. His efforts reconnaissance device created by the paved the way for the unit's activation National Center for Atmospheric Rea year later at Gander, Newfoundland, search.) with the mission to fly weather tracks • There are only 12 planes in the between North American and allied world allowed to fly into hurricanes Western Europe. Since then, the unit and we have 10 of them. The other two has been headquartered in New Hampare flown by the National Oceanic and shire, Florida, Bermuda, England, Atmospheric Administration. Saudi Arabia, Georgia, and Puerto Rico • We can fly a storm 24 hours a before settling at its current location. Biomat USA 375 South State Clearfield, UT 84015 (801) 825-1999 Social Security card, photo ID, and proof of address are required. itlEXPRESS by industroes for fhe Bilnd GET THE MOST FOR YOUR BUDGET 3""""""""40..q. . T.00' BASE SUPPLY CENTER Operated te, Indasedel for the Blind_ Inc - 3B Evans STOP IN TO YOUR LOCAL IB EXPRESS STORE TO STOCK UP TODAY. MAXIMIZE YOUR BUDGET WITH HEWLETT-PACKARD PRODUCTS. Can't make it to your BSC? Visit www.ibexp.com IB Express - Hill, 5840 F Avenue, TECH. SGT. JAMES B. PRITCHETT/U.S. Air Force Maj. Jeff Ragusa, now a lieutenant colonel, is shown being interviewed as a pilot with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron by an on-air meteorologist, Todd Yakoubian, onboard a WC-130J Hurricane Hunter aircraft during a mission in this file photo taken during Hurricane Ike on Sept. 11, 2008. Bldg 414, Hill AFB, UT 84056 Phone: 801-775-0502 I Fax: 801-775-0471 hill@ibexp.com |