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San Francisco Bay Ship Activity The San Francisco CitizenBack in the late 1970s and early 80s, the Coast Guard thought they had a better way to search for people lost in the ocean. They tested using pigeons affixed to the underside of Yes, like the pigeons in the park. And, yes, it did work. birds performed about twice as well as their human counterparts at spotting “appropriate targets” on their first pass over an The pigeons involved in Project Sea Hunt, as the effort was known, were first sent to “basic training.” about the only thing pigeon basic shared with human basic was the Pigeons were placed in training chambers with “peck keys” that released food when pressed. Once the pigeons got the hang of the keys, their training boxes would be faced toward Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, where a buoy with a radio-operated orange plate floated. Trainers would expose the orange plate and then reward the pigeon when it hit the keys, but wouldn’t feed the pigeons if the plate
Over time, the target would be moved further away from the pigeons to train them to look further out to sea. Once the pigeons passed basic training, the top graduates would proceed to advanced training where the pigeons were actually placed in chambers mounted beneath a helicopter and had to find orange, yellow, and red objects in the ocean. Each bird covered a 120-degree window, so a pod with three pigeons could see in 360 In testing on the helicopter, the pigeons spotted targets on the first pass 90 percent ofThe human crewmembers were capable of finding the target on the first pass only 38 percent of the time. test, when the humans knew they were trying to catch up to the pigeons, the humans scored a 50. In passes where both humans and the pigeons spotted the target, the pigeon spotted it first 84 percent of the time. were proving to be amazing day-time searchers. There were a few drawbacks to the use of pigeons.
weight of the pigeons had to be carefully maintained. 80 percent of their “free food” weight were generally hungry enough to search the ocean for hours without losing focus. Dropping below that weight threatened the pigeons’ health but going above it would reduce their effectiveness. And there was one tragedy in the program. A flight was sent to hunt for a missing boat and the helicopter stayed out too long. It ran out of fuel and conducted a forced landing at sea. The crew escaped with no injuries but they couldn’t get the pigeons out in time. A second batch of pigeons was sent through training to both replace the lost pigeons and to increase the number of pigeons Overall, Project Sea Hunt was so successful that a 1981 audit of the program recommended that the pigeons serve at a Coast Guard air station on proper missions and that new pods be developed so that the birds could fly on newerFederal budget cuts resulted in the program being
Advances in technology have made the pigeons less necessary. Planes designed to hunt subs using magnets are much better at finding plane debris than pigeons ever were, and improved homing beacons for rafts and wrecks make the job of scanning miles of Still, there’s a niche that pigeons could still fill better than almost any gadgets, that of looking for orange rafts and flotation devices in the open ocean. More photos and background on the program are available at the Coast Guard’s web page for Project Sea Hunt.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Shipping Monday March 6th) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Shipping Monday March 6th) ^Discounts apply to most recent previous ticketed/advertised price. Products may have been sold below ticketed/advertised price in some stores prior to the discount offer. The AC-130 Gunship in Action The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily-armed ground-attack aircraft variant of the C-130 Hercules transport plane.
The basic airframe is manufactured by Lockheed, while Boeing is responsible for the conversion into a gunship and for aircraft support. The AC-130A Gunship II superseded the AC-47 Gunship I during the Vietnam War. Suicide Bomber Blows Up a Meeting in Syria… Tigers Kill a Drone GRAPHIC: 2 Headshots, 1 Round Iraqi PMU Sniper Kills 321 ISIS fighters Video From the Phone of a Killed ISIS Member… The CIA's Secret Heart Attack Gun Coalition Airstrike Destroys an ISIS Vehicle… 9x19mm vs. 5.7x28mm | Call Me Maybe - Troops vs. Cheerleaders Osama's Sea Burial Caught on Tape The 'Best Of' Gun Accidents 'UFO' on Truck Makes the News Railgun Update from General AtomicsANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — In a story Feb. 13 about the Coast Guard search for a missing crabbing boat in the Bering Sea, The Associated Press reported erroneously where Lt. Brenden Kelley is assigned. He is assigned to the cutter Munro, not Monroe. A corrected version of the story is below:
Coast Guard calls off search for 6 fishermen on crab boat The search has been called off for the six veteran fishermen aboard a crabbing boat missing in the icy, turbulent Bering Sea ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The search has been called off for the six veteran fishermen aboard a crabbing boat missing in the icy, turbulent Bering Sea. The fishing vessel Destination went missing early Saturday after an emergency signal from a radio beacon registered to the ship. The signal originated from 2 miles off St. George, an island about 650 miles west of Kodiak Island. The Coast Guard released a statement Monday night saying the search has been suspended. "We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the six crewmembers during this extremely difficult time," said Rear Adm. Michael McAllister, commander of the Coast Guard 17th District. "The decision to suspend a search is always difficult and is made with great care and consideration." Out of respect for the families, the owners of the vessel were not releasing names of crewmen, who are all experienced, professional fishermen, said spokesman Mike Barcott in an email from Seattle.
"This is a terrible tragedy for them and the fishing community," Barcott said. "Our hearts are broken for their loved ones who are now left with the certainty of this tragic sinking." The search began after the Coast Guard received the signal from the Destination's emergency beacon. The device can by activated manually or automatically when it hits seawater. Searchers found the device in a debris field along with an oil slick, life ring and buoys. A C-130 transport plane joined the Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau in the search for the 98-foot vessel. Upon arrival, the crew of the plane reported 30 mph winds, 5- to 8-foot waves and an air temperature of 20 degrees. The Coast Guard received no mayday call indicating a problem with the vessel, Petty Officer 3rd Class Lauren Steenson said. Bad weather is the main hazard for Bering Sea fishing vessels at this time of year, said Lt. Brenden Kelley, operations officer and navigator on the Kodiak-based Munro, a sister vessel to the Morgenthau.
Boat captains with computer connectivity have far more tools than in the past for watching the weather and can take steps to avoid or mitigate its danger, he said. The primary factor is the direction of the wind and distance it travels, or fetch, which determines wave height and frequency, he said. There are not many places to find shelter in the Bering Sea, but the leeward sides of St. George and St. Paul islands are two important options, Kelley said. "When the wind gets blocked by an island, or a barrier, man-made or otherwise, it really helps to push down some of the seas and make it a little better and safer for the vessels," he said. Seawater freezes at 26 to 28 degrees, he said, and ice can build up on a boat. In open ocean, boats will vary their course so that sea spray hits both sides of the vessel. Crews use baseball bats or rubber mallets to remove ice because too much weight decreases buoyancy and could make a boat flip. Barcott says the owners will work with the Coast Guard to learn what they can to help prevent such an event from happening again.