Hallo,
and welcome to Leg Nr.33 of my -Pacifc Rim of Fire Tour-. This flight took me from Palikir eastwards over 1420 km or 767 nm above the Pacific Ocean to the city of Majuro, situated on the Majuro Atoll, belonging to the Marshall Islands. The republic of the Marshall islands is a group of atolls and reefs (= 32 islands) in the North Pacific Ocean, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia, about 3670 km (1980 nm) southwest of Honolulu. After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands have been home to the US Army Base Kwajalein (USAKA) since 1964. The Marshall Islands, including the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik cover an area of 181.3 km² and have a population of 56.429 inhabitants. The capital is the city of Majuro situated in the southeastern part of the island group. All islands are quite flat so the highest point is only 10 m 32 ft high and is situated on the island of Likiep. :)
US "Operations Crossroads & Castle" - Nuclear bomb tests on the Bikini Atoll (1947-1962) : :-eek
After the second world war, in December of 1945, President Harry S. Truman issued a directive to Army and Navy officials that joint testing of nuclear weapons would be necessary "to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships." Bikini, because of its location away from regular air and sea routes, was chosen to be the new nuclear proving ground for the United States government. While the 167 Bikinians were getting ready for their exodus, preparations for the U.S. nuclear testing program advanced rapidly. Some 242 naval ships, 156 aircraft, 25,000 radiation recording devices and the Navy's 5,400 experimental rats, goats and pigs soon began to arrive for the tests. Over 42,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel were involved in the testing program at Bikini. In preparation for Operation Crossroads, the Bikinians were sent 125 miles eastward across the ocean on a U.S. Navy LST landing craft to Rongerik Atoll. The islands of Rongerik Atoll were uninhabited because, traditionally, the Marshallese people considered them to be unlivable due to their size (Rongerik is 1/6 the size of Bikini Atoll) and because they had an inadequate water and food supply. The two atomic bomb blasts of Operation Crossroads were both about the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Eighteen tons of cinematography equipment and more than half of the world's supply of motion picture film were on hand to record the Able and Baker detonations, and also the movement of the Bikinians from their atoll. Operation Castle - early in the morning on March 1, 1954, the hydrogen bomb, code named Bravo, was detonated on the surface of the reef in the northwestern corner of Bikini Atoll. The area was illuminated by a huge and expanding flash of blinding light. A raging fireball of intense heat that measured into the millions of degrees shot skyward at a rate of 300 miles an hour. Within minutes the monstrous cloud, filled with nuclear debris, shot up more than 20 miles and generated winds hundreds of miles per hour. These fiery gusts blasted the surrounding islands and stripped the branches and coconuts from the trees. Joint Task Force ships, which were stationed about 40 miles east and south of Bikini in positions enabling them to monitor the test, detected the eastward movement of the radioactive cloud from the 15 megaton blast. They recorded a steady increase in radiation levels that became so high that all men were ordered below decks and all hatches and watertight doors were sealed. Millions of tons of sand, coral, plant and sea life from Bikini's reef, from three islands (Bokonijien, Aerokojlol, Nam) and the surrounding lagoon waters were sent high into the air by the blast. One-and-a-half hours after the explosion, 23 fishermen aboard the Japanese fishing vessel, the Lucky Dragon, watched in awe as a "gritty white ash" began to fall on them. The men aboard the ship were oblivious to the fact that the ash was the fallout from a hydrogen bomb test. Shortly after being exposed to the fallout their skin began to itch and they experienced nausea and vomiting. One man died. By October 31, 1958, the U.S. had tested 66 nuclear devices in the Marshall Islands since 1946. :-eek For more information about the US nuclear bomb tests on the Bikini Atoll please refer to following website --> [link:worf.eh.doe.gov/ihp/chron/#bg|Link].
! I HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY !
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Legs_1-32: (actual status = 10.01.2004)
Leg Nr. 01 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=30703&forum=DCForumID8|Honolulu - Kailua-Kona]
Leg Nr. 02 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=30903&forum=DCForumID8|Kailua-Kona - Johnston Atoll]
Leg Nr. 03 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=30957&forum=DCForumID8|Johnston Atoll - London]
Leg Nr. 04 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31052&forum=DCForumID8|London - Anaho]
Leg Nr. 05 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31265&forum=DCForumID8|Anaho - Rikitea]
Leg Nr. 06 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31418&forum=DCForumID8|Rikitea - Mururoa]
Leg Nr. 07 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31530&forum=DCForumID8|Mururoa - Moerai]
Leg Nr. 08 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31579&forum=DCForumID8|Moerai - Otepa]
Leg Nr. 09 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31664&forum=DCForumID8|Otepa - Avatoru]
Leg Nr. 10 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=31927&forum=DCForumID8|Avatoru - Vaitape - Papeete]
Leg Nr. 11 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32082&forum=DCForumID8|Papeete - Avarua]
Leg Nr. 12 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32250&forum=DCForumID8|Avarua - Alofi]
Leg Nr. 13 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32420&forum=DCForumID8|Alofi - Pago Pago]
Leg Nr. 14 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32840&forum=DCForumID8|Pago Pago - Nuku'alofa]
Leg Nr. 15 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32877&forum=DCForumID8|Nuku'alofa - Mata-utu]
Leg Nr. 16 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=32976&forum=DCForumID8|Mata-utu - Funafuti]
Leg Nr. 17 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33060&forum=DCForumID8|Funafuti - Nadi]
Leg Nr. 18 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33100&forum=DCForumID8|Nadi - Port Vila]
Leg Nr. 19 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33177&forum=DCForumID8|Port Vila - Auckland]
Leg Nr. 20 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33447&forum=DCForumID8|Auckland - Queenstown]
Leg Nr. 21 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33538&forum=DCForumID8|Queenstown - Hobart]
Leg Nr. 22 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33651&forum=DCForumID8|Hobart - Sydney]
Leg Nr. 23 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=33807&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Sydney - Hamilton Island]
Leg Nr. 24 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=34095&forum=DCForumID8|Hamilton Island - Nouméa]
Leg Nr. 25 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=35065&forum=DCForumID8|Nouméa - Honiara]
Leg Nr. 26 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=35466&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Honiara - Port Moresby]
Leg Nr. 27 - [link:www.flightsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID8/35586.html|Port Moresby - Jayapura]
Leg Nr. 28 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=35787&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Jayapura - Davao]
Leg Nr. 29 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=35918&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Davao - Taipei]
Leg Nr. 30 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=36137&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Taipei - Iwojima]
Leg Nr. 31 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=36259&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Iwojima - Agana]
Leg Nr. 32 - [link:www.flightsim.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=36353&forum=DCForumID8&omm=0|Agana - Palikir]
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Leg Nr.33:
Flight Plan:
Origin: PTPN (Pohnpei Intl. Airport/Palikir/Micronesia) at 05:47 LT
Destination: PKMJ (Marshall Islands Intl. Airport/Majuro/Marshall Islands) at 10:25 LT
Traveltime: 3 hour(s) 38 minutes
Flightplan distance: 778.1 nm
Flight level: 25000 ft
Fuel consumption: 161 gal
Flight-route
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...a764b33f3d.jpg
Preparing my plane for depature during dawn ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...1e64c90666.jpg
... checking all instruments --> engine-startup ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...2864d5237a.jpg
... holding short at Rwy. 9/27 --> waiting for further ATC-instructions ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...3264e60d11.jpg
... lining up on Rwy. 9 ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...6f65057497.jpg
... lined up & cleared for take-off --> off we go ... ;)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...77650964d9.jpg http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7e650e8321.jpg
... Vr - rotate - lift off ... :D
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...89650f551b.jpg
... airspeed increasing --> gear up ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...926522c528.jpg
... leaving the beautiful island of Pohnpei ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...996528db91.jpg http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...a0652d722f.jpg
... cruising at FL250 (passing the Ailinglapalap Atoll) ... :9
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...a9652f35a0.jpg
... descending to my destination --> Majuro Atoll --> Marshall Intl. Airport already in view ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...b36531a6e0.jpg
... gear is down & flaps full --> ready for the landing ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...bb65339f01.jpg
... final approach on Rwy. 7 ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...c465352b59.jpg http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...cd653ad14b.jpg
... above runway ...
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...d8654b7f86.jpg
... touchdown --> "made it" ... :)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7465990081.jpg
... parked my Cessna in the general-aviation area. Ups, where is Carlos ? Jan has locked him up in the baggage-compartment ... ;) :-lol
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7e65a0cc9a.jpg
Flight summary: All parts of the flight worked very well, especially the depature at Pohnpei Intl. Airport was very beautiful :9. The cruise and the approach at Marshall Islands Intl. Airport was easy to go through ... :)
NEWS: I will try to continue my tour tomorrow. Upload probably on monday or tuesday. (Exact information will follow later)
Pacific Rim of FIRE Tour 2003/2004 (Leg Nr.33) - COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME
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