In case you missed it, last weekend the FAA issued an “Urgent Airman Notification” for the re-entry of a dying NASA upper atmosphere research satellite. The Notam called for pilots to keep an eye open for debris from the satellite, though it didn’t offer any specific advice about what pilots should do if they were to come face to face with a school-bus-size hunk of space metal screaming toward them at speeds of 18,000 mph. Nor was there any indication about exactly why the notification was deemed “urgent.” There were no flight restrictions associated with its issuance.
Pilots’ responses to the notam, based on tweets and message boards around the aviation universe, revealed mostly amusement. One commented that the advice to call a flight service briefer for more information would have resulted in an awkward and quiet conversation. A military pilot wondered if, when doing nap of the Earth training flights, he and his fellow jet jocks should be looking up instead of down.
