Satellite arrival...
May. 5th, 2010 05:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpYesterday was a pretty long day. The team got to the airport just as the Antonov transport plane was arriving, and the customs formalities went smoothly. I was part of a group that was supposed to go onto the field ahead of the group that was to unload the aircraft, but the authorities let the entire bus through the gate, so there were no worries there.
The Antonov An-124 is a huge aircraft. It can lift over 150 tons of cargo into the air for hops of just over 2000 miles, or smaller loads over longer distances. Our aircraft, the Boris Naginskiy, had a plain white sticker with "FAA Haiti Relief" printed in red affixed to a side wall next to the crew door, above a bunch of other souvenir stickers. I don't doubt that this crew and aircraft brought in enough food to feed a lot of mouths.
The cargo compartment of the Ilyushin that delivered containers the other day is one container wide and one container high, with not much elbow room. The cargo compartment on the Antonov is wide enough for two containers, with space for someone to walk between them and around the sides. A number of containers and additional equipment came off the back of the aircraft. Here's a grip-n-grin of me during the offload.
The landing gear at the front of the Antonov pivots, giving the impression of a airplane that can "kneel" to unload cargo from its forward section, after the aircraft's nose swings up to expose a cavernous cargo compartment, from which the containerized satellite is carefully removed.
Once all the cargo has been unloaded, a look inside the Antonov shows why this plane can be used to transport payloads like locomotives and yachts.
Once the satellite container is outside the aircraft, a crane picks it up and lays it gently on a railroad flatcar. Then a pair of air conditioning ducts are connected, to keep the cargo inside the container at a comfortable temperature. Once everything is strapped down, the train departs for a ride of about 6 hours.
I was the interpreter on the train, which made for a pretty long day (the train arrived at the integration facility at almost 9 pm), but during the ride, I made the acquaintance of Maxime, one of the members of the French security team, who told me about his dream of eventually becoming a fireman.
I spent most of the morning downstairs with ILS management while the French team prepared to remove the satellite from the container and move it to a clean room facility. Tomorrow, I'm the "morning duty" interpreter, which means (among other things) that I'll be working the morning management meeting and any early morning translations.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Cheers...
The Antonov An-124 is a huge aircraft. It can lift over 150 tons of cargo into the air for hops of just over 2000 miles, or smaller loads over longer distances. Our aircraft, the Boris Naginskiy, had a plain white sticker with "FAA Haiti Relief" printed in red affixed to a side wall next to the crew door, above a bunch of other souvenir stickers. I don't doubt that this crew and aircraft brought in enough food to feed a lot of mouths.
The cargo compartment of the Ilyushin that delivered containers the other day is one container wide and one container high, with not much elbow room. The cargo compartment on the Antonov is wide enough for two containers, with space for someone to walk between them and around the sides. A number of containers and additional equipment came off the back of the aircraft. Here's a grip-n-grin of me during the offload.
The landing gear at the front of the Antonov pivots, giving the impression of a airplane that can "kneel" to unload cargo from its forward section, after the aircraft's nose swings up to expose a cavernous cargo compartment, from which the containerized satellite is carefully removed.
Once all the cargo has been unloaded, a look inside the Antonov shows why this plane can be used to transport payloads like locomotives and yachts.
Once the satellite container is outside the aircraft, a crane picks it up and lays it gently on a railroad flatcar. Then a pair of air conditioning ducts are connected, to keep the cargo inside the container at a comfortable temperature. Once everything is strapped down, the train departs for a ride of about 6 hours.
I was the interpreter on the train, which made for a pretty long day (the train arrived at the integration facility at almost 9 pm), but during the ride, I made the acquaintance of Maxime, one of the members of the French security team, who told me about his dream of eventually becoming a fireman.
I spent most of the morning downstairs with ILS management while the French team prepared to remove the satellite from the container and move it to a clean room facility. Tomorrow, I'm the "morning duty" interpreter, which means (among other things) that I'll be working the morning management meeting and any early morning translations.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Cheers...
