bob@islenet.UUCP (Bob Cunningham) (06/19/85)
The time was 2306, the date 9 April 1984, the flight was JAL 36 (a 747
piloted by Capt. Charles L. McDade, with 41 years of flying experience).
They were 45 minutes east out of Tokyo on the way to Anchorage, Alaska.
He saw a large (perhaps 200 miles in diameter) mushroom cloud rising
from 14,000 feet to 60,000 feet in about two minutes (a rate of climb
of 260 miles per hour).
Three other commercial aircraft flew near the cloud, and right
after McDade reported what he said looked like the effect of a nuclear
explosion, an F-4 Phantom from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force was
dispatched to the scene and collected a dust sample.
All of the aircraft were checked after landing; no radiation above
normal ambient levels was found. The aircraft crews were interviewed; no
one saw a flash or fireball.
Seismological records from various sources have been examined; no signature
typical of a nuclear detonation in the ocean has been found. A large
increase of volcanic activity in the western Pacific was recorded on 8 and
9 April. Pilots from the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency had reported an
eruption of an underwater volcano (Kaitoku Seamount) two weeks previously,
located 80 miles north of Iwo Jima and 900 miles southwest of the reported
location of the mushroom cloud. However, winds were blowing southeast
during 8 and 9 April.
Since the event, Dan Walker of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics has been
doing his best to spread the word about this phenomenon and dig up further
information.
The latest word from Dan is:
Since publication of our report ("Kaitoku Seamount and the Mystery
Cloud of 9 April 1984") in _Science_, syndicated articles
referencing our work have appeared in newspapers across the country
on three different weekends. I have been on two radio programs
(NPR and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), a CBS radio spot,
in _Science_News_, _Newsweek_, the _New_York_Times_, _Science_85_,
and an upcoming issue of _Omni_. The major benefit of all this in
scientific terms might be some reasonable suggestions as to a
possible cause, or, if man-made, an outright confession (or "leak")
by one of the parties involved. To date, I know of only one
physically reasonable hypothesis in the works and will pass it on
when it beomes finalized.
--
Bob Cunningham {dual|vortex|ihnp4}!islenet!bob
Honolulu, Hawaii