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Air Force deploys MASS to Texas

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posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 11:21 AM
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The Air Force has sent two C-130H aircraft from Ohio equipped with the Modular Aerial Spray System to Texas. The system installs in the cargo bay of the aircraft, and sprays out through the troop doors. One MASS equipped C-130 can cover up to 150,000 acres in a day at maximum coverage. It can be used to spray oil dispersants, or insecticides. The mosquito and insect population in Texas is expected to explode after the flooding there, which could lead to increases in West Nile and Zika, as well as other mosquito borne viruses.

The spraying aircraft two 500 gallon stainless steel tanks, two 500 gallon aluminum tanks, and a 200 gallon flush tank. The system has a dedicated crew chief and assistant crew chief that work on the system. It's transported on a flatbed and rolled into the aircraft and installed. The aircraft flying the mission carry two loadmasters, one to operate the system the other to monitor the tanks. The loadmasters have to have a minimum of 1,000 hours flight time before they are even eligible to apply for crew status.


“We do some specialized flying mixed with a lot of science,” noted Maj. Phil Townsend, the chief of aerial spray with the 757th Airlift Squadron at Youngstown ARS, Ohio. “Our mission is to provide a large-area spray capability to control disease-carrying insects, eradicate undesirable plants, or disperse oil spills. And we are getting busier every year.”

Assigned to Air Force Reserve Command’s 910th Airlift Wing, the 757th AS is the only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray unit in the US Department of Defense. Aircrews, maintainers, and a couple of the unit’s six entomologists—almost half of the insect specialists in the US Air Force—deploy more than twenty-five times a year for extended operations at locations ranging from southern Florida to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, and from Parris Island, South Carolina, to Hill AFB, Utah.

Flying C-130Hs equipped with palletized Modular Aerial Spray System, or MASS, units, 757th AS crews spray thousands of acres every spring, summer, and fall. “A C-130 can spray up to 150,000 acres per day,” noted Lt. Col. (Dr.) Mark Breidenbaugh, who heads the entomology department at Youngstown. “Some places, a spray-equipped Hercules is literally the only way to manage invasive plants or to apply pesticide.”

www.codeonemagazine.com...


C-130Hs from the Air Force Reserve’s 910th Airlift Wing are headed to Texas in response to Hurricane Harvey. The unit has a special aerial spraying capability that is going to be put to use to help with minimizing the impact of the brutal storm's aftermath. The aircraft and their crews are based out of Youngstown, Ohio and they are the only aerial spraying capable unit in the Air Force—a function few probably even realize the Pentagon has in its portfolio.

www.thedrive.com...



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 11:25 AM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

You know who is gonna come knocking now. The chemtrailers



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 11:29 AM
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a reply to: nelloh62

Yeah, I know. That's one reason I started this thread. Heh.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 11:54 AM
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Breaking !!
C-130's to be used in population control !!
(mosquitos)
I see why this thread is necessary



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 11:59 AM
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originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: nelloh62

Yeah, I know. That's one reason I started this thread. Heh.


You sir are a masochist.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 12:00 PM
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I honestly do not want any god damned thing sprayed from the air, I don't care what the reasoning behind it is. Thousands of gallons of pesticides introduced into any environment will have unintended adverse effects.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 12:01 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmm, I hadn't thought about the mosquito problem. It could be quite deadly! They should be doing PSA's urging abatement methods and wearing of repellents, especially now we are in the "Friday Night Lights" season.

Thanks for this report. I'll urge my daughter with our 3 grandsons, all of whom play football, to spray repellent on the kids.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 12:01 PM
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a reply to: VikingWarlord

The amount that hits the ground is less than a shot glass over the size of a football field. Yes, it's thousands of gallons, but it's such a small amount over such a big area, that it won't have a huge effect. And the alternative is worse.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 12:06 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, that is still thousands more than nature intended. I just don't think highly of mankind intervening with nature anymore.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 12:29 PM
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a reply to: VikingWarlord

So it's better to have millions of mosquitoes flying around spreading all kinds of viruses and the like? I'm not a huge fan of messing with things we shouldn't, but again, the alternative is worse.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 01:20 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58
After finding out that Corexit was a neurotoxin, if that ended up being true anyway, do you think they'd use that as an oil dispersant or do we have something better / safer?

It would be nice to know we're not spraying Texas with that stuff.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 01:36 PM
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a reply to: Noncents

In this case they're spraying insecticides. They'll get them from local suppliers and spray them over areas that are seeing big problems with bugs.

As for oil spills, I've heard they're trying some new stuff but I don't know what the current standard is.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 01:41 PM
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a reply to: VikingWarlord

Like driving a car or living in a house, canned goods and farming?

Mg



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 01:56 PM
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a reply to: VikingWarlord

I'd venture a guess you do a lot of things nature never intended. Do you wipe after you visit the john?



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:07 PM
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The mosquitoes are doing well out here. The rain really got them going.

The county emergency management told us that there would be spraying in our county the next 3 nights. Wonder if it is connected with this deployment. Could they be flying this soon?

This is the first aerial spray I can remember here.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:10 PM
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originally posted by: VikingWarlord
a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, that is still thousands more than nature intended. I just don't think highly of mankind intervening with nature anymore.


You might want to stay away from food products that a produced from crops.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:11 PM
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a reply to: roadgravel

They were supposed to arrive at Lackland yesterday, and begin operations as soon as they could load the aircraft. They came down with the system installed, and it was just a matter of getting a supply of pesticides from local sources. They don't ever fly with the raw chemicals loaded, unless they're heading to a spray location.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:13 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

Might be then. I'm between San Antonio and Houston. If so, maybe I'll get a glimpse of the aircraft.



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:27 PM
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a reply to: Zaphod58

I Guess the " MASS " System can easily change their Tank Contents from Ethylene Dibromide, Aluminum Oxides, Barium Salts, Strontium, Cadmium, Mercury, Decussated red blood cells, Live Biological Toxins, Radioactive Thorium, Yellow Fungal Mycotoxins, Mold Spores, Mycoplasma and assortment of other toxic soups to spray oil dispersants, or insecticides . Ain't Technology Grand ? ......Not ! ......



posted on Sep, 9 2017 @ 02:34 PM
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a reply to: Zanti Misfit

This system is no different than crop dusting and other low level spraying. They use crop dusters to do the same thing, and even trucks driving around. I guess we should just stop spraying anything then, because any of those could do the same thing.
edit on 9/9/2017 by Zaphod58 because: (no reason given)




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