NORAD Dispatches Fighter Escort For Air Canada Flight

Tonight, just a couple of days after visiting the NORAD military complex, fighter jets were sent out by them to intercept and escort in a passenger jet to Vancouver.
It is pretty rare for NORAD to do this here in Canada (more common in the US, where they are a lot more paranoid), but I guess they felt there was a significant enough threat to warrant such an action. As I watched the story in this evening's CBC news show and read it on their site, I could see in my mind what the scene must have been like 600 feet underground under Trout Lake in the city of North Bay. While I was there I was shown the procedures if this very thing unfolded in the sky anywhere over Canada. I saw the radar monitors at work that monitored every flying object in the sky and also the people who had to identify who/what it is and determine if it is a threat or not. We spoke with the personnel in the complex that are responsible for sending out the fighters to intercept any threats to our security. He showed me his monitoring equipment and I watched as he went about his duties. It isn't hard to imagine what was going on in there a few hours ago. Hearing about this rare occurrence so close to the day that I was there has definitely made my once-in-a-lifetime experience even more memorable.

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I Visited The NORAD Military Complex Today

NORAD is the "North American Aerospace Defense Command". It manages the security of airspace in North America. Two underground operations centers were set up, the main one inside Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado and an alternate at North Bay, Ontario (North Bay is where I was today). It was built in 1957 and was responsible for detecting the presence of enemy fighters (Soviet) as well as incoming nuclear missiles during the Cold War. The threat is still there (although Americans love to boast that they "won" the Cold War for some silly reason) as there are still thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at each other from the USA and Russia. It now also monitors all private and commercial flights very closely since the September 11th attacks.

To get down into the complex, we took a bus underground that entered what looked like a huge culvert. This took us 3 kilometres into the earth at a 6% grade. The NORAD complex is 600 feet below the surface (there is a lake above it that is 300 feet deep and the building is 300 feet below the bottom of the lake). We pulled into a large open area at the end of the tunnel and exited the bus. I entered the building through a door that was probably the biggest I've ever seen. It was about 10 or 12 feet high and about 3 or 4 feet thick. It was solid iron and weighed about 2 tons. It is so perfectly balanced that you could easily close it with one hand and no effort. It serves as a blast door in case of a nuclear attack. The facility has a staff of about 120 people (3 shifts of 40). If there was an attack, the complex has enough fresh water, food, fuel, etc. for a stay of up to 60 days. There is an underground resevoir next to the complex that holds 5 million gallons of water needed for daily use, firefighting, etc.

The first part of the place we saw was the operations centre. Before we entered, the man showing us around used a phone to let them know we were here. They told us to wait for a few minutes while any classified materials and sensitive equipment was hidden from view (this was done with curtains pulled across one part of the operations centre. When we entered, it was a darkened room with many banks of radar monitors and computers. There were several people at work. We were shown the radar monitors. It showed all of the planes flying in Canadian airspace. It was pretty amazing to see how many planes are flying in the sky at one time. If you took the cursor and placed it on one of the radars blips, the info for the plane is shown (example: British Airways flying at 28,000 feet going 350 miles an hour, direction it's heading, plus a lot of other info I had no clue about). Each flight has it's own unique code that is transmitted. If the military personnel responsible for identifying each object in the sky could not tell what it is (friend or foe) in a 2 minute time span, then the military must dispatch fighter planes to intercept that object after the 2 minutes are up. A possible scenario would be a highjacking (erratic or wrong flight path would trigger alarms) or drug smugglers flying an unmarked plane with no flight plan or transmitted code (the RCMP would be notified of possible drug smuggling). They can also tell the exact area a plane has crashed and would send out a rescue team immediately with the co-ordinates. The personnel that operates the radar monitors work an hour on and an hour off throughout the shift. I would imagine it gets pretty hard on the eyes.

The radar monitoring equipment here is way out of date (early 1980's technology) but seems to be effective nonetheless. It was impressive to watch these people at work securing the airspace of North America. I was told about instances during the Cold War where Soviet fighter planes would fly along the edges of our airspace in the Arctic and elsewhere, close enough to trigger alarms trying to test our reactions and response times. That must have been very tense.

NORAD is currently building a new above ground complex on the same base that will be operational next summer. The main reason for switching is cost (I was told that the daily cost of running the place has been rumoured to be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per day, but no one really knows for sure). Also, all of the communication lines are above ground, so if there was a major attack here, the complex would be blind and useless anyway, so why not have it above ground.

I also viewed the monitoring center for the radar stations themselves. They are unmanned and scattered all over the Arctic (known as the "DEW Line": Distant Early Warning). These people have a huge wall-size computer monitor that can view the status of any of the radar stations. They can tell if there has been any unauthorized entry, fire or malfunction. They even have cameras they can see through in real time via satellite to monitor the outside area of each radar station. In one I saw huge snowbanks piled up against one of the buildings and a helicopter parked near it where they were obviously up there doing repairs. I think this particular one was near Baffin Island. They even showed me pictures they took of polar bears that had wondered into camera view. Amazing!

The tour lasted about 3.5 hours and we saw the entire place (except for the command centre for obvious reasons). We viewed the area where all of the climate control systems were and were given an explanation of how it worked as well as other equipment that has helped to keep the place up and running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for over 40 years now. No one seems to know what use the place will have (if any) after the relocation next year.

I would have to say that this was one of the most interesting tours I've ever been on. It was fascinating to see a real life military installation at work. Especially one with such a high profile as NORAD.

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Timothy Has Died

Timothy The Tortoise, approximately 160, was a British navy mascot that in 1854 witnessed the bombing of Sevastopol (a Russian port city) during the Crimean War aboard the "HMS Queen" and later served in the East Indies and China.

He then stayed aboard a succession of naval vessels until given a life ashore in 1892 and was looked after by the members of the Courtenay family ever since. During his stay in England, Timothy showed a keen instinct for survival, even digging his own air raid shelter under a set of terrace steps during World War II after feeling the vibrations of bombs in Exeter.

In recent years, he wore a tag reading: "My name is Timothy. I am very old - please do not pick me up."

This year he emerged from hibernation as usual in February, but was suffering from colds and had developed breathing difficulties. Lady Devon said he would be very much missed. She said: "He could recognise people's voices and would respond to you. "You could call him, and he would come and say hello and have a strawberry."

Timothy will be buried with full honours on the castle grounds.


Timothy's Timeline:

- Found Aged 10 (1854) Paddington station opens

- Aged 26 (1870) First postcard sent

- Aged 46 (1890) Electric underground railway opens

- Aged 60 (1904) Peter Pan premieres

- Aged 67 (1911) King George V coronation

- Aged 77 (1921) British Legion formed

- Aged 96 (1940) Food rationing introduced

- Aged 156 (2000) New millennium celebrated


Sites about Timothy:

BBC News Announcement

Timothy's Home

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George Bush The Boring

I love these kinds of stories about Bush. Someone get this kid a job with John Kerry's campaign!

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Long Live "The Trailer Park Boys"

Season four of "The Trailer Park Boys" begins on April 11th on the "Showcase" network here in Canada. On April 15th in the USA, it will be on the "BBC America" network. I believe they will be starting with season one.

If you've never seen this show, make sure you tune in. It's the best show I've seen in years. The first two seasons are now out on DVD.


The official website of the series is HERE.

The CBC has a great article about the series HERE.

The website for the show on BBC America is HERE.

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There are 3,419 songs with "love" in the title, according to Lyrics Planet.
There are 124 songs with "work" in the title.

......and I have nothing else to say today.

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