4/12/2006: Ellsworth AFB foam test

[xoxoxoBruce]

shiv, you sound like you're familiar with snow, and I'm sure canuck49 is.
Welcome to the Cellar, both of you.

[Undertoad]

Guess what folks? I was watching the referrers on this one, and someone had the full story.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123019117

Did a glacier melt? Did some kind of ultra-secret government underground lab have a freak accident? Most importantly, which maintenance troop’s head rolled for this one?

Actually, it’s none of the above. Those who have seen the e-mail that seems to be burning up the communication lines across the Department of Defense need to brace themselves: That hangar at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., was filled with foam on purpose.

That misleading e-mail with an attached slide presentation showing photos of the test has caused considerable work in correcting wrong information.
...
The test of the new foam system was conducted Aug. 23. Required coverage occurred within one minute of the system being activated. The test was so successful, the foam reached the observation platform where officials were documenting the procedure.
The Air Force required a minimum of one meter of foam to be achieved in four minutes or less. For testing purposes, the foam was allowed to disperse for the full four minutes.

The observers were surprised at how quickly the system generated the fire suppressing foam, Colonel Singh said.

The system worked so well the exterior door of the hangar had to be opened before the test was fully completed. These events account for the photos of the amount of foam inside and outside of the hangar.

So, did someone have a gross miscue? No. On the contrary, a fire suppression system responsible for helping protect vital mission-essential assets and, most importantly, for helping safeguard Airmen’s lives, worked extremely well. The foam system exceeded Air Force standards, Colonel Singh said.

The article goes on to say that the images testing the ability of systems to handle overload as the images are emailed around.

I guess we learned that as well!

Sorry for anyone who was misled, although that number includes B and myself. The original images that were sent around had some misleading text on them that indicated that everything was unexpected. At least the record is corrected now!

[jaguar]

Is this stuff non-toxic/environmentally friendly/naturally dissipiates?

[WabUfvot5]

Misled? That's what they want you to believe

[xoxoxoBruce]

The test was so successful, the foam reached the observation platform where officials were documenting the procedure.
The Air Force required a minimum of one meter of foam to be achieved in four minutes or less. For testing purposes, the foam was allowed to disperse for the full four minutes.

The observers were surprised at how quickly the system generated the fire suppressing foam, Colonel Singh said.

The system worked so well the exterior door of the hangar had to be opened before the test was fully completed. These events account for the photos of the amount of foam inside and outside of the hangar.

OK, so the timeline was wrong and the system did not fail to shut off when it should. That's good news.
BUT;
1- It did not perform as expected.
2- The fact it performed better than expected still means they were wrong.
3- It caught everyone involved, off guard.
4- To fill the hangar and coat the countryside was not planned
5- It's funny as hell.

Of course, as Master Sgt. Dana Rogers said, all that emailing does more damage than the excess foam so, no harm, no foul.
Just Easter egg on their faces.

[comphappy]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

OK, so the timeline was wrong and the system did not fail to shut off when it should. That's good news.
BUT;
1- It did not perform as expected.
2- The fact it performed better than expected still means they were wrong.
3- It caught everyone involved, off guard.
4- To fill the hangar and coat the countryside was not planned
5- It's funny as hell.

Of course, as Master Sgt. Dana Rogers said, all that emailing does more damage than the excess foam so, no harm, no foul.
Just Easter egg on their faces.

1-NO it performed better then expected.
2-It's a test they didn't know how it was going to perform, that's why they were TESTING IT.
3-true
4-no harm no foul
5-so is the intelligence level of this thread.

Dirk: we don't have b2's that would be a base elsewhere in the midwest, we have b-1's not quite as expensive but still very costly.
The B2 cost rougly 7 times that of the b1.

[glatt]

Hey comphappy, welcome to the Cellar.

You're basically just arguing semantics. If there are expectations before a test, and then the results are different than those expectations, then those expectations were wrong. You're right. It's just a test, so it's no big deal. And it's just a bunch of harmless foam. No harm, no foul, as you say.

Nobody is saying that the fine men and women at Ellsworth are idiots. This thread is just a great picture story. It's funny. Look at all that foam! It's received a lot of attention, which is further proof that it's a great sequence of images.

[gen131]

Originally Posted by comphappy

we have b-1's not quite as expensive but still very costly.
The B2 cost rougly 7 times that of the b1.

Speaking of Cost. I just recently read a blurb that says that the B-2's are worth (or cost) more than their weight in gold. I dont know the exact specs on the weight of a B-2, but I know they are pretty darn heavy. That's a lot of gold!


Ahh... Military bluntness permeates the post's of comphappy. One thing about being in the military, is that soldiers are usually not slow to express their opinions or feelings about topics or other people. Unless of course that other person significantly outranks you, in which case you might hold off on your opinions of his character, and stick to opinions of the topic at hand. Except perhaps if you have a good working relationship with him, and you do not take it to the point of disrespect or disregard for his authority.

[comphappy]

Originally Posted by gen131

Speaking of Cost. I just recently read a blurb that says that the B-2's are worth (or cost) more than their weight in gold. I dont know the exact specs on the weight of a B-2, but I know they are pretty darn heavy. That's a lot of gold!


Ahh... Military bluntness permeates the post's of comphappy. One thing about being in the military, is that soldiers are usually not slow to express their opinions or feelings about topics or other people. Unless of course that other person significantly outranks you, in which case you might hold off on your opinions of his character, and stick to opinions of the topic at hand. Except perhaps if you have a good working relationship with him, and you do not take it to the point of disrespect or disregard for his authority.

Your correct about the weight/cost thing. an empty B2 weighs 154000 rounded up, in gold that's 1.6 billion rounded up, a B2 cost more then 2 billion.

as far as bluntness goes, I got it from my mother but then she was an army brat.

And arn't you the one that said the Air Force doesn't have soldiers it has Airmen. I know you were just trying to make a point, but you could use miltary personnel instead it's more of a generalization as not to offend anyone.
And are you military? you seem to think you know abunch about it. it really has nothing to do with rank but more of relationship between between two people. I have two e-5's above me and I might jokingly call one of them an A**hole or an idiot but then the other one I wouldn't because the one is more relaxed like that, and the other one is all high and mighty disciplined like.

[Kagen4o4]

mama mia!

[Dirk]

In response to the cleanup - My Dad was a career Crash and Rescue firefighter for the Airforce and I was a volunteer for a number of years. What is typically used in the foam systems is a form of dish soap labeled AFFF (Aqueous Film Forming Foam or "A Triple F") (there are other additives based on the location or known combustibles in the building, but typically just a non-toxic bubbly stuff to cool down the combustible and slow down the amount of oxygen that can get to the fire. Foam sits on top of liquids like jet fuel and other stuff and doesn't splash it around like just plain water would - think of spraying cold water in a hot deep fryer - not good). All it takes is removing the fluff via fans or snow shovels and then a lot of power washing. You noticed a firetruck in one of the photos? The water cannon on those are a pretty effective power washer. Final thought - the B2's at Ellsworth are spendy. At least with a foam system like this you just wash off the planes and it doesn't damage the special paint and coatings on the aircraft. Also, if you're surrounded in AFFF foam, just swim your arms around infront of your face and you create an air pocket that you can breathe. Unless it's Baricade Foam, but that's a different story and not something they'd use in a location like this.

[glatt]

Thanks, Dirk. Welcome to the Cellar.

[Kagen4o4]

all that hanger needs is some hard nrg rave music and some strobes and lasers.

[mitheral]

Originally Posted by Kagen4o4

all that hanger needs is some hard nrg rave music and some strobes and lasers.

I'm sad to say that I'm so uncool I wouldn't even know where to find someone whoe could direct me to someone who knew where such an event was taking place but it sure sounds like fun.

Originally Posted by Kagen4o4

well... over 350,000 views and only 60 replies. thats more than the "what the fuck" thread. if you google "ellsworth foam test" you get the Cellar as the number one site.

I posted it to metachat.org and I think someone picked it up from there and slapped it up on MetaFilter. A MetaFiltering isn't quite as bad as a /.ing but it isn't insignificant either.

[Kagen4o4]

Originally Posted by mitheral

I'm sad to say that I'm so uncool I wouldn't even know where to find someone whoe could direct me to someone who knew where such an event was taking place but it sure sounds like fun.

just keep your eyes and ears open for a foam party