Warbird Information Exchange

Good thing I have my T-6 instrument panel on display in my bedroom. My hangar is squeaky clean!

So what do they do next- declare most of the general aviation aircraft on the field as hazmat too?

And how does anything cost the county money? It isn't theirs! (tax dollars at waste)
===========================================

Radium cleanup to cost county almost $200,000

By Megan Blaney, Staff Writer

One man's hobby to collect vintage airplanes will cost the county nearly $200,000 to clean up radioactive material at least temporarily.
The county will seek reimbursement after cleaning up the Radium-226 contamination at Chino Airport, where Jeff Pearson, owner of Preservation Aviation, Inc., stores vintage airplanes containing the material. The radioactive material was used on the predominantly American military aircraft to light up the instrument dials in the dark. The aircraft are mostly from World War II through the 1960s.

"In both hangars there is a quantity of old aviation instruments that have the radium painted on the dial,' county Director of Airports Bill Ingraham said Monday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined the radioactive materials exceed the radiation limit and closed off the area on March 10, deeming it unsafe for entry, Ingraham said.

Twelve tenants of nearby hangars are still not allowed into the building and cannot access their aircraft, Chino Airport Manager James Jenkins said Tuesday. Their aircraft are not contaminated, but the area is, he said.

The county hired New World Environmental Inc. for $110,597 to clean up the site, and will pay $85,000 to dispose of the radioactive material in certified landfills. The Board of Supervisors approved the funding, which comes from the Airports Capital Improvement Fund, at Tuesday's meeting.

"Since the county is owner of one building, and we own the land for the other building, we are ultimately responsible,' Ingraham said.

The county intends to recover the cleanup cost from the tenant, Ingraham said.

The EPA's investigation of the Chino hangar stemmed from an investigation into a warehouse in North Hollywood where the same company was ordered to cease operations because of radioactive contamination from the same source.

The FBI served the search warrant to investigate the hangars on behalf of the EPA.

New World Environmental Inc. is expected to start cleanup today.

EPA on-scene coordinator Robert Wise said he could not comment on the contamination because it was an ongoing investigation.

Pearson could not be reached for comment.

Maybe this is a ploy by the Navy and NHC to find their "property" that is being distroyed by those how recovered it.

What better way then a good ol Haz-Mat drill.


Edit:

Forgot

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

Good Lord... Wonder if my wife can get a job at New World Environmental...

Still have mine btw. SHHHHH!

_________________
"There was no such thing as a bad day when you have a door knob on the inside of the door."

Cmdr. Paul Edward Galanti -retired

I wish I could find the source, but I read somewhere once
that the amount of radiation emminating from WW-II instruments
was less than that from all other "normal" ambient and/or
"common" every-day sources.

In other words, it is/was a non-issue.

I smell a rat.... (whenever the government, city, county, state
or feds get involved with anything, chances are one will smell
a rat....).

Bela:

Keep in mind bdk wrote it, and being in California most of the government (excluding Swartzenegger), and far left environmentalists are one in the same.

Here in Arizona we deal with the environmentalists to a very limited degree. Mostly on the county level, regarding distribution of cactus. We also have some trouble with the BLM regarding trespassing issues.

What an exaggeration - and this coming from someone who has lost family due to nuclear testing! The radium used on these dials is so over exaggerated as to its "lethal" dosing.

I got the chance to visit the inside of "Haggerty's Hag" at Hill AFB with two of the museum's representatives. Later I found out this was looked apon with displeasure as the "radium" could have exposed us to terrible side effects. HA. unless you are snorting or chipping the paint up and eating it on a daily basis the danger is almost non existant. One more thing - are we going to declare NASM a toxic dump - think of all the radium there!!

I found the following regarding radium dial painters:
These workers accidentally ate small amounts of radium as they touched the paint brush to their mouth, to give it a sharper point. He does not mention, however, that radium dial painters did not develop bone cancer from radium unless they had a very high skeletal dose—greater than 10 Gy (200 Sv). That is 10,000 times greater than the present recommended annual dose limit for radiation workers! Above that threshold, the dial painters had an incidence of bone cancer of about 28 percent, independent of the dose.5

Perhaps more remarkable is the finding that no dial painters who started work after 1925 developed bone cancer. That was the year the radium dial industry forbade the workers to touch the brush to their mouths.

This is not to say warbird restoration shops shouldn't exercise some caution and common sense, I'm just saying the "immenant threat" is a joke.

Tom P.

Hi,

If they Gov't is going after radium painted gages, what about all the radium painted wrist watches that are out in the world? I still have the one my parents gave me in the 60's. I think it still works too! I used to sleep with it next to my head so I could see to time the planes landing at Hopkins airport at night. (lived a mile out, a mile south of the centerline of runway 23 left)
As I recall, my grandfather's giger counter (CD issue) didn't squak too much at it when I was a youngster. It was a game with us. Have someone hide the watch and then go find it with the giger counter.

Kenn

_________________
May all your bent wings be F2G Corsairs!

it's a government conspiracy bottom line. all previous posts are right on the money!!! what about ebay??? countless old vintage instruments are listed daily, i don't see uncle sam going after sellers, or ebay inc. themselves for allowing the listings.

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

So are we saying that the U.S. Government is like an old high school girl friend that keep changing her mind before the prom?