Posts Tagged ‘emergency’

Ocean Beach Erosion Town Hall Meeting Tonight at the Great Highway’s Park Chalet

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Our neighbors in the Great Sand Waste* of the Outside Lands are having a little trouble with the partial collapse of the Great Highway near Sloat, so there’ll be a meeting tonight at 7:00 PM:

“A community meeting is being held on Monday, January 25th at 7:00 PM at the Park Chalet (located behind the Beach Chalet at 1000 Great Highway just south of Fulton in San Francisco) to discuss the proposed actions at Sloat Boulevard. The DPW Project Manager, Frank Filice will be there to discuss the emergency declaration, the short-term strategy, and a process for a long-term solution. Everyone who has an interest in the preservation and the future of Ocean Beach is encouraged to attend. The emergency declaration will go before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for ratification the following day, Tuesday, January 26th.”

Will San Francisco “armor the beach or something? Stay tuned…

by k. riccitiello

If that doesn’t float your boat, there’s always, this:

“The Park Chalet will be offering $2 pints and extending their $5 happy hour menu of appetizers all night for the event.”

See you there.

*Look at this – snark from 160 years ago: The True Story of How San Francisco Received Its Name:

“San Francisco – this is a derivative word from sand and Francisco. In the early settlement of this country it was the custom of an old monk of the interior, by the name of Jeremiah Francisco, to perform a pilgrimage to this place every month, to visit the tomb of a brother of the order whose remains he had here interred. The wind “blew like mad” here, and upon his return he was usually so covered with the dust and sand, that his neighbors were unable to recognize him; hence they soon began to call him sand Francisco.

On one of his pilgrimages he happened, by mistake, to die here, and the place ever after was called by his name. From the difficulty of enunciating the d, it was usually called SAN FRANCISCO, and has so continued to this day. The present popular notion that the place was named after the St. Francis Hotel is an error!

California Weekly Courier
August 1, 1850″

The “Co-Owner” of a Local Flying School Threatens This Very Blog

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Read below to see the message that came over the transom of this little blog yesterday, the very blog you’re looking at right now. It concerns a post from a year and half ago about an airplane crash-landing that resulted in no major injuries

The missive, in its entirety: 

“When you google Flying Vikings your false article comes up. If you do not fix your false statements. I will deal with you. My name is Celine Correa and I am a co-owner of Flying Vikings. You need to report on the many thousands and thousands of flight hours we have done. Call me and I will give you verifiable details no false hoods. You need to correct your article immediately.
 
Celine”

O.K. fine. If anybody wants to go through and find any of the purported “false statements,” well then have at it – that would help me out.

Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll be “reporting” on Flying Vikings’ “many thousands and thousands of flight hours” (is that a lot? My dad, currently pushing up daisies in Virginia, had five figures worth of flying hours with no accidents, AFAIK) in some sort of fairness-doctrine type of deal.

The comments are open on this post, if anyone wants to pipe up. Thanks for your help.

Here it is: 

Another Accident Involving Hayward-based Flying Vikings, Inc.

Today’s headlines include news of the crash landing of a Flying Vikings, Inc. Cessna 172 in Oakland, California.

The San Jose Mercury News earlier reported that N61736 ”had a gas leak,” but now is going with ”mechanical problems” as the cause of this incident. KCBS, which labels this single engine plane the KCBS Radio Traffic Plane, is reporting the pilot claimed the oil pressure guage plummetted just before the engine conked out. This aircraft, built in 1974, suffered “substantial damage” during an incident in 1981.  

The following language, written before today’s accident, appears on the Flying Vikings website:

Since Flying Vikings also has a contract with local news gathering organizations, students are offered opportunities to build time that no other school can. Fly 3 to 6 hours a day and get paid.

A visual aid to help imagine yourself staring at a motionless propeller low over the Bay Area. Click to expand:

175264529_c84380bc84_o-copy.jpg

The dash of a Cessna 172 and a view of Candlestick Park, from the incredible Telstar Logistics Flickrstream

Here’s a photo of a different Flying Vikings aircraft, a Piper that suffered a fatal accident in 2006. Readers may find this link, relating to the Piper crash, of interest, however, it might lead you to unproven speculation about the cause of that tragedy.

The Federal Aviation Administration and Cal OSHA should be able to determine the cause of this forced landing fairly easily.

A relatively happy ending to a scary situation.

So that’s the purported “false article” from 2008.
 
Actually, the only reason I found this incident noteworthy at the time was the number of conflicting reports about the cause of  this incident. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated and concluded the problem was:
 
“A loss of engine power due to oil starvation. The oil starvation event was due to the failure of maintenance personnel to tighten the mounting bolts for the newly installed vacuum pump.”
 
Seems the pump had just been replaced three days earlier and the flight of June 30, 2008 was the first one using the new pump.
 
All the deets from the NTSB, after the jump.
 
(more…)

San Francisco to Test Sirens at 10:15 AM on Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

This is a test. Only a test.

Normally, you’d only hear these sirens on Tuesdays at noon. There’s no need for alarm.

Deets below.

IMG_9720-copy

CITYWIDE SIRENS TO SOUND AS PART OF EARTHQUAKE DRILL
What: The City’s Outdoor Public Warning System Sirens will be activated as part of the statewide Drop, Cover and Hold earthquake drill on October 15, 2009 at 10:15 am.  The sirens will be sounded, followed by a voice message indicating that it is a test.  This is the first time the City is utilizing the system citywide at a time other than the regular Tuesday noon weekly test.

San Francisco residents and visitors should not be alarmed by the fact that the sirens are sounding at a time other than the regular Tuesday test.

When: Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 10:15 am

Where: 92 locations citywide

Why:  The City is participating in the Great California ShakeOut, the statewide earthquake drill.  To date, more than 280,000 people in San Francisco have registered to participate in the drill, and more than 6.4 million have registered statewide.  For more information, please go to
www.shakeout.org/sanfrancisco.

San Francisco’s “Tuesday Noon Siren” Tests are Loudest in Chinatown

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

You can set your watch every Tuesday at 12:00 PM in the City and County of San Francisco if you can hear the Tuesday Noon Siren Test.

In some other places it’s a little hard to notice, but these horns above Kearny and Washington must be the loudest in all Christendom.

IMG_9720 copy

See?

IMG_9717 copy

If this had been an actual emergency, a voice would have told you what’s up. Or, generally speaking, you might want to just hustle inside as soon as you figure out it’s not a test this time.

Read all about it:

The Tuesday Noon Siren

Every Tuesday at noon, San Francisco tests the Outdoor Warning System. During the test the siren emits a 15 second alert tone. In an actual emergency, the siren tone will cycle repeatedly for 5 minutes. Should you hear the sirens at any time other than Tuesday at noon, go indoors and immediately tune to a news source such as KCBS 740 AM, or other local media stations.

Learn more about the siren system at www.72hours.org, the San Francisco Office of Emergency Services & Homeland Security’s new website. Here you’ll find information on how to respond to specific types of emergencies, such as an Earthquake or a Tsunami, and easy steps to help you develop your own emergency plan.

In a major disaster it might be 3 days before vital services are restored.
When you hear the Tuesday Noon Siren, it’s your weekly reminder to make an emergency plan, build an emergency supply kit and be prepared to be self sufficient for 72 hours.

Call 811 Before You Dig – Plus What About N11 Codes 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711 and 911?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Your local gas and electric utility monopoly would like you to think before you dig. PG&E reminds us all today to call 811 at least two days before you start digging around, else you might hit a gas main and blow yourself to kingdom come. Some local folks will answer the phone and check things out for you and what’s wrong with that?

But what about all the other x11 telephone services – they are starting to add up huh? Let’s learn about them below.

 

Here there are, all the N11 Codes we have:

211 Community Information and Referral Services

311 Non-Emergency Police and Other Governmental Services

411 Local Directory Assistance

511 Traffic and Transportation Information

611 Telephone Repair Service

711 Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS)

811 Access to One Call Services to Protect Pipeline and Utilities from Excavation Damage

911 Emergency

Wow, that’s a lot.

211
(800) 273-6222  Alternative Number
(415) 808-4357  Alternative Number
2-1-1 information and referral service for San Francisco. Information and referral service via regular number for the following counties in California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Solano.
411
  • Free 411 (800-373-3411)  If you don’t mind listening to a 10-second ad first, Free 411 lives up to its name, giving you free business and residential listings (which can optionally be delivered via text message). Thanks to reader kwright for the tip on this one!
  • GOOG-411 (800-466-4411)  Google’s 411 service is surprisingly ad-free, though it limits you to business listings. Like Free 411, it can automatically connect your call and/or send you the listing via SMS. See it in action in the above video.
  • Live Search 411 (800-225-5411) Microsoft’s 411 service offers not only business listings, but also traffic and weather reports, movie showtimes, travel resources, and more. (Live Search also powers Microsoft’s Tellme service.)
  • 511
    611
    Try it on your phone, see what happens. Probably you’ll get somebody from your phone co.
    711
    811
    See today’s release from Pigs Giraffes & Elephants, after the jump.
    911
    So there you have it, your N11 dialing codes.

    KCBS in Denial About Yesterday’s Crash Landing in Oakland, CA?

    Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

    First,  let’s all agree that denial, (also called abnegation), is:

     ”is a defense mechanism‘ postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept…”

    Can a radio station be in denial? Well, how about the coverage KCBS AM 740  is giving to yesterday’s crash landing of a traffic-reporting Cessna 172. KCBS reports this incident thusly: “Plane Lands near I-80 Ramp” with an account about how “freeway traffic was not affected by the landing”.

    Firstly, KCBS used this in the webpage URL: “Plane-Blocks-I-80-Off-Ramp” – so this was spurious information? Or maybe the plane blocked the off-ramp, but not the freeway? Secondly, other media sources correctly called this incident a “crash-landing,” as that’s what it was. Thirdly, KCBS reported last month’s other crash landing of a Cessna 172 in the bay area as a “crash landing.”

    175264529_c84380bc84_o-copy.jpg

    The dash of a Cessna 172 that didn’t crash land in the bay area last month, from the incredible Telstar Logistics Flickrstream

    There’s lots of ways to report a story. KCBS certainly chose a drama-free approach. As must be obvious by now, you can put a Cessna 172 (that has a landing weight pretty close to a tiny 2-seat Smart Car) down in a very small piece of real estate, but yesterday’s crash landing could easily have been fatal.

    So, better check yo self before you wreck yo self (again). Just saying,

    Another Accident Involving Hayward-based Flying Vikings, Inc.

    Monday, June 30th, 2008

    Today’s headlines include news of the crash landing of a Flying Vikings, Inc. Cessna 172 in Oakland, California.

    The San Jose Mercury News earlier reported that N61736 ”had a gas leak,” but now is going with ”mechanical problems” as the cause of this incident. KCBS, which labels this single engine plane the KCBS Radio Traffic Plane, is reporting the pilot claimed the oil pressure guage plummetted just before the engine conked out. This aircraft, built in 1974, suffered “substantial damage” during an incident in 1981.  

    The following language, written before today’s accident, appears on the Flying Vikings website:

    Since Flying Vikings also has a contract with local news gathering organizations, students are offered opportunities to build time that no other school can. Fly 3 to 6 hours a day and get paid.

    A visual aid to help imagine yourself staring at a motionless propeller low over the Bay Area. Click to expand:

    175264529_c84380bc84_o-copy.jpg

    The dash of a Cessna 172 and a view of Candlestick Park, from the incredible Telstar Logistics Flickrstream

    Here’s a photo of a different Flying Vikings aircraft, a Piper that suffered a fatal accident in 2006. Readers may find this link, relating to the Piper crash, of interest, however, it might lead you to unproven speculation about the cause of that tragedy.

    The Federal Aviation Administration and Cal OSHA should be able to determine the cause of this forced landing fairly easily.

    A relatively happy ending to a scary situation.