More Precise Delivery to Cool Radioactive Fukushima Nuclear Plant

A technique used by jungle aviation missionaries over 50 years ago may provide an answer to aerial delivery problems such as dropping water on the current radioactive fires in Japan, according to Gaylord Olson, a Princeton, New Jersey reader of the CAFE Blog.

Considering the scenes of helicopters forced to dump water from high altitudes above the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, more precise delivery might make the difference between successful cooling of the radioactive waste and catastrophic meltdown.

Gaylord suggests that using electrically-powered craft with precision GPS systems could allow a two, or even three-aircraft flight, with the ganged aircraft able to lift two or three times the amount for a single airplane.  He notes that two lines would allow the load to be moved sideways by winds, while a third line would maintain tension regardless of wind direction, and thus allow the formation to hold the load in a tightly-controlled location.  Unmanned electric aircraft would also have the possibility of highly precise throttle control, which coupled with GPS guidance and similarly precise control inputs though fuzzy logic programming would permit pin-point delivery or pick-up of payloads.

(Full story in link below)

http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=2903