[All] Update from the Philippines

[Warren Gore]

Jhony,

Thank you very much for your detailed report. Have a safe trip home, you 
and Vidal.

Warren


On 12/8/17 4:14 AM, Zavaleta, Jhony R. (ARC-SGG) wrote:
>
> Kamusta ESPO team,
>
> It has been a very productive and positive visit so far. Our trip 
> started with a two back to back days of meetings at Kadena Air Base. 
> Kadena is both, a back up base location as well as a suitcase 
> destination (Singapore and Guam are no longer options). We met with 
> Wing planning, Security Forces, the Working Reception Group, and 
> Airfield Management. Current world events are making Kadena AB a very 
> busy location, and while that might make availability of the on-base 
> lodging very difficult, the support is there for our operations, 
> should it be needed.
>
> Our visit in the Philippines is composed of two parts, Manila and 
> Subic Bay. In Manila we met with the personnel at the US embassy on 
> Friday, December 1^st . They were extremely helpful and in their very 
> diplomatic way are very concerned about the appearances regarding our 
> project (to ensure that it doesn't get seen related to DoD in any 
> way). There was also some concern about the possibility of our plane 
> being intercepted by Chinese airplanes during our flight 
> operations.(More on this below).
>
> The following Tuesday we had a lunch-meeting with folks from the US 
> embassy, the Filipino Civil Aviation authorities and Department of 
> Foreign Affairs. Also in the meeting were the representatives of the 
> local research organizations participating in the mission, namely the 
> Manila Observatory and PAGASA. Unfortunately, our WFF pilot couldn't 
> make this trip, there were lots of questions for him. Although we have 
> obtained an approval, it is not the final final final (repetition is 
> not a typo) approval. We have to provide them sets of information 
> (most related to flight plans which will not happen until the STM in 
> January). A follow up trip back to Manila is being considered for the 
> end of February. Mark Russel (CAMP2Ex PIC) is expected to attend that 
> visit.
>
> The Subic in portion has been a lot more streamlined and everyone here 
> is eager to support our operations (still working on the cost, hoping 
> to narrow it down by this coming Monday.) If the price doesn't turn 
> out to be an issue, the facilities available make operating out of 
> Subic Bay really adequate. We would have a hangar that can accommodate 
> both aircraft, and air conditioned office spaces in the same hangar. 
> Furthermore, the airport authorities have also manifested their 
> interest to ensure that our shipments can enter without snags (it 
> helps that Subic and the airport is a duty free zone.)
>
> Brian Yates (WFF) joined us for the Subic portion. Together we met 
> with pilots from the USN reserve currently deployed at Clark AB. We 
> discussed availability of support and the limitations of that support. 
> Long story short, while there is support for GSE that we might need, 
> “borrowing” an engine or prop will probably no happen. WFF is now 
> planning to ship an engine and a prop to Subic Bay, they just got a 
> P-3 for spare parts a couple of weeks ago so they can ship one to 
> Subic and one to Sao Tome.
>
> The pilots mentioned that the intercepts by the Chinese are no big 
> deal, they don't fly recklessly and will probably just go away after a 
> few minutes. Brian mentioned that they had a deployment back in 2003 
> and were also intercepted, it was a non-issue. Finally, Mark Russel, 
> our PIC is familiar with the area and the flying environment here.
>
> About driving, while drilling in the Manila metropolitan area is a 
> little “challenging”, driving in Subic bay is just like back home. It 
> also applies to the overall state of the city. Manila and Subic Bay 
> are almost like two different countries. Manila is loud, crowded, 
> dirty, and hotels have a lot of security (metal detectors, bomb 
> sniffing dogs, machine gun carrying guards, etc). Subic is quiet, 
> clean, not as polluted (you can actually see the sky).
>
> We will be wrapping up our survey this Monday and head back to Manila 
> on Tuesday. We fly to the states on Wednesday.
>
> Paalam!
>
> Jhony
>
> *JHONY R. ZAVALETA*
>
> Project Manager - NASA Earth Science Project Office
>
> MS 232-22
>
> Building N232, Room N232-242
>
> NASA Ames Research Center
>
> Moffett Field CA 94035
>
> /Office: +1 650-604-0125/
>
> /Email: //_jhony.r.zavaleta at nasa.gov <mailto:zavaleta at nasa.gov>_/
>

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