Hurricane Mesa

Aerial photo of part of Hurricane Mesa supersonic test track

Hurricane Mesa (37°14′25″N 113°12′41″W / 37.24028°N 113.21139°W[1]) is a Utah landform near Hurricane, Utah, used for Cold War tests of rocket ejection seats for supersonic aircraft at the Hurricane Supersonic Research Site.[2] The mesa is "flat bedrock of faultless Shinarump conglomerate" 1,500 ft (460 m) above the Virgin River valley, which allowed clearance for assessment of a longer flight trajectory up from the mesa and over the cliff for the test object (e.g., the anthropoid simulator--dummy--named "Hurricane Sam") onto [2]

Currently the facility is still used to test military ejection seats for the US and Foreign Govt's.

References

  1. ↑ "Hurricane Mesa (1428953)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Brief Histories of Three Federal Military Installations in Utah: Kearns Army Air Base, Hurricane Mesa, and Green River Test Complex" (PDF). Utah Historical Quarterly (Utah State Historical Society) 34 (2). Spring 1966. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-09-12.