VideoRay
Swimming Video Camera Explores B-29 Bomber in Lake Mead
Tiny Robot Investigates
54-Year Old Crash Site with National Park Service; Assesses Plane
and Prepares NPS Divers for Mission Next Spring
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Las Vegas, Nevada, November 1, 2002 -- VideoRay LLC today announced
its work with the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center
(SRC) and Lake Mead National Recreation Area on a three-day ROV
(remotely operated vehicle) reconnaissance mission to explore an
Army Air Force B-29 bomber, which crashed in Lake Mead over 54 years
ago. For this mission, the 8-pound VideoRay will gather video footage
for the National Park Service as it is flown in and around the aircraft,
which is located at a depth that is difficult for divers to access
for sustained periods of time.
The crew from VideoRay will include Charles Joseph "CJ"
Christ, who flew B-29s exclusively from 1951 to 1952, including
twenty-three combat missions over North Korea. The VideoRay crew
also includes CJ Christ's son, Bob Christ, who is an owner of VideoRay
LLC and has worked on previous National Park Service projects, including
the survey of the USS Arizona battleship sixty years after its sinking
in Pearl Harbor.
CJ Christ has been researching and comparing the various accounts
of the B-29's crash and hopes to aid the National Park Service as
they seek more definitive answers about both the condition of the
aircraft and the events of that day. The reconnaissance mission
with the VideoRay will help the National Park Service in its cultural
resource assessment and prepare the SRC team for an archeological
dive exploration of the B-29 next spring.
"The VideoRay has proven itself as an invaluable tool for
allowing the Park Service to image and access submerged resources
in specific areas," says Brett Seymour, a photographer for
the Submerged Resources Center who was part of the USS Arizona exploration.
"This initial assessment of the site using the VideoRay will
provide the visual information for the Park Service to make future
management decisions for this historic aircraft."
VideoRay ROVs are used for underwater security and surveillance,
search and rescue missions, wreck explorations, scientific research,
and inspections of dams, culverts, piers, and other submerged structures.
About the size of a boot box, the VideoRay is tethered and runs
from a small generator, a car battery, or a standard wall socket.
Its control box includes a joystick, bearing and depth readings,
control of two 20-watt halogen lights, and tilt and focus of the
high-resolution camera. The operator, located on a boat or land,
watches a TV monitor to see the location of the VideoRay. The VideoRay
can be equipped with scanning sonar, positioning systems, manipulators,
GPS, sondes, and other instrumentation.
IMAGES: Please select and download images from
the web at :
<http://www.videoray.com/Press_Room/photo_gallery.htm>
Contact National Park Service * Karla D. Norris,
Public Affairs
Officer, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, (702) 293-8947
Contact VideoRay LLC * 400 Eagleview Blvd. *
Exton, PA 19341 USA *
Phone: (610) 458-3000 * FAX: (610) 458-3010 * www.videoray.com
<http://www.videoray.com>
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Press Contact: Kayla Patenaude, Ph: (603) 428-3013,
kaylap@forwater.com
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