‘Chaff’ From Navy Plane Blamed in 2nd Power Problem

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. officials investigating a rash of flickering lights Tuesday afternoon in the downtown and Mission Valley areas found themselves at odds with the U.S. Navy’s radar jamming procedures for the second time in as many weeks.

Company crews tracing the cause of the flickering lights discovered Navy anti-radar flakes hanging “like moss” on SDG&E; transmission lines at a power substation north of Miramar Naval Air Station.

Navy officials conceded Tuesday night that one of their airplanes accidentally dropped “several” packages of the nontoxic, metal-like flakes, called “chaff,” on the SDG&E; facility shortly after taking off from Miramar.

The plane, a KC-135 aerial tanker, was heading toward an exercise in the Pacific involving the aircraft carrier Constellation when it suffered a mechanical malfunction about 1:30 p.m. that caused the chaff packages to be released, according to a Navy spokesman.

The spokesman, Senior Chief Petty Officer Fred Larsen, said he didn’t know how many packages of chaff were involved, or how large they were. Chaff is routinely dispensed during naval exercises. It is designed to baffle enemy radar-guided missiles.

“At this point, we don’t know what exactly caused the chaff to be released from the KC-135, but the plane was over Navy property about a half mile from the substation when it happened,” Larsen said. “All I can say is that we’re investigating.”

Larsen said the Navy also is continuing its investigation of Thursday’s chaff-related incident, in which Navy aircraft conducting anti-radar exercises offshore dispensed a massive cloud of the substance. The cloud unexpectedly drifted over the San Diego area and, according to SDG&E;, ionized power equipment, knocking out electricity to 65,000 customers. The outage cost the power company an estimated $20,000 to $50,000 in labor and damaged equipment.

Although Navy officials admitted that their planes dispensed the chaff cloud last week, they have not accepted responsibility for the power outages, pending the outcome of their investigation.

Tuesday’s electrical power problem began within moments after the Navy plane dropped its load of chaff.

SDG&E; almost immediately began receiving reports of faintly flickering lights in the Mission Valley and downtown areas of San Diego, said Elizabeth Abbott, an SDG&E; spokeswoman. Company trouble-shooters narrowed the possible source of the problem to SDG&E;’s Serra Mesa sub station, at Miramar Road and Camino Ruiz, about 1 1/2 miles north of the Miramar air station.

When crews arrived, they discovered long strands of chaff “lying all over” the substation’s 230-kilovolt lines, Abbott said.

“It was hanging on the wires and the equipment like moss on a tree,” she said. “It took quite awhile to clean it all off.”

Substance Analyzed

It was about the same time that electrical service was temporarily disrupted to 916 customers in the Serra Mesa area. However, Abbott said, that outage was not believed to be related to the chaff situation at the Serra Mesa substation.

SDG&E; engineers Tuesday were analyzing samples of the substance they suspect is chaff that was recovered last weekend and Monday from the windows of homes in La Jolla and Pacific Beach.

Initial comparisons have shown that although the substance shares some of the chaff’s properties, the substance is not the same anti-radar material the Navy dropped Thursday, Abbott said.

“We don’t really know what the Navy has used in the past,” she said. “We know they use different types, and we’re still conducting analysis.”