Judith Frank and David Woolley, LS

core.” Just such a challenge was the op-portunity to survey a 2,500 foot Wall ofFire at the annual air show of the MarineCorps Air Station (MCAS) in Miramar, Cal-ifornia, the original home of “Top Gun.”This Wall of Fire would set a record forThe Guiness Book of World Records.

Volunteer surveyors Dave Woolley,Steve Backes, and Roger Frank, had notanticipated the level of excitement this14th day of October 2000 would bring.They had reported to the Explosive Ord-nance Department (EOD) three days be-fore the air show for orientation. On Oc-tober 14th, they set up instruments adja-cent to the flight line, working alongsideteam members from the MCAS MiramarMarine Corps Explosive Ordnance Dispos-al Team, the San Diego Bomb Squad, SanDiego Sheriff’s Bomb Squad, Navy Explo-sive Ordnance Disposal, Army ExplosiveOrdnance Disposal, and the Los AngelesBomb Squad, to name a few. All of thegroups involved volunteered their time,and all materials had also been donated.Our role was to survey and certify thelength of a Wall of Fire that would be det-onated from bombs and gasoline contain-ers during the grand finale of the show.

Prior to the grand finale pyrotechnicevent at twilight, the air show was in fullswing with the world famous Blue Angels,the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth fighter-bomber, the B-1B Lancer bomber, MiG-17’s, P-51 Mustangs, an AV-8B Harrier, anF-14 Tomcat, and other aircraft that slicedand punched their way through the sky.The air show on this day in October 2000was dedicated to the 50th Anniversary ofthe Korean War and “The Forgotten War-riors,” veterans of the Korean War. Ap-proximately one million spectators filledthe stands and milled about on the field tosalute the accomplishments of both menand machines. Not a bad arena for setups.

Surveying A

JFA’s Party Chief Steve Backes (greenvest) and Dave Woolley (orange vest) setup next to one of the drums. Note deto-nating cord and bags of gasoline.

GGive me the ones with fire intheir bellies and a steel-blueglint in their eyes. Stand them

next to spine-rattling jet engines, py-rotechnics, and gut-rumbling bombs thatexplode with a blast of heat that couldseemingly melt nails. Ask them to donatetheir time, put them in an orange vest,and watch them smile from ear to ear.These are the hardcore surveyors. Theylove this profession! They’d survey theboundary of Hades just for the hell of it!We at Johnson-Frank & Associates (JFA)have been very fortunate to have done avariety of survey projects that are cuttingedge, over the top, and far from mun-dane. We appreciate the conventionalsurvey that challenges our abilities to fitall of the pieces of the puzzle together,but there are times when we really relishthe assignments that call for “the hard-

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Miramar’s HistoryMCAS Miramar once was part of a

huge ranchero owned by Don SantiagoAnguello, Mexican Army Commandanteof San Diego’s presidio. In 1890, EdwardScripps arrived from the East Coast andestablished a ranch on 2,000 acresin the Miramar area. He is creditedwith naming the mesa Miramar,meaning “a view of the sea” inSpanish. Ownership of Miramar lat-er went to the Jessop family andthe area became a settlement ofcowboys and ranchers. In 1917 theArmy bought the Miramar area andestablished Camp Kearny. Fewpermanent structures existed inCamp Kearny when more than65,000 men passed through thecamp to mobilize for World

War I. After WWI the camp was a demo-bilization center and by 1920 it no longerserved as a military base. The base cameback to life in 1932 when the Navybrought in the U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S.Macon, the largest aircraft of the times. A

mooring mast was built for these dirigi-bles, but once the Akron and Maconcrashed at sea the camp was idle onceagain.

Activity picked up again with theonset of World War II, and runways

Surveying A

Just such a challenge was the opportunity to sur-

vey a 2,500 foot Wall of Fire at the annual air

show of the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in

Miramar, California, the original home of “Top

Gun.” This Wall of Fire would set a record for The

Guiness Book of World Records.

Marines fill bags with gasoline as survey-ors look on.

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were constructed in 1940. DuringWorld War II both the Navy and theMarine Corps used the base. In 1947the Marine Corps moved to the El Torobase in southern California and Mira-mar was re-designated as a Naval Aux-iliary Air Station. Although Miramarprepared and supported carrier groupsand squadrons during World War II andthe Korean War, it was during the Viet-nam War that Miramar rose to fame forits program in training air combat ma-neuvers and fleet air defense. “TopGun” and “Fightertown, USA” becameits new aliases. In 1993, a Base Re-alignment and Closure committee deci-sion recommended that Miramar be re-designated as a Marine Corps Air Sta-tion. Although all of the Navy’s F-14Tomcats and E-2 Hawkeye squadronswere relocated to Fallon, Nevada, Mira-mar still houses F/A-18 and KC-130Hercules squadrons, as well as CH-46ESea Knight and CH-53E Super Stallionhelicopters.

JFA has a long history of workingwith the Southwest Division of theNaval Facilities Engineering Command,and subsequently the United States Ma-rine Corps personnel stationed at MCASMiramar. Back in 1993 we provided re-

search, aerial control, and ground utili-ty location for GIS mapping for the de-veloped part of the base from Interstate15 to the western boundary. In 1995 wedid GPS aerial control and topo for theold Camp Elliott portion of the base.Our most recent project involved sur-veying the boundary of the 23,500-acrebase as well as reviewing, plotting,scanning, and indexing every recordedland document within the base bound-ary. Our field crews searched for morethan 800 points and found more thanhalf. We set more than 250 boundarycorners and did boundary calculationson 2,500 points. We searched for mapsand deeds back to the 1850’s andscanned more than 10,000 documents,including more than 500 maps. The ti-tle report items alone numbered morethan 550. You could say we have a“working knowledge” of the area.

Precise Survey RequiredOur familiarity with the runways at

MCAS Miramar is also tied into anothersurvey project that JFA performed inMarch of 1999 and November 2000.When visibility is less than three miles,pilots must rely on Instrument FlightRules (IFR) rather than on Visual Flight

Rules (VFR). When flying IFR, they alsorely on Instrument Landing Systems(ILS). It is critical that accuracy bemaintained when aircraft are flying IFR,The base personnel had recently in-stalled a new ILS that would not pass aflight check test. Apparently there wasa digital anomaly in the flight graphicswhen a plane was on approach to theILS. It was suspected that a reflec-tion/refraction from the ground was theculprit. We were charged with provid-ing a very precise survey of the area.Precise in this case called for 1⁄4 footcontours, vertical profiles, digital pho-tographs, and dimensions of all surfacefeatures.

Working 350 feet from the centerlineof the runways proved to be a very ex-citing aspect of the job. Throughout theday we had F16s doing “touch andgoes” right next to us. Even at a dis-tance of 350 feet, these planes rattledus to the bone. The decibels from thejet engines can literally blur your vi-sion. Some planes would pass through,some would land, and others wouldonly touch down on a couple of hun-dred feet of runway, then pull up andloop around for another pass.

Gaining access to a base can be dif-ficult, but access to a runway is nearlyimpossible. The survey work turnedout to be the easier part. We were re-quired to have an escort at all timesand our escort was in constant contactwith the tower. We were not permittedto wear caps or any clothing that couldbecome separated from our bodies. Wehad to request permission to cross arunway or to be within a given perime-ter of the apron. Before being allowedto cross a runway, we first had to walkaround our vehicle, dislodge any rocksfrom the tires, and do a complete visu-al inspection of the vehicle. Debris ona runway can be fatal to a flight ifsucked up into an engine. There areother rules and regulations, but the pic-ture should be clear. I didn’t questionthe standards; I sure didn’t want to tryto explain that a 1986 Chevy pickupwas responsible for the demise of amulti-million dollar jet engine.

To prepare for the air show eventwe set out our 2,500-foot line as well as

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Each specially-equipped bag was filled with five gallons of gasoline and sealed.

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250' intermediate stations. The workwas completed using a Geodimeter 500series instrument. As experts in meas-urement, we applied all atmosphericcorrections, checkedour tribrachs, andmeasured the linemultiple times fromeach end. The day ofthe show we repeatedthe procedure for theofficial Guinness wit-nesses. Marine Corpspersonnel poured fivegallons (23 liters) ofunleaded gasoline in-to 334 bags stretchedout in a 2,500-footstring. A detonationcord that coiled like acobra beneath eachsack connected thebags. The gasolinebags were spaced 10feet apart and thecord would burn at asizzling speed of25,000 feet per sec-ond. Ten drums were

placed at 250 feet apart with explosivesin and around them. The explosiveswere set and we measured the layout.

Our final certification letter stated the

length of the line as well as the posi-tional tolerance of each point and rela-tive error in the line. After all of this“precise” work, the Marines added an-other 30-40 linear feet of gasoline to thelines. There was little question that theline was 2,500 feet long. It was a verycomplex but well-coordinated mission. Iknow that I will not work with a finergroup of professionals than MasterSergeant Anderson and the others onthe line with us during the project.

Bring on the Fire!Once the math was done, we sat

back to watch the show. Planesscreamed through the darkening skyand the fire was detonated. Initially itwas a small bonfire but in a matter ofseconds it erupted into an unbelievablewall of flames and heat. Flames rose200-300 feet, dwarfing military vehiclesand other structures in view. Thecrowd’s hush became a roar and thebomb squad technicians joined in withshouts of resounding approval. Theheat could be felt from a distance of1,000 feet and more. In a matter of sec-onds it was over but the experience iswith us forever. We had been partnersin a feat that had never been accom-

Bags were aligned and spaced ten feet apart.

Backes and Woolley stand by as a witnessfor Guinness (wearing black shirt) offi-cially records information.

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plished before. Expectations were metand the record is published on page143 in the 2002 hardcover edition ofThe Guinness Book of World Records.We were proud to be a part of the teamto set a world record. We also felt pride

nothing like a chance to blaze a path toa new adventure and carve a new grinacross a weathered face.

Authors’ note: This article was writtenprior to the September 11th attack onAmerica. We are so proud to haveworked with these brave young men andwomen who are serving our country. Weknow first hand that they accept a chal-lenge and will do all that is necessary tosucceed. We extend our heartfelt sympa-thy to the families and friends of thebrave men and women from the VMGR-352 “Raiders” Transport Squadron 352who lost their lives on January 9, 2002,in Pakistan and the fallen heroes of the“Flying Tigers” HMH-361 who perishedJanuary 20, 2002 in Afghanistan in sup-port of Operation Enduring Freedom.Semper Fi.

JUDY FRANK is the Administrative Coordi-nator, and DAVID WOOLLEY is the VicePresident of Johnson-Frank & Associates(JFA), located in Anaheim, California.Judy’s husband, ROGER FRANK, is JFA’s co-founder, current owner, and president.Roger has written three previous articlesfor Professional Surveyor.

and satisfaction with the integral rolewe played as surveyors to remind usthat this profession is not always con-fined to stay within the nine dots. Sur-veying may be mundane to some, butto the “hardcore surveyor” there is

Red and white ILS tower is visible in backgroundas explosive experts fill the gasoline bags.

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