SYDNEY: An Australian aviation firm says it has obtained greater than 100 threats following an internet conspiracy concept that its pilots unleashed a flooding catastrophe by cloud seeding.
Conspiracy theorists unfold the false claims after weeks of torrential rains led to lethal east coast floods over the previous two months, engulfing houses and sweeping automobiles from the roads.
Posts shared on-line alleged aerial survey pilots from Handel Aviation induced a second deluge within the flood-ravaged New South Wales city of Lismore on March 31 by cloud seeding – dispersing a substance into the clouds to immediate rain.
“A pilot from Handel Aviation in Cessna 210N Centurion VH-JIL did a breakfast time cloud seeding run over Lismore South & Ballina today while sightseeing the massive flood below him,” one extensively shared publish reads.
The flight path of the Handel Aviation plane VH-JIL criss-crossing over flooded areas was additionally shared on-line by Australian clothier Alice McCall alongside claims it was dropping chemical compounds to “activate rain”.
Handel Aviation operator Mark Handel instructed AFP on Thursday that the corporate doesn’t seed clouds.
The flight was gathering photographs for aerial maps supplied to Australian mapping firm, NearMap, he mentioned.
“Handel Aviation operates aerial photography aircraft only. Our recent flights over flooded areas of NSW and QLD are in response to the floods,” a statement on the Handel Aviation website reads.
NearMap confirmed to AFP the photos taken by Handel Aviation were commissioned to map disaster-affected areas for insurers and emergency services.
“These aerial captures are commissioned after major weather catastrophes and natural disasters, including following the recent east coast flooding,” the NearMap spokesman mentioned.
‘Threatening stuff’
The claims circulating on-line led to greater than 100 threats being despatched to Handel Aviation, regardless of it explaining the aim of the flights on the contact web page of the corporate’s web site.
“We had really violent threatening stuff coming through. Like: ‘we have the pilots’ names, we know where you live, you’re going to pay for this’, kind of stuff,” Handel instructed AFP.
Handel mentioned he tasked his operations supervisor, Anthony Berko, with responding to every e-mail and calling individuals who supplied their cellphone numbers.
Some of these he contacted had been stunned or indignant, Berko mentioned.
But others had been distressed, telling the skilled pilot that they had misplaced all the things in the course of the floods and thought the corporate was accountable.
“They needed a shoulder to cry on and hear their story. They’ve basically lost everything and then someone has then said here’s your answer,” Berko mentioned.
Despite the net claims, cloud seeding shouldn’t be liable for any of the east coast floods, mentioned climate modification knowledgeable Simon Siems.
Siems, a professor who leads a Monash University staff finding out clouds and precipitation, mentioned the practise shouldn’t be performed within the Northern Rivers area and it can’t trigger flooding.
“Cloud seeding is not that effective, people do it only under very special circumstances,” he mentioned. – AFP
