[ Desert Airman ]

Safety chute installed at Ramstein AB tower

BY KEVIN DOUGHERTY
Kaiserslautern bureau

RAMSTEIN AB, Germany - From a distance, it looks like a huge, overstretched, white sock sagging from a high-rise building. And though it could pass as an amusement park ride, the Baker Life Chute is designed to safely reunite feet with ground when there is a great distance between the two.

This week, the tubular nylon net was fastened to the top of the air traffic control tower at Ramstein AB. The $30,000 device provides controllers with another means to escape the 100-foot tower in case of a fire. Before the chute, "we had no other option but the stairs," said Capt. Rafael Quezada, chief of air traffic control operations at Ramstein.

The Air Force mandated that air traffic control towers be equipped with a secondary escape system owing a Jan. 30, 1987, fire at Minot AFB, N.D. The fire in the control tower caused no deaths or injuries. Ramstein is the sixth U.S. air base equipped with the chute and the first in Europe. In fact, the chute at Ramstein is the first outside the United States. Air traffic controllers at Ramstein tried out the chute Tuesday under the supervision of Ralph T. Baker, the inventor.

The tubular net is situated on the tower's catwalk and can be maneuvered by one person. After the chute was unfurled and dropped to the ground, it was secured to the grill of a fire truck. In an actual emergency, people on the ground would hold the ring at the end of the chute until it could be tied to a vehicle or a stationary object, Baker said. If there was nobody on the ground to stabilize the chute, the first person could still slide down safely, though the potential for injury would increase.

A person enters the chute feet first, arms raised above his head. Speed is regulated by pressing the sides of your feet into the tube. The chute is also tapered near a curve in the middle, which will slow a person down. Several people can slide down the chute at the same time.

"It's awesome, just the rush of coming down all the way like that and enjoying it," said Staff Sgt. Ken Curvin, 32, a control tower operator and watch supervisor. "It's better than a roller coaster."

"It was fun, but it's not supposed to be fun," added Senior Airman Michele Skibicki 23. Baker, who owns a trucking company in New Castle, Del., said he conceived of the idea in late 1980 after watching film footage of the MGM Grand Hotel fire on the evening news. The fire in Las Vegas killed 84 people, including some hotel occupants who jumped from the roof.

"I couldn't believe that we can go all the way to the moon and back, but we can't get people safely off of a 250-foot, 300-foot building," Baker said.

Baker's invention has been on the market for about five years. About 20 are in use at high-rise buildings and air traffic control towers. None have been used yet in an actual emergency. The chute can withstand flames of up to 480 degrees and its maximum length to 40 stories, Baker said. Although some people have suggested he sell the contraption to theme parks, Baker is not listening.