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PEM Tropics-B DC-8 Status Updates
DC-8
Photo Gallery
(For slow connections, click
here)
Updates:
5/20/99,
4/13/99,
4/7/99,
3/29/99,
3/24/99,
3/22/99,
3/17/99,
3/5/99,
3/1/99,
2/25/99,
2/20/99,
2/12/99,
2/6/99,
1/29/99,
1/22/99
Status
| 1/22/99- The DC-8 team
worked steadily through the week to install all windows, inlets and
exhaust/inlet plumbing in the empty plane. A few inlets/probes remain to
be installed. All PI teams have been on site this week readying their
racks for inspection and uploading. The work schedule for the week was
7am to 7pm. Most of the racks were uploaded Friday pm. Racks remaining
to be uploaded are Brune, Sandholm (optic bench remains; 2 racks are
aboard), Shetter and Browell (LASE and DIAL). The weekend work schedule
planned is 7am to 3:30pm. Weekend work will include more uploads, rack
tie-downs and rack preparations. Daily meetings attended by all hands
have been productive and essential to focusing on what's needed next.
Chris Miller reports that integration is essentially on schedule and
that, while plenty of work remains, there currently are no significant
problems. |
1/29/99- All DC-8
integration activities continue to be on, or slightly ahead of,
schedule. The last major rack equipment upload (Brune's lasers--one of
his racks is already aboard) is planned for tomorrow, 1/30. The majority
of the seats are onboard. Final equipment positioning in the rear of the
port side remains to be completed. The wing tip pods are installed and
are ready for instrument checkout. Laser chillers will upload later
today or tomorrow. Laser curtains will be installed this weekend or
Monday. The weekend workplan will be 7:00am to 3:30pm on Saturday, only.
The workplan has been 7:00am to 7:00pm during this week. Several of the
racks are powered and are being operationally checked. DADS is wired and
distributing data to the racks.
It is planned that LASE and DIAL will first be energized 2/1, after the
installation of the chillers and curtains. The Technical Briefing is
scheduled for 2/4. Rollout is now planned to move up to 2/5-6 and
powerup on the ramp will be 2/8. The balance of the week of 2/7 will be
devoted to an Engineering Check Flight, two Pilot Proficiency Flights
and an FAA flight, all of which will not involve the PIs. Pre-mission
Test Flight # 1 continues on schedule for 2/19. PI preferences for test
conditions during the Test Flights have been gathered and are being
organized into nominal flight profiles for further discussions with the
PIs.
Chris Miller, Mission Manager, indicates that no significant
integration problems are now apparent and an on-schedule deployment of
3/3 should be achieved. |
2/6/99-As a result of the
change in the P-3B's deployment schedule, Doug Davis and Daniel Jacob
have reviewed a proposed slip in the DC-8 deployment schedule that will
maximize the opportunities for coordinated flights between the two
aircraft during the Hilo/Christmas Island portion. Both have noted that
the coordinated flights would significantly improve the science obtained
from this portion of the mission, while having relatively little impact
on the remainder of the mission. Accordingly we are implementing a
revised DC-8 schedule which
slips the departure of the DC-8 from Dryden by three days, and it's
arrival in Fiji by one day. The revised deployment schedule will be
posted on the PEM Tropics-B
home page late today.
Two "Down Days" have been added to the revised
deployment schedule for the DC-8.
These are the result of new mission deployment guidelines that were
recently released by Dryden. These new guidelines provide increased
flexibility for field deployment, but do require that there be a down
day for every 10 consecutive deployment days. I have aurgued that the
new guidelines were put in place after our deployment schedule was
established and therefore we should get some consideration in enforcing
the down day policy. Accordingly, two of the down days are listed as "tentative".
We should plan that these dates will be down days but the final decision
will be made in the field and will be based upon the intensity of the
work the previous 10 days.
DC-8 payload integration activities are continuing with attention to
final details. All racks and seats are aboard, as are all plumbing,
inlets/probes, laser curtains and supporting hardware. Most
instrumentation is powered up and being evaluated for performance. There
are no obvious problems now which would delay the beginning of the
series of test flights or deployment to the Pacific. Power up and
rollout are now planned for February 8. Rollout was moved from Febrary
5-6 to permit finishing a number of sheet metal jobs over the weekend
before rollout. There have been more sheet metal jobs than for a usual
mission. The work plan during the week has been from 7:00am to 7:00pm
and will be 7:00am to 3:30pm both days this weekend.
The Engineering Check Flight is planned for Febrary 9, followed by two
pilot proficiency flights. There is currently some uncertainty about the
date of the FAA flight planned for the same week. Laser (LASE and DIAL)
alignments will begin February 16 and the first Experimenter Test Flight
is planned for February 19. A preliminary flight profile, based on PI
inputs, for this first test flight has been distributed to the PIs for
comment and finalization.
Departure of the DC-8 from Dryden has been delayed from March 3 to
March 6 in order to synchronize Hilo/Christmas flights between the DC-8
and the current P-3B schedule. The DC-8 will stay 2 days less at Hilo
and one day less at Fiji in order to arrive at Tahiti on schedule and on
the same day as the P-3B. A close examination of the DC-8 Costa Rica
schedule has been made with the result that the DC-8 will leave Costa
Rica a day earlier than previously scheduled, and arrive back at Dryden
on April 18. There will be an initial airlift of cargo from
Wallops/Dryden to Hilo and Christmas. A second airlift will take cargo
from Hilo to Tahiti. A third airlift will take cargo from Tahiti back
home. A flight track has also been devised to skirt Mexican airspace so
that science data can be taken on the Costa Rica/Dryden return leg.
|
2/12/99- The DC-8 has
moved into the flight phase with the completion of the Engineering Check
Flight on February 9 and two Pilot Proficiency Flights on February 11.
The FAA flight test has been moved to February 18, if it is to be done
before deployment. Instrument power up on the ramp, roll out and
pressurization was completed on February 8. There were a few issues from
the ECF which were taken care of on February 10.
LASE experienced some 400hz. power anomalies at the powerup on February
8 and a repeat test was performed the afternoon of February 11. Sandholm
was moved to the other side of the 400hz. circuit. While testing on the
ground power cart, DIAL and LASE had no anomalies and the power level in
each phase was 204v. When aircraft power was used, the power available
in each phase of the 400 hz. circuit was at the lowest acceptable value,
195v. The reason for this difference is not obvious. LASE has indicated
that the 195v. level is acceptable, however Richard Ferrare will review
the test results when he arrives on February 14. This is currently the
only situation which could require additional time.
LASE and Brune have the most work remaining to be completed. Work is
planned for them on February 13, 14 and 15. LASE will begin alignment
testing a day early on February 15. Currently, there appears to be no
risk to having the first test flight as planned on February 19. The PIs'
comments on the preliminary flight profile have been resolved and the
flight profile for the First Experimenter's Flight Test is final. |
2/20/99- The First
Experimenters' Test flight was successfully completed on February 19.
The flight was of 4 hours duration and consisted primarily of 3
straight/level legs--49 minutes at 22000ft, 57 minutes at 2500ft and 70
minutes at 39000ft. A rawinsonde was released to coincide with the end
of the 39kft leg (Mahoney). The end of the 39kft leg was devoted to
speed increases in equal increments from 450 to 480 kts TAS (Talbot).
Ramps up and down to altitude were completed at rapidly as permitted by
aircraft operations in order to maximize the time during straight/level
flight at the chosen altitudes. No particular effort was made to assess
the effects of ascent and descent rate on instrument performance.
The majority of the PIs provided a positive assessment for their
instrument's performance during an intercom debrief during the last few
minutes of the flight. The descriptions ranged from great, to very well,
to good flight. One PI noted minor leaks which would need to be
resolved. Another PI noted that he had no flow above 25kft.
There were several anomalies noted in aircraft systems performance, but
which were, in most cases, resolved quickly and with little instrument
impact during the flight. One PI required extra time to restart his
instrument when the time involved in switching from ground power to
plane power exceeded the capacity of his UPS. Several PIs lost power
when one of the 400hz circuits tripped the breaker. This occurred 3
times in the space of about 25 minutes during the 2500 ft leg with the
trip coming at about 42 ampers each time. Sandholm was moved partially
to another 400hz circuit and the problem did not repeat. The other
instruments affected operated as expected during the remainder of the
flight.
Other minor anomalies noted were: (1) couldn't hear pilot's UHF
transmissions at Mission Manager's station, (2) DADS computer went
out--an alternate computer was used for normal data display during the
remainder of the flight, (3) nadir 9 shutter wouldn't respond to Mission
Manager commands to open--was not required since LASE was not aboard,
(4) the forward cloud camera was intermittant, (5) the radar altimeter
was inoperable intermittantly and (6) there was no DADS readout for
pitch and roll. There was one instance of a laser operator (behind the
curtain) being jostled by a passenger moving along the aisle and causing
a burn to a wire--indicating more care is required by passengers when
passing the laser curtains. Some shrouds around the DIAL beams were not
brought aboard and the curtains had to be used--indicating that the
shrouds need to be added to a preflight checklist. Temperatures in the
pits never got above about 97deg F. The absence of the LASE heat load
prevented a more definitive assessment of the cooling capacity. There
are no aircraft issues which would impact the date of the next test
flight--February 24.
LASE did not participate in the first Test Flight because of major
problems with instrument performance. The cause of the problems now
seems to be associated with damaged optic elements which may have
occurred during the instrument powerup on February 8 or the special
power retest on February 11. The instrument seemed to be marginally
functional after these powerup tests, but subsequently had no power
output. Replacement of a few elements has gotten the power output back
up to about 50% of expected. The availability of some optic elements is
uncertain, as is the final instrument performance which may be achieved.
This condition affects water measurement.
The FAA test flight will not be conducted before deployment. |
2/25/99- The second
Experimenter Test Flight has been successfully completed. This was a
four-hour flight for the continuing purpose of verifying the science
measurement capability of the instruments. All instruments were aboard
and functioning, although LASE operated only in the nadir mode. The
flight departed EAFB at 11:07 local and proceeded to 22kft at the
beginning of the cleared area just beyond Santa Catalina Island. This
leg was of 60 minutes duration. Descent was down to 500 ft at 1500 fpm
for a duration of 30 minutes. Then, there was a 1500 fpm ramp ascent to
39kft for a 40 minute duration. Clearance for laser operation over land
was not available. A rawinsonde was released to provide arrival at 39kft
when the plane arrived over the site. There was a short pause at 22kft
on descent to permit time for flow angularity checks over the inlets,
probes and venturis.
All experimenters considered Test Flight # 2 to have been a good
flight. There were no 400 hz problems. Most other discrepancies noted in
Test Flight # 1 did not reappear. There was about a 10 deg F rise in pit
temperature at about the end of the 500ft leg. DIAL found it necessary
to cease operations for a bit due to temperature increases. The plane
SATCOM system did not operate as desired. One PI noted a few leaks to
fix and some engine vibration to eliminate. All PIs expressed readiness
for Test Flight # 3 on March 1.
LASE saw a decrease in output power of about 30-percent shortly after
take-off. The reason is thought to be understood. LASE and DIAL will
operate outside the hangar February 26 and 27 to finalize alignments for
Test Flight # 3 on March 1. LASE seems to be on-track to resolving its
optic element replacement challenge. Nadir and zenith operation is
expected for Test Flight # 3.
Test Flight # 3 will concentrate on spirals at 1500fpm, flight at 500
ft, 22kft, 25kft, 28kft, 31kft, and 39kft. A short time will be devoted
to additional flow angularity maneuvers during return to EAFB.
February 28 will be a down day to permit all to prepare for deployment
to Hilo on March 6.
The Operational Readiness Review was presented by Chris Miller on
February 25 and there were no issues raised by the review group. |
3/1/99- --Lv EAFB, over LAX
to W-291; ramp up to 22kft --45 min at 22kft at 440kts TAS --Spiral down
to 5kft at 1500fpm then spiral down to 500ft at 750fpm --45 min at 500ft
at 280kts TAS; cloud tops at 1700ft; bottoms at 1100 ft; toward end were
flying in clouds/fog --Spiral up tp 25kft at 1500fpm --30 min at 25kft
at 460kts TAS --Spiral up to 28kft at 1500fpm --30 min at 28kft at
460kts TAS --Spiral up to 31kft at 1500fpm --speed variations to gage
fuel consumption --25 min at 31kft at 460kts TAS --Spiral up to 39kft at
1500fpm --25 min at 39kft at 460kts TAS --Spiral down to 22kft at
1500fpm --2 cycles of zigzag and porpoise at 22kft --Rawinsonde timed to
be at altitude --TCAS maneuvers and landing.
Results: -Could not get permission to operate lidars over EAFB, so did
not perform requested along wind and across wind legs at 39kft and
spiral down over sonde site -had anomalous cabin pressure variations
associated with spiral down to 500ft -canceled request for 2 cycles of
cabin pressure variation(2k step) at 25kft -clouds were scattered/broken
at 18, 22, 25kft -lidars permitted to operate as low over water as
desired so long as lidar detuned to be eye safe below 1000ft -Mahoney
had power problems during taxi -Tropopause at 37kft -LASE operated in
nadir only -3-stage H2O not working -DIAL had heating problems; had to
shut down some -some heating problems thought to be due to not having
cooling on ramp and never really cooling down in flight in pit ; outside
air at 56 deg F at 500 ft -DIAL had lack of airflow to one part of pit
chiller; diffuser not doing job; need fans around chiller -Singh had
computer failure for first hour -Talbot was on verge of overheating for
a time at low altitude -Sachse lost line loc on laser when cabin
pressure went up to 930mb -SATCOM still not operational. |
3/5/99- Early on February
25 there was a power crash on the plane. A cable inside the plane
feeding ground power to the inverters fried. This was reportly due to a
loose nut plate. The whole day was essentially lost for on-board
operations.
At the 1:15pm meeting on February 25, it was decided that the planned
March 1 test flight should be moved to March 2 to accomodate LASE
problems, problems of another instrument and to make up for time lost on
February 25.
LASE continued to have power output problems and needed more time to
get the instrument healthy enough for a final test flight. On March 2,
continuing LASE problems caused another Test Flight # 3 delay to March
3.
Test Flight # 3 was completed on March 3 with 6 hours devoted to flight
at various altitudes and spirals at various rates to change altitudes.
Heating problems caused some interruptions in DIAL operations and
threatened to shut down the U NH Talbot instrument. Permission could not
be obtained to operate the lidars over land. There were some anomalous
cabin pressure variations which affected some instrument operations and
caused some personal physical discomfort. LASE seemed to have good
operations, but operated in nadir only.
Significant effort was devoted to improving cooling for DIAL, LASE, GIT
and U NH on March 4-5.
Blue boxes were packed March 4 and loaded March 5. The C-141 cargo was
prepared March 4 and was partially loaded March 5 for departure to Hilo
March 6. It was determined that the DC-8 was over zero fuel weight by
about 2000lbs, without considering personal bags and food and water.
Bags will be put on the C-141 early March 6. In Hilo, bags will be put
back aboard the DC-8 and some cargo (not yet designated) will be removed
to the cargo plane bound to Tahiti.
The DFRC to Hilo flight plan was finalized. The Science team had
meetings on March 4 and March 5 to consider the flight plan and to
review weather conditions enroute.
The IRIDIUM phones seem to operate well for outgoing calls but as yet
are unable to receive incomming calls.
Dan Goldin was escorted through the plane late March 5.
Departure to Hilo will be at 1100am PST on March 6, and arrival is
expected at 4:00pm Hilo time. |
3/17/99- The transit
flight to Hilo was uneventful. The overall objective was "Northern
Tropical Chemistry". Specific objectives were: (1)California
outflow to the Pacific, (2)Northern tropical airmass characterization,
(3)northern tropical photochemistry and (4)stratus photochemistry. Al l
instruments performed well and the science objectives were met. Take-off
time was 1900 and landing time in Hilo was 0200 GMT. The C-141 cargo
plane departed Edwards before the DC-8 and was unloaded in Hilo before
the DC-8 arrival.
The DC-8 overweight condition was alleviated by placing additional
items (personal bags) and a few blue boxes on the C-141 cargo plane. In
order to take the personal bags to Fiji on the DC-8, less essential
cargo (PI and aircraft equipment) would be sent by cargo plane direct to
Tahiti.
The first local flight from Hilo was on March 9 and was a "Sunrise"
flight southeast from Hilo. Specific objectives were: (1)sunrise
photochemistry, (2)boundary layer chemistry and (3)stratus
photochemistry. All scientific objectives wre met. The status of the GIT
NO and NO2 measurements is unclear. The JPL MTP also exhibited
measurement problems, which were thought to be due to overheating.
The P-3B arrived at Hilo on March 11 about 4pm. and departed on March
13 for Christmas Island at about 9am. The supporting DC-8 cargo plane
arrived after the P-3B and departed for Christmas after the P-3B.
The second local flight from Hilo was on March 13 and had an overall
objective of "Equitorial Chemistry". Specific objectives were:
(1)transition between nothern ans southern hemisphere air masses at high
altitude, (2) convective outflow, (3)P-3B support, (4)equitorial
photochemistry and(5)stalactite. All instruments worked well except MTP
and the science objectives were met except stalactite "insitu".
The third local flight from Hilo was on March 15 and was a coordinated "sunset"
flight with the P-3B over Christmas Island. Specific objectives were:
(1)support of P-3B sunset experiment, (2)sunset photochemistry
experiment and (3)northern/southern hemisphere airmass characterization.
All objectives were met including detailed sampling of stalactite. MTP
was not aboard and all other instruments functioned well.
The DC-8 crew is packing on March 16 in preparation for daparture to
Fiji on March 17 at 9am.
David Smith of The Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Hilo's local newspaper,
interviewed Daniel Jacob and Henry Fuelberg at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel
on March 16 and published a comprehensive article on March 17. |
3/22/99- DC-8 expedition
activities continue to go well.
The 10-hour transit to Fiji from Hilo occurred on March 17 with takeoff
at Hilo at 10:26am. Landing at Fiji was at 6:34pm. The Mahoney MTP
instrument was not aboard. The overall objective was "Equitorial
Photochemistry". Specific objectives were: (1)characterize
transition between air masses across the equator, (2)study the evolution
of boundary layer composition along the northern-southern transect and
(3)sample convective outflow at the ITCZ. All scintific objectives were
achieved. All on-board instruments were operating. The consensus of the
PIs was that the flight was excellent.
The transit DC-8 weight was 200 lbs. below the limit before the Mahoney
blue box was removed from the cargo plane and placed on the DC-8, since
Mahoney had informed that he would meet the plane at Fiji with his
repaired instrument. There were numerous incidents of overheating in the
aft cargo pit. DIAL routinely turned-off when the plane was below 10K
ft. Nine hours into the flight , the aft cargo pit was rising to 125 deg
F by the end of the boundary layer leg and cooling to 115 deg F as a
result of a high level leg.
Close-out of supporting activities at Hilo went well due to the efforts
of Erika Harper.
Fiji Local Flight # 1 was an 8 hour flight on March 21. The general
objective was "SPCZ". The specific objective was: to sample
convective outflow and characterize the transition between air masses
associated with the SPCZ. All scientific objectives were achieved and
all instruments were working except the cryo H2O. |
3/24/99- The second Fiji
local flight was successfully completed on March 23. The flight was 10
hours duration and extended to the WNW from Fiji to New Guinea.
The overall objective was "Ozone Trough". The specific
objective was to sample a region of expected very low ozone in the warm
pool of the equitorial western Pacific ocean.
All scientific objectives were met and all instruments were
operational. It was found that ozone levels in the warm pool region were
no lower than over the central equitorial Pacific. Considerable
convective inflow/outflow was sampled.
Media visits with the Fiji TV and Fiji Times were conducted in the
Tanoa International Hotel Conference Center. Drs. Jacobs and Fuelberg
were interviewed. Fiji TV will visit the plane for filming on March 25
prior to departure on Local Flight # 3.
Professor Kanayathu Koshy, a fellow faculty member and 16 students from
the chemistry and meteorology departments of The University of the South
Pacific at Souva visited on March 24. The group was briefed by Dan Jacob
and Henry Fuelberg on results from flights to date and planned flights
during the remainder of the expedition. Results from the ozonesonde
launches at Fiji were also discussed. A tour of the plane was provided.
|
3/29/99- Fiji Local Flight
# 3 was successfully completed on March 25 and was an 8-hour flight. The
objective was to determine photochemical aging of air along an
equitorial transect. All instruments were working, except that GIT did
not obtain measurments during all the flight, and all scientific
objectives were met. There was an aircraft converter failure which
affected about 20 minutes of the measurements, notably PSU.
On March 26 Daniel Jacob was interviewed by Ashok Lakman, reporter for
AFP based in Suva. The interview will be reported as an AFP news story
and may be picked up by newspapers in eastern Asia and Oceania.
The transit from Fiji to Tahiti was successfully completed on March 27
(Tahiti arrival on March 26 at 7:27pm) and was an 8-hour flight. All
instruments operated and all scientific objectives were met. The cryo
dewpoint and CO and CH4 measurements were not available for a part of
the mission. The flight track was SE from Fiji with a turn toward the NE
to 3 deg S of the equator with a final turn to the SE into Tahiti. There
was one period near the equator of lightning storms and elevated levels
of most measurements. Most of the flight was designed to alternately fly
at high levels to cool the plane followed by short legs in the marine
boundary layer.
The C-141 cargo plane from Hilo to Tahiti successfully landed on March
26 and all cargo was delivered as expected. |
4/7/99- Tahiti Local # 1-"Southern
Latitudes"-was successfully completed on March 30 and was an eight
hour flight. The flight track was SE from Tahiti and takeoff was at
0900. Specific objectives were: characterize the transition between
tropical and southern mid-latitude air across a frontal zone and expand
latitudinal coverage of expedition. Stratospheric intrusion was sampled
at 36 deg south, all instruments were working and all scientific
objectives were accomplished.
Tahiti Local # 2-"Sunrise"-was successfully completed on
April 2 and was an 8 hour flight. The flight track was NW from Tahiti
and takeoff was at 0430. The primary objective was to measure the
evolution of HOx/NOx chemistry across sunrise. The secondary objectives
were:(1)study marine boundary layer structure and chemistry and
(2)conduct spiral over Tahiti coordinated with an ozonesonde launch. All
instruments were working and all scientific objectives were
accomplished.
Tahiti Local # 3-"Sunset"-was successfully completed on April
4 and was an 8-hour flight. The flight track was a triangular pattern
south and east of Tahiti and takeoff was at 1300. The objective was to
measure the evolution of HOx/NOx chemistry across and after sunset over
a range of altitudes (1 to 33kft). All instruments were working and all
scientific objectives were accomplished. |
4/13/99- A Press
Conference was held on April 6 at Meteo France. Jacky Pilon, Meteo
France director presided at the press conference. A panel of presenters
consisting of Joe McNeal, Doug Davis and Daniel Jacob presented mission
summaries. Joe McNeal presented in Enlish and Daniel Jacob presented in
French. There were also representatives in attendance from the
Government. There were about 40 representatives from the TV, radio and
print media. The media visited on-board both the DC-8 and the P-3B
airplanes. There was a radio interview with Daniel Jacob on April 6
which was broadcast on Radio-France-Outremer (RFO). There was a TV
interview with Daniel Jacob for RFO on April 9 which was broadcast live
on the noon journal. There were major articles in the two newspapers on
April 7.
Tahiti Local Flight # 4 "ITCZ" was successfully completed on
April 7. Specific objectives for the 8-hour flight were: (1)
characterize NH/SH contrast across the ITCZ, (2) measure convective
inflow/outflow at the ITCZ, and (3) support P-3B sulfur pool flight. All
instruments were working and all scientific objectives were met.
Tahiti Local Flight # 5 "Frontal Crossing" was successfully
completed on April 10. Specific objectives for the 8-hour flight were:
(1) characterize tropical/mid latitude contrast across a major front SW
of Tahiti, (2) sample convective inflow/outflow in this front, and (3)
sample stratospheric intrusion on southside of front. All instruments
were working and all objectives were met. |
5/20/99- The transit from Tahiti to Easter was
successfully completed on April 13 and was an 8.2 hour flight. The
flight objectives were: (1) equitorial survey, (2) photochemical aging
in the boundary layer, (3) tropical convective outflow and (4) tropical
air mass transition in the midlatitudes. Post-takeoff resrrictions on
landing at Easter forced a constant 31K altitude for fuel conservation
for the second half of the flight. For a period, there was serious
concern as to whether, even with fuel conservation, there would be
enough fuel to proceed beyond the half-way point. The earliest projected
landing was to be about 2 hours after the planned landing. This
resrtriction prevented achievement of objective (2) and somewhat
compromised objectives (1) and (4). Objective (3) was met. Flying at 31k
for the second half of the flight permitted a successful HOx experiment,
extending to 3 hours after sunset. The GIT instrument had some
operational problems. All other instruments were working. Due to
continuing changes in landing restrictions, the landing was finally made
45 minutes earlier than the originally planned time.
Easter local flight # 1 was successfully completed on April 15 with an
8:30 takeoff and was a 9.4 hour flight. The flight track was a
triangular pattern north to 5 deg south latitude, flight along the
latatude and return to Easter. The objectives were: (1) tropical air
mass transition at midlatitudes, (2) equitorial survey and photochemical
aging experiment and (3) South American outflow. All objectives were
met. A power failure caused a 20-minute down time for GIT, PANAK, U NH,
DACOM and ATHOS. DIAL was down for the first half of the flight. Due to
a strike by the Lan Chile ground crew, there was no Lan Chile support
and it was necessary to operate the APU, since there was no ground power
cart.
The transit from Easter to Costa Rica was successfully completed on
April 17 with an 8:00 takeoff and was an 8.7 hour flight. The objectives
were: (1) South American outflow, (2) Equitorial photochemistry, (3)
Central American outflow and (4) ITCZ convection. All objectives were
met except (4) which was due to adverse weather. All instruments were
working except the acetone measurement. The placement of a fan at the
Talbot rack demonstrated that the previously experienced Talbot heating
problem could be eliminated.
Mr Alfonso Liao Lee of the Costa Rican Ministerio del Ambiente y
Energia Contraloria Ambiental visited with Henry Fuelberg on the DC-8
prior to takeoff to the DFRC. Mr Lee provided current satellite imagery
for the ground track to DFRC and discussed meteorological conditions to
be expected.
The transit from Costa Rica to DFRC was successfully completed on April
18 with an 11:00 takeoff and a 6 hour flight. The objective was to
sample Central American outflow. The objective was met and all
instruments were working. The planned flight duration was shortened to
accomodate the late departure and needed arrival time at DFRC. This
resulted in more high altitude flight than scientifically desired.
Significant progress was made in offloading the instrumentation from
the DC-8 during 4/19-20. By the end of 4/20, all instruments were off
the plane and all but GIT, ATHOS, DIAL and LASE were packed and shipped,
or ready to ship. The C-141 from Tahiti had arrived on 4/16 and that
cargo was sorted and directed to the PIs' home base. A direct truck to
Wallops, Langley, O'Sullivan/Annapolis and Thornton/Philadelphia
departed about 3:00p on 4/20. By the end of the day on 4/23, trucks had
departed to GIT and Langley and a PASHA truck had removed all other PI
equipment to the PASHA central shipping site. |
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Curator:
NASA Official:
Last Updated 06/20/2014 |
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