Feb 26:  All three planes transited from Dryden/Palmdale to Kona, Hawaii for an overnight stop.  During transit flights for the P3-B, primarily they are direct flights with altitude changes from 500 feet to 20,000 ft. with each flight level lasting approximately 20 minutes.  There are also transitions from the top and bottom altitudes at 500 ft./min.

Flight 5 Summary – Dryden/Palmdale  to Kona transit

To provide for several soundings over the eastern Pacific, three in-progress walls were planned for this transit flight.  Model products indicated that some evidence of Asian outflow might be found somewhere between the west coast and Hawaii.

Results:

Fairly clean conditions were encountered during this flight; however, a distinct layer was encountered on the second in progress wall between 12.5-13.5Kft.  This layer contained elevated concentrations of CO, NOy, and PAN and was located in the region of model-predicted outflow.