[Airs-2] C-130 plans for Friday, Saturday and Sunday

[jbj at atd.ucar.edu]

Hi All,

A lot of work was accomplished on the C-130 instrumentation and data-logging
system. The PCASP is now functional again, after the problems early in RF09.
Likewise, the left pod DSM is also functional, after some chip replacements. It
appears that the left pod DSM malfunctioned during flight in charged ice
particles during RF08. The error occured simultaneously with the aircraft radio
recording a lot of static, which is an indication of static charge buildup on
the aircraft. It is likely that this lead to a strong static discharge from the
aircraft.
Today an 'exploded' microchip was found in one of the DSM serial cards, and this
may have been the cause of the DSM problems. The DSM is now functional and the
aircraft is ready to fly.

The weather forecast calls for clear skies over the target area for tomorrow,
and we have therefore declared Friday 21 Nov to be a no-fly-day. The schedule is:

    Friday 21 Nov:    8:30 AM    Briefing in the airport
                      9:00 AM    Power on the aircraft
                                 Work to be done includes SABL checks and
                                 chat work outside the hangar.
                         ? PM    Power off the aircraft

    Saturday 22 Nov:             Possible hard down day. Decision to stand down
                                 or not will be made during the Friday 8:30 AM
                                 briefing.

    Sunday 23 Nov:               Possible flight day. Decision TBA.

There has been a lot of flying during the first part of AIRS-2, and we are now
past the mid-point. The summary of flight time is:

                  Test       Ferry      Research
Allocation        6          8          81
Flown             3.8        3.8        53.2
Remaining         2.2        4.2        27.8

Sofar we have had 14 potential flying days, and as of tomorrow we have 11
remaining potential flying days. Thus on the first 56% of the flying days, we
have flown 65% of the allocated research flight hours.

The remaining 27.8 flight hours are sufficient for 4 long flights to Mirabel, or
for a combination of Mirabel flights and shorter aerosol flights upwind of Mirabel.

- Jorgen
                                 


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