P3 Flight Log:

- The CI mission yesterday (5/24/2002) was nearly perfect, except for temporary ELDORA and Leandre failure. The weather condition spelled an E-W oriented cold front moving southward toward Texas penhandle and a N-S dryline in New Mexico moving eastward. These two boundaries would intercept and form a triple point near Shamrock TX. P3 had a valve problem on engine #1 so the takeoff was delayed by 40 min. Once P3 was airborne and in the target region, all instruments functioned. After two survey passes through the dryline, P3 established a box pattern that put the dryline within 5 km to the right of the aircraft. P3 was either punching through or near the triple point no less that 5 times. All 5 aircraft, P3, Falcon, King Air, DC-8, and Lear Jet were all coordinated almost flawless during the mission. This case will be one of the best cases in IHOP. Leandre was down about 40 min between 1941-2022 UTC. About 3 hours into the flight, convection was initiated east of the dryline. According to satellite loop, convection erupted in very short time (CAPE exceeded 4000). ELDORA data was masked by second trip echo. Decision was made to switch to a convective scanning strategy to increase the unambiguous range in an attempt to alleviate the problem. But ELDORA did not come back to action for another 30 min. High cabin temperature was suspected for the ELDORA down time. Near the ELDORA operator seat, the temperature was 32C when ELDORA refuse to come up. We have to find a solution to lower the cabin temperature further near the equipment rack. Leandre was down

Staff rotation: Depart: Ron Ruth Jeff Keeler Frank Pratte

Arrival: Aditi Kapoor

P3 Crew:

NRL: Jace om Strong, Jace Dasenbrock, Steve Wagner, Dave Heitmeyer

NCAR: George Nicoll, Mike Strong, Tim Lim, Jeff Keeler, Wen-Chau Lee, Frank Pratte

UCLA: Hanne Murphey, Roger Wakimoto

CNRS: Patrica Delville

 

Flight Track:

ELDORA Images for this Flight:

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