Image courtesy of Brigitte Baeuerle, National Center for Atmospheric Research

From: Dr. Robert Wood
Rocky Mountain Airport, Broomfield, Colorado, October 3, 2008

Test Flights

Before the C-130 research aircraft can go to Chile to make measurements as part of the VOCALS Campaign , all the instruments must be loaded into the plane. Then the C-130 is taken for a set of test flights to make sure that everything is working.

The plane will fly through cloudy skies much of the time it is in Chile, and the many instruments will make measurements in those clouds. But in Colorado (US) where we were doing the test flights, we had some problems actually finding clouds at all.

This photograph shows me talking with Allen Schanot before the third test flight. We're looking at satellite images to find clouds to fly into. Allen is the project manager for the C-130 aircraft. He makes sure that his team of ground and air staff, pilots, and engineers are ready to fly.

Postcards from the Field: Climate Science from the Southeast Pacific

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