FASTEX Aircraft Chief Scientist Checklist

FASTEX Electra Chief Scientist Checklist

Flight Number: RF2 / 970112

Date: 970112

Proposed T/O Time (UTC): 1300

Primary Mission: Frontal rainbands, M-4

Aircraft Crew:

Scientific Crew

Chief Scientist: Wakimoto / Hildebrand

Doppler Scientist: Lee / Scialom

Cloud Physics Scientist: Marecal

Observers:

Observer:

Aircraft ID: Electra N308D

Base of Operations: Shannon

Alternate Mission: --

Flight Crew

RAF Project Manager: Laursen

Pilot: Heiting

Co-Pilot: Boynton

Flight Engineer: Brandon, Ringleman

RAF Tech: Zrubek, Namari

ELDORA Engineer: Loew

Location:

Mission Briefing (including proposed flight patterns):

Take off Time (UTC): Landing Time (UTC): Location: Shannon

Official Mission Duration: hr (from Flight Director)

Tapes Utilized: Data Sys.: Radar: WARDS: Video:

FASTEX Aircraft Chief Scientist Event Log

Flight Number: RF2 / 970112 Page 1 of 1

Date: 970112 Aircraft ID: Electra N308D Scientist taking notes: Hildebrand

Event Log

Time Position Events & Comments
(UTC) (Lat, Lon)
125952 52.694, Takeoff from Shannon.
-8.925
1316 ELDORA is up. For today's flight, the ground velocity has been removed in
the displays.
1320 P-3 at -14.4, heading west.
135620 51.02, At the south buoy, begin perl 1.
-13.33
135950 End perl 1, heading to 51.0, -18.5.
1412 51.109, NOAA 42 is at the initial point at 51, -19.8 and has passed through the
-14.5 rainband, which has max reflectivities at about 30 dBZ, and reports a smooth
flight through the band at 5000 ft. At our current location, we have been
passing over an overcast, with some intermittent clear areas in the last few
minutes.
1422 51.094, NOAA 42 reports the main band has 30 dBZ reflectivities, is about 20 mi
-15.48 wide, 5 km deep, and a smooth ride at 5000 ft. They report that a second
line lies parallel to band 1 about 20 mi further west, with a sharp drop-off
in temperature across the second band. We will fly to the IP (51.0, -18.5)
then turn right, either on the near or far side of the line.
1432 51.075, Descending to 2000 ft.
-16.2
1451 51.016, Passing into the band. Max reflectivities in the nose radar in cockpit are
-18.16 in the > 40 dBZ range. ELDORA sees bright band at 2 km. Turning left to 20
deg to fly along the west side of the band.
1456 51.02, We are heading toward 20 deg. and will fly to 52.32, -17.7. The eastern band
-18.26 appears weaker, with peak reflectivity values to low 40s. The western band
had peak values of about 50 dBZ in one location a few minutes ago. The
western band is also located at the cold front.
151700 52.32, Turning left to 52.4, -18.0. Below us, through gaps in the clouds, we can
-17.7 still see strong swell from the SW, and winds at out altitude (611m), 33
m/s, 207deg.. The P-3 is completing a box and is to the south of us now.
1518 Heading west to 52.4, -18.0. Storm top is at about 6-7 km, with returns over
the aircraft to a bit higher.
1522 52.645, Crossing a frontal surface. At the frontal surface, there is a big drop in
-17.78 winds, but only a small change in Theta E and V (2 deg). To the east and
within the rainbands, there is continuous moderate turbulence; to the west,
the flight (at 800m) is relatively smooth.
1524 52.64, -18 Turning left toward, 51, -19. We're about 20 km west of the rainband.
Easing the heading to the left a bit.
1530 52.35, Easing the heading to the right; now the band is 10 km away.
-18.09
There are large scale (10 km scale) kinks in the band, turning to 190.
1535 52.076, We are in the clear here, now, to the west of the band. There are some
-18.17 elongated cloud wisps, many kilometers long at just below our flight
altitude, that are parallel to our flight track. We are still in an area
with no lower clouds, but in continuous light precipitation (drizzle) with
many km of visibility when out of cloud. Within the frontal area, there are
continuous Doppler returns is all areas.
154825 51.4, Turning left to 51.4, -17.45.
-18.4
1552 51.56, It appears, from ELDORA, that the front is in the band that is off to the
-18.11 east by 25 km. We are paralleling this band on the west side on a heading of
43deg.. The peak reflectivities are to the 40s, and some rainshafts to 50
dBZ, and about 6-7 km depth. There is considerable deepening of the cloud
layer to the east with blowoff of rainband effluent. The fontal surface is
well defined across the rainband.
1558 51.804, Turning to the north to 10deg. hdg.
-17.7
1600 Into some turbulence, some clouds and a sharp increase in winds...in the
front again.
1503 Here, there is a 8-9 deg drop in theta E and V. Winds increase to >30 m/s.
1605 Theta back up, but winds stay high. We're now on e the east side of the
previous bands.
1607 Coming up on a major band, just on our left.
1609 52.59, We are continuing along east side of rainband, in moderate turbulence. Seas
-17.37 are rougher here, with many whitecaps visible through the clouds.
1612 52.75, More segmented rainbands are visible along the front (in the nose radar
-17.77 track --WARDS--display). They are still about 10-15 km off the left side.
1615 52.9,
-17.0
1620 53.25, We are turning left, and going through band. The winds drop, we pass into
-16.88 smooth air. There is about 20 m/s shear across band.
1621 Turning left for reverse heading on the west side of the rainbands.
1622 Doing right turn to 200deg.
1624 53.386, On 200 deg heading.
-16.96
1627 53.197, Large changes in theta E and V. Winds down to 12 m/s.
-17.05
163350 52.91, We went through another theta E&V minimum, and into a clear area.
-17.3
1645? Heading east.
1650 52.3, Heading to 020.
-17.48
1705 53.216, We are going through the front, and now are on the east side of the
-16.71 rainbands. We're flying right down the band, through the center of the
rainband at 800m. Good cloud physics sampling as we drill our way through
the rainband from south to north. Cannot see the wingtips in here, (only 15
m away).
170740 Winds change to 32 m/s.
1709 Note the great WARDS display of the rainbands along the flight track. We've
passed out to the east side of the rainbands that lie just tot he north of
the band we just flew through.
171730 53.95, Turning west now to go through the band and front.
-15.89
171946 54.035, Turning to the south (200deg.)
-16.05
172040 We are still on the warm side of the front, even through we are on the west
side of the rainband.
Now the temps and winds are dropping to the west side values. We are on the
cold wide of the front, but with patches of warm and cold air here. The
frontal bands are only up to the freezing level. The front is quite
non-linear, both on small scales and larger.
173750 53.23, Turn to east.
-16.67
174210 53.218, Heading on 030. We are back in turbulent air, with higher winds.
-16.21
175825 54.432, Turning west. Here we have noted another larger scale gap in the cold front.
-15.41 There seem to be two scales to the gaps in the frontal rainbands, with then
smaller rainband segments, organized in groups, and then these groups are
180022 54.483, Turning to 200deg., just short of the southern band segment from the next
-15.6 band to the north east.
180409 54.335, We're back on the west side of the front.
-15.68
182145 53.456, Heading east.
16.08
1825 53.4, 15.6 Through the front.
1828 53.469, Climbing and returning to Shannon.
-15.41
Testing different headers.
1832 Clear air header.
Testing headers.
1944 Landing at Shannon.