Lear 36 FASTEX Flight Number 10 Summary
Aircraft: Lear36/ N12FN (Call Sign FNT 212)
Date: 17-18 February 1997
Take-off: 2247 UTC (YYT - St. John's, Newfoundland)
Landing: 0205 UTC (YYT - St. John's, Newfoundland)
Pilots: Gordon Stevenson and John Huchowski (both of Flight International, Inc.)
Navigator: John Huchowski
Crew #1 (on board scientist) : Ray Ramos (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison)
Crew #2 (dropsonde operator): Dean Lauritsen (NCAR)
Proposed Flight Plan
Take-off : 2300 UTC 17 February 1997
1) St. John's
2) Turn Point #1 50N 50W
3) Turn Point #2 45N 48W
4) Turn Point #3 43N 50W
5) Turn Point #4 42N 52W
6) St. John's
One drop at each turning point Additional drops: 2 on first leg,
4 on second leg, 1 on 3rd leg, 1 on 4th leg, and 3 on last leg for
a total of 15 drops.
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Synopsis:
All legs of the mission were completed as planned and all 15 drops
deployed. FL 260 was maintained throughout the flight, per Gander.
Although no reason was given, it is assumed that it was due to traffic
in the area. A request to New York to ascend to FL 410 was denied, with
heavy air traffic along 50W. Light turbulence was felt between drops 13 and 14, near the low center.
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Summary of drop times, locations ( in degrees (d)) , flight level (FL) data
drop/time(UTC)/FL(hundreds of feet)/FL(temp C)/FL wind (ddd@ff)/lon/lat
01) 2258 260 -49 194@96 51d42.5' 48d28.9'
02) 2307 260 -52 237@166 50d51.6' 49d17.8'
03)* 2315 260 -49 242@153 49d46.9' 49d58.3'
04) 2327 260 -51 213@100 49d33.5' 48d54.8'
05) 2338 260 -51 205@68 49d08.0' 48d01.4'
06) 2349 260 -44 200@115 48d44.8' 47d00.4'
07) 0002 260 -44 186@92 48d23.8' 46d00.3'
08)* 0013 260 -41 181@82 48d03.0' 44d56.4'
09) 0031 260 -39 184@113 49d01.6' 44d00.5'
10)* 0046 260 -37 195@107 50d00.3' 42d58.5'
11) 0059 260 -35 187@136 51d02.4' 42d29.9'
12)* 0112 260 -33 199@139 52d04.8' 42d05.4'
13) 0122 260 -40 216@138 52d09.6' 43d17.8'
14) 0135 260 -44 216@114 52d20.2' 44d46.1'
15) 0147 260 -45 208@117 52d31.6' 46d10.9'
Notes: 1) (*) Turning points . These drops were
made after the turn was completed.
*******
Appended observations/notes
Observations from plane at each drop (droptimes noted above)
1) Cumulus 50%
2) Cumulus 80%
3) Cumulus 80%
4) Cumulus 80%
5-15) Dark--couldn't see
Total flight time:3+20 (air time)
Total flight (ground) distance: 1085nm
Ray Ramos
rramos@meteor.wisc.edu