2/20/01 - Test Flight #2 was successfully
completed on 2/16 as scheduled Takeoff time was 10:10am under
clear bright skies toward LAX and the SW The initial climb
was to 39Kft for 36 minutes, followed by a downward spiral to 1Kft
for 30 minutes, followed by a 15Kfpm climb to 10Kft for 30 minutes,
followed by a 15Kfpm climb to 18Kft for 30 minutes, followed by
a 15Kfpm climb to 28Kft, followed by a spiral down to landing at
EAFB Total time was 43 hours
Blake was absent from the flight Early in the flight, all
but three instruments and ICATS indicated they were ready to proceed Sandholm
was able to operate throughout the full 30 minute leg at 1Kft without
being stopped by pit heating problems However, chiller temperature
continued to rise as the plane ascended to 10Kft and had to be
cutoff before reaching 10Kft Operation resumed just prior
to reaching 18Kft and thereafter It appears that the 1Kft
level will need to be followed by a high altitude cooling leg as
was used during P/T B Fried again noticed that his flow was
too low at altitudes above 30Kft He is pursuing several hardware
changes prior to the next flight Anderson continues to have
computer problems and one element of his new spectrometer continues
inoperative Sachse continues to have difficulty with his lasers A
vibration sensitivity has appeared in addition to finding a loose
optic element
The post mission summary indicated that about half the instrumentation
are working well Apel has some post mission work; Anderson
needs computer and probe work; Fried needs to work on flow above
30Kft; Talbot has a few data acquisition bugs; Sachse needs to
work DACOM vibration sensitivity and get lasers fully operational;
Sandholm needs to make NO detection as good as possible and then
optimize NO2 with the remaining energy; Heikes needs
some computer work; and ICATS needs to get analog parameter graphics
plot operational and clean up a few other items
ICATS has yet to demonstrate the APT system and post mission
data delivery
It turns out that EAFB closed their runway at 1800 on 2/16 for the holiday
weekend and would have precluded an originally-planned 2/17 flight, even if
desirable due to instrument operational; status after TF #1 Clouds were
generally absent at all flight levels
The TF #3 plan will have takeoff at about 1450 on 2/20 in order
to provide for about 90 minutes of post-sunset data The flight
levels will be generally the same as TF #2 with longer durations
at constant altitude
DIAL has completed all special laser calibrations The remaining DIAL
performance checks will come just before TF #3 and deployment readiness activities
Daily 1:15 PM all-hands meetings have continued under the leadership
of Darrell Winfield All days have been one-1/2 shift with
work planned on 2/10 and 2/11 Lab work by PI teams continues beyond
one shift as each team determines it is appropriate
Many of the PI teams elected to return home during the laser calibration
activities which took place during most of the week As
a result of the 2/1 and 2/2 flight tests, the Apel inlet was determined
to need structural reinforcing to eliminate vibrations Early
in the week a cracked plane belly panel was identified and the
planned RVSM certification test was delayed from 2/5 until 2/9,
which was of no consequence because the time was more fully used
for laser calibration tests Also, during this week it was
discovered that there was some plane gas tank seepage which required
repair The RVSM certification flight was completed 2/9 and
the repaired Apel inlet was certified as being acceptable The
analysis of the RVSM certification is underway and results are
expected about 2/20 The plane fuel tank seepage was in repair during
the weekend of 2/11 The ICATS track plot capability was demonstrated
during the 2/9 flight test
The Sachse and Sandholm instruments seem to need to most work
to complete their readiness for deployment A laser lens was
broken and considerable work must be repeated Sandholm has
yet to see a NO2 signal Browell concluded planned
laser calibrations and determined that one more calibration test
was needed prior to deployment
Due to the now-routine closure of EAFB on Sundays, it has been
decided that all planes will return on Monday 4/9 This choice
was chosen over return two days early on Friday 4/6 in order to
maintain some flexibility for having coordinated flights with the
ACE Asia C-130 operating out of Iwakuni, Japan
All PI Teams returned to DFRC for the two-hour Plane Safety Briefing
on 2/12 At the daily meeting it was learned that the plane
gas tank seepage problems had been repaired
During the meeting, there was a briefing by Steve Davis about
expected conditions at the Hong Kong Airport The most difficult
part involved conducting planned laboratory operations, since the
available space in the terminal area could not accommodate hazardous
materials Selecting an alternate available space also does
not seem apealing due to the difficulty of getting equipment and
laboratory haz materials through rigid security checkpoints to
move from the plane to the lab space The possibility of using
the C-130 for a haz materials lab appears appealing because these
materials would never need to leave the plane or pass through security
checkpoints However, there are some operations which need
uninterrupted power for extended periods which can not be accommodated
in the plane Final arrangements will undoubtedly need to
await the arrival of T/P personnel on-site to conduct final arrangements
In the meantime, haz mat cargo and equipment to be used with them
is being separately packaged so it can be most easily moved
upon arrival
Also during the daily meeting, there was a discussion with the
Science Team about the proposed Test Flight #1 profile Several
changes were discussed and given to the navigator to incorporate
A review of instrument status revealed: 1) Anderson's new spectrometer
probe was returned from the vendor and required further testing
prior to installation on the plane and would not be included on
TF #1, 2) Sachse has one dewar out and plans to fly with
only one and 3) Sandholm is still working to get ready
The TF #1 takeoff time was 10:20 am under clear bright skies
toward LAX and the SW The initial climb was to 39kft for
about 60 minutes, followed by a downward spiral to 1kft for 30
minutes, followed by a climb to 25kft for 50 minutes followed by
a spiral down to landing at EAFB Total time was 4 hours The
majority of instruments indicated all was working fine during the
early part of the flight Sandholm experienced heating problems,
similar to that of prior missions, due to time at 1kft He
requests such future low level legs be limited to 20 minutes ICATS
generally performed satisfactorily with a few minor items to fix Fried
noticed flow problems at 39kft, but performed satisfactorily at
lower altitudes Half of the instruments reported no problems The
others noted varying problems, some of which should be fixed for
the next flight
It was determined after the flight that the Apel inlet plumbing
seemed to be losing the seal for cabin pressure due to heat cycling
of the teflon insert and was removed for repairs Sachse still
working to fix the lasers Fried working to deal with high
altitude flow problems Anderson working to get spectrometer
probe operational again and deal with computer which won't boot
reliably Apel awaiting reinstallation of inlet and CCB decision
re-seal validation Sandholm working to achieve NO2 signal
Blake plans not to be aboard since he is in lab analyzing cans
from TF #1 Brune determined that a radio antenna located in front
of his inlet needed to be moved There are many reasons to
delay the flight and also many to continue with the planned flight
The Operational Readiness Review was successfully completed on
2/15 with no significant issues