The NOAA G-IV turns onto the taxiway before the first flight takes off (Credit: Scott Abbott, NOAA).21
HONOLULU, HAWAII — The NOAA Gulfstream IV lifted off the deck from Honolulu International Airport at 11:00 AM local time for its first research flight of the El Niño Rapid Response Field Campaign. A flat tire on the jet delayed takeoff by an hour. Kudos to Angel Negron and the rest of the crew for making the rubber swap happen so quickly! Here are a few photos from this morning’s pre-flight activities.
Flight preparations in Honolulu
In this first flight, we’ll have 30 dropsondes in the air — we drop these small parachuted devices from 41,000+ feet high, and they collect data as they plummet down toward the ocean below. Within 30 minutes of splash, we should have final, quality-controlled data from the dropsondes — temperature, humidity, wind speed/direction, and atmospheric pressure. The G-IV is scheduled to land this evening at 6:30 PM.
Congratulations to the whole team for applying the “full-court press” to make this happen!
