All expeditions seem to begin with a period of seemingly endless waiting for supplies, permits, and the like. ACRIDICON, of course, is no different. We are still waiting for our container with scientific and aircraft equipment to be released from customs, and we have spent many “fun-filled” hours waiting to get badges to enter the airport. Getting your passport stamped by the Federal Police to validate your visa requires lengthy online filling of forms, visits to banks and notaries, and finally a visit to the offices of the Police, all in all a day of your life.
Most of the rest of the time is filled with meetings to discuss logistical issues, flight planning, coordination with Air Traffic Control, and so on. The good side of all this is that it gives the instrument scientists a chance to fix the many small and large problems that come up when one takes an aircraft full of high-tech equipment through lots of atmospheric turbulence, shaking and bouncing into the hot and steamy atmosphere of the Amazon.
Wednesday, 3 September, the day after arrival, the aircraft was promptly released from customs and the scientists could begin to download their data from the transit flights and work on their instruments. A nice benefit from all this hanging around was that I got to try out the pilots seat of HALO on the ground :-))! We also found out that Friday and Sunday would be national holidays, and airport access would be limited. Nevertheless, we made plans for a research flight on Friday, always the optimists. A very interesting part of the day was a series of short presentations by the scientist to introduce their instruments and objectives to the entire team.
On Thursday we first met with the representatives of the Brazilian Air Traffic Control, two Air Force lieutenants and a Sergeant. We were also introduced to the two young Air Force lieutenants, who were going to be the observers on our research flights. We then made the detailed plans for Friday’s flight, which was going to be a 700 mile transect from the smoke-polluted area around Alta Floresta to the clean atmosphere around Boa Vista in the north.
Most of the rest of the time is filled with meetings to discuss logistical issues, flight planning, coordination with Air Traffic Control, and so on. The good side of all this is that it gives the instrument scientists a chance to fix the many small and large problems that come up when one takes an aircraft full of high-tech equipment through lots of atmospheric turbulence, shaking and bouncing into the hot and steamy atmosphere of the Amazon.
Wednesday, 3 September, the day after arrival, the aircraft was promptly released from customs and the scientists could begin to download their data from the transit flights and work on their instruments. A nice benefit from all this hanging around was that I got to try out the pilots seat of HALO on the ground :-))! We also found out that Friday and Sunday would be national holidays, and airport access would be limited. Nevertheless, we made plans for a research flight on Friday, always the optimists. A very interesting part of the day was a series of short presentations by the scientist to introduce their instruments and objectives to the entire team.
On Thursday we first met with the representatives of the Brazilian Air Traffic Control, two Air Force lieutenants and a Sergeant. We were also introduced to the two young Air Force lieutenants, who were going to be the observers on our research flights. We then made the detailed plans for Friday’s flight, which was going to be a 700 mile transect from the smoke-polluted area around Alta Floresta to the clean atmosphere around Boa Vista in the north.
In the afternoon, we were to go to the airport to work on our instruments. I was supposed to get trained to operate a couple of instruments in flight, in addition to my job of flight scientist. This consists of coordinating the science and flight crews in flight and making decisions about what maneuvers to execute to get the aircraft to the right place and altitude for our measurements. For the training, we obviously needed aircraft access, which required badges. To get these, we first had to wait for the handling agent at Terminal 2, where we were told to go to Terminal 1, where we would be issued temporary badges. We all packed into our cars and drove over to the other terminal, waited again for our handling agent, and then were led to the airport offices for processing. There, we got badges that allowed us to get to another waiting room, where lots of people were already waiting. After only three hours and filing out more forms, we had our temporary badges, which allowed us to work on the aircraft for another two hours or so, while we had power at the aircraft. After all this, the day took a frustrating end, when the handling agent announced that tomorrow, Friday, there could be definitely NO flight because of the national holiday.
Instead, Friday (5 Sep) was spent doing more instrument maintenance and refining our plans for a flight on Saturday. I also discussed with Danny Rosenfeld the details of the procedure for “cloud profiling”, which consists of making many passes through growing cumulus clouds from cloud base up to the ice plume that leaves the top of the clouds.
Instead, Friday (5 Sep) was spent doing more instrument maintenance and refining our plans for a flight on Saturday. I also discussed with Danny Rosenfeld the details of the procedure for “cloud profiling”, which consists of making many passes through growing cumulus clouds from cloud base up to the ice plume that leaves the top of the clouds.