Since ACRIDICON-CHUVA is a joint experiment with the IARA flight campaign using the US-DOE G1 aircraft, it is essential to compare the measurements taken on the two aircraft. And what better way to do this comparison than to have the two aircraft actually flying formation side-by-side in the air! So the flightplan for today had both aircraft taking off more or less at the same time, fly in formation over the ground sampling site near Manacapuru, study clouds over the same area, and then have them go their separate ways doing additional tasks.
 HALO from the G1 |  The G1 from HALO |
Jason and Luiz in the G1 Takeoff was just after 1100L, followed by formation flight at 1500’ below a cloud base of about 2500’. Rachel Albrecht was the flight scientist on HALO, and Luiz Augusto Machado was with Jason Tomlinson of the G1. Cloud sampling on HALO began at 1220L at about 4000’ and continued up to 14,000’, where the convection topped out at the time (1416L). The aircraft then went to 43,000’ for some radiation measurements, and descended again to lower levels to sample some more clouds and cloud outflow. Landing was at 1619L.
 Cloud scene as viewed from HALO |  |
(Thanks to Stephan Mertes, Luiz Machado, and Rachel Albrecht for the pictures!)
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