C130 Meteorological Research Aircraft Visits Purdue
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) C130 aircraft came to the Purdue airport for students and faculty to tour on Nov 11th. This research aircraft is in the fleet maintained by the National Science Foundation for meteorological field research.
It is currently participating in the PLOWS project:
http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/plows
that is studying winter storms in the Central and Midwestern U.S. Because clear skies prevailed last week, the aircraft was touring local universities as an educational component of the overall NSF-funded project.
The tours were given by the PLOWS chief scientist (Prof. Bob Rauber, U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), the C130 pilots, and several C130 flight scientists and technicians from NCAR.
Multiple kinds of cloud and precipitation-measuring probes, including a cloud radar and a lidar mounted inside the aircraft, were available to see on the tour. This was a unique opportunity to see this aircraft, and its instruments, up close, and to hear how airborne atmospheric data are collected.
Two groups from EAS of nearly 50 people participated, and over 50 students and faculty from the Aviation Technology Department also toured the aircraft.
