Thursday, April 29, 2010

Snow!

On my way to the hangar this morning, I had to deal with a fairly heavy snowstorm.


By midday, it was sunny and the snow had completely melted.

As I was taking out the trash tonight, I noticed Venus shining through the trees, so I took a picture of it:

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Colorado test flight

I flew with my instrument yesterday for a two hour test flight.

NOAA and the flatirons (this one didn't focus correctly, so I shrunk it):


South Boulder:


Denver:

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Beginning of Field Mission

I arrived in Tampa a week ago Sunday. I took this picture of MacDill AFB on the final approach to the Tampa airport.


We were supposed to test our instruments during a couple of short test flights, but I discovered on Monday that my instrument wasn't working. I had to uninstall it and send it back to the manufacturer for repairs.

The P-3 was supposed to transit to Colorado last Friday, but after takeoff, a "flaps asymmetry" warning light came on, so the plane had to land again.

All but the scientists making the transit on the P-3 went home anyway. I took this picture of clouds on the way home.


On Saturday, I picked up my instrument from a FedEx facility and drove it to Rocky Mountain Metro airport. I also saw the P-3 land.


Today, I put my instrument back on the plane. It works!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Installation

I just got back from Tampa, where I installed my new CO2/CH4 instrument on the P-3 this past week.


I share a rack with Jim's PAN instrument. My instrument consists of the two boxes in the top-right of the rack, and the two gas decks and pump (above the gas cylinders) in the middle-left of the rack.



The stuffed doll is Jim's: the Japanese anime character Anpanman.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Space Shuttle

I'm in Tampa this week installing my instrument on the P-3 in preparation for our California field study. I was eating breakfast in the hotel lobby this morning, when I saw on the news that the space shuttle was launching. So I went outside and saw a bright orange light off to the east. I ran to get my camera, but by the time I got it, the solid fuel boosters had burnt out, and the space shuttle looked like a bright (moving) star. Unfortunately, my camera didn't take a very good picture, but here it is:


On my way to work at the air force base, the sky was just starting to get light in the east, and the contrail left by the space shuttle looked magnificent! It was red at the lower elevations, white in the middle, and blue at the top. Then when the sun came up, the contrail became a rainbow of colors. Unfortunately, my camera was in the back of my car and I was driving. When I got to the hangar, I took this picture, which by then looked more like a normal contrail:



UPDATE: Here's a photo of the contrails from a local newspaper: