Monday, 19 June

T-28 Flight 756

Project Flight 11

Take Off ~ 00:17 GMT

Return to Base: 01:45 GMT

Pilot: Charles Summers

The T-28 launched for a storm 30 nmi southwest of CHILL, but ended up working the storm beginning just west of the radar then moving eastward from it. Rain and pea-size hail were reported on the ground. The storm reinvigorated when it hit moister air near Colby, after the aircraft mission was terminated. It eventually grew in to an MCS and moved across Kansas overnight.

One electrical sounding into the anvil region shearing ahead of the storm was launched from GLD  at 01:06, and a second was launched into the back side of the storm as it headed east from GLD at the time of the end of the aircraft flight .   The mesonet did east - west transects under the storm during the aircraft mission.

Updrafts were generally 5-10 m s^-1, with spots of 15 m s^-1 , at the T-28 level around 19000 ft.  The updrafts were broad and organized on the front edge of the storm. Up to 2 inches of ice accumulated on the wings during portions of the penetrations. The precipitation encountered was predominantly graupel and snow.  There was little sign of hail in the aircraft or polarimetric data, or from observers on the ground.

The pilot reported frequent lightning in his vicinity, exceeding one per 15 sec interval for much of the flight, and several per 10 sec interval at times. The aircraft was hit by lightning at 00:53:42. The pilot reported that the whole aircraft lit up. After the flight, 3 new discharge pits were discovered on the rear stabilizer.

The data were generally good. The instrumentation pitot plugged (with ice)   for a time around 00:48, corrupting image data from the HVPS and 2D-C.