Today all 29 SARP participants flew on the NASA DC-8 for an instrument check flight.
While walking out to the DC-8, we hummed the theme from Top Gun
After a weather briefing from our meteorologist and flight briefings from our pilot and mission manager, we headed out to the DC-8. We took some group shots in front of the plane (we all wore our SARP t-shirts today!)
Preflight Breifing
SARP participants pose in front of the DC-8 just before takeoff
Inside the DC-8, we all donned our headsets, strapped ourselves into our seats, and took off from the Palmdale Regional Airport.
Inside the DC-8
The main goal of the flight was to calibrate the MASTER instrument over the Salton Sea. We also took some air samples with the Whole Air Sampler during the flight. In addition, we collected air samples over a water treatment plant near the airport in Palmdale just before we landed.
June 27 SARP flight track
We flew at ~13,000 feet for most of the short (425 mile) flight. After the flight, the Land group left to drive out to an almond orchard in the Central Valley. They will be out in the field taking data when we fly over them during tomorrow’s science flights!