Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Stephen McAmis on April 18, 2010 at 1:51am

Just more or less adding to the question here...

Since they are:
"The National Science Foundation (NSF) foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)..."
and that means they are both government entities...
Then once they have either a COA (certificate of authorization) or EAC (experimental airworthiness certificate) set all lined up... and then follow the regulations regarding those... shouldn't they be able to practically fly at will in the intended areas?
But then the next logical question is this: When conditions develop conducive to formation of a tornado, it isn't going to do so in the time frames needed to inform any of the local airfields appropriately (according to the regs i have been able to read so far) it will be a minute by minute deal...
I am assuming they will have some special dispensation set up regarding this. It would certainly be good to understand the details...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stephen McAmis on April 18, 2010 at 1:56am

I'm very good at making a nuisance of myself sooo... Anybody here mind if I ask someone on the Vortex 2 team?
:)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stephen McAmis on April 18, 2010 at 2:07am

Found this:
http://recuv.colorado.edu/tempest/
Shed's some light.

(edited to include this: http://recuv.colorado.edu/tempest/data/.documents/datasheet/tempest... and this: http://recuv.colorado.edu/tempest/index.cgi?dir=faa%20coa&num=&...

• ▶ Reply

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Gary Mortimer on April 18, 2010 at 3:57am

The Federal Aviation Administration approved the unmanned data-collecting airplanes for flights up to 1,000 feet in remote parts of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska in the past year, says Brian Argrow, director of the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles at the University of Colorado. The UAV in this study, named Tempest, is a lightweight propeller-driven airplane with a 10-foot wingspan, he said.

One UAV will be flown at a time, but the scientists will have backup planes with them in case one is damaged. "We need to sample more storms, and hopefully in 2010, we'll get that opportunity," Burgess says.

Just in case.......... humm

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Andy Geppert on April 18, 2010 at 10:52am

Ah ha. It's much clearer now... It gives us hope for similar research missions!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rory Paul on April 18, 2010 at 9:38pm

Should we ask the question.....Does it Blend?

• ▶ Reply

ModeratorPermalink Reply by Gary Mortimer on April 18, 2010 at 9:50pm

I should imagine it will be inventing its own new routines.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stephen McAmis on April 18, 2010 at 11:24pm

lol My question would be 'The tempest will likely be launched in Kansas... when it comes down in North Carolina, how will it get home?'

I truly do wonder how far out from the tornado than plan on deploying it, so far I see where their max. alt for anything is 1000'. I've had the dubious privilege of being in tornadic thunderstorms out in the open... I can't imagine this bird is going to be able to maintain control under most any conditions within 5 miles of a tornado, especially higher up.
I suppose they could be planning on flying it 10-15 miles ahead of a storm...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Trapnell on April 19, 2010 at 7:34am

Aerodonde has be flown into a hurricane and back again with no significant problems. The key is whether or not (no pun intended) the aircraft tries to fly a track over the ground. That would be a wild ride.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Teejay on April 19, 2010 at 9:11am

There was one episode in Discovery Channel... one than chases tornadoes. (Forgot the name.) That used a pretty large scale hi-winger and RPV'd it along the tornado.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Trapnell on April 19, 2010 at 9:16am

That aircraft was a Bruce Tharpe Engineering "Super Hauler." The Engineering department flies a couple of those doing payload development.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Teejay on April 19, 2010 at 9:29am

Yup that's the one...

• ▶ Reply