WB-57F 29 July 2002 Flight Summary


1)  The WB-57F completed its last Florida-area flight for CRYSTAL-FACE in grand style on
Monday, flying for nearly six hours.  The aircraft successfully underflew the Terra 
satellite at approximately 12 noon EDT, sampling some very thin cirrus at 39 kft during the 
time leading to the overpass.  Following the satellite pass, a series of stratospheric 
sampling legs were accomplished over the eastern and western ground sites between 58 and 43 
kft.  The aircraft spent the remainder of the flight intensively sampling a large anvil 
system off the west coast of Florida, in concert with the other CRYSTAL-FACE aircraft.

2)  The aircraft took off at 11:05 am EDT and returned at 4:55 pm EDT.

3)  The WB-57F ferry flight to Ellington Field is scheduled to leave Key West at 9:30 am EDT 
on Wednesday, 31 July.  The aircraft will conduct a northern survey of the near-tropopause 
region, traveling toward Indiana before heading for Ellington Field.  Of the 26 platform 
instruments, 16 will be operating on the ferry flight.

4)  The WB-57F Flight Scientists gratefully acknowledge all of the dedication and hard work 
displayed throughout the mission by the WB-57F aircraft and ground crews, the science 
investigators, and the meteorology team.  The mission was a tremendous success, with all 
instruments obtaining science-quality data on most of the 12 flights (plus 2 ferry flights). 
The WB-57F data set, when combined with the other CRYSTAL-FACE data sets, will certainly 
help to revolutionize the understanding of cirrus properties and processes.

Randy and Dave