Global Hawk #871 11/01/12
| From: | EAFB | To: | EAFB | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start: | 11/01/12 19:05 Z | Finish: | 11/01/12 23:51 Z | ||
| Flight Time: | 4.8 hours | ||||
| Log Number: | 13H008 | PI: | Marilyn Vasques | ||
| Funding Source: | Hal Maring - NASA - SMD - ESD Radiation Science Program | ||||
| Purpose of Flight: | Check | ||||
| Comments: | This was the first flight of TN871 for any science application. Three instruments are installed on this aircraft: HIRAD, HAMSR, and HIWRAP. All aircraft systems operated nominally. | ||||
| 12H002 | 13H008 | |
|---|---|---|
| Flight Hours Approved in SOFRS | 327 | |
| Flight Hours Previously Approved | 178.1 | |
| Total Used | 148.9 | 46 |
| Total Remaining | 132.1 |
| 13H008 Flight Reports | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Flt # | Purpose of Flight | Duration | Running Total | Hours Remaining |
| 10/06/12 | 872-0102 | Science | 7.3 | 7.3 | 170.8 |
| 10/12/12 | 872-0103 | Ferry | 9.7 | 17 | 161.1 |
| 11/01/12 | 871-0082 | Check | 4.8 | 21.8 | 156.3 |
| 11/05/12 - 11/06/12 | 871-0083 | Science | 24.2 | 46 | 132.1 |
| 12H002 Flight Reports | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Flt # | Purpose of Flight | Duration | Running Total | Hours Remaining |
| 08/28/12 | 872-0094 | Check | 5.5 | 5.5 | 321.5 |
| 08/30/12 | 872-0095 | Maintenance | 0.7 | 6.2 | 320.8 |
| 09/06/12 - 09/07/12 | 872-0096 | Science | 19.3 | 25.5 | 301.5 |
| 09/11/12 - 09/12/12 | 872-0097 | Science | 25.7 | 51.2 | 275.8 |
| 09/14/12 - 09/15/12 | 872-0098 | Science | 22.4 | 73.6 | 253.4 |
| 09/19/12 - 09/20/12 | 872-0099 | Science | 24.8 | 98.4 | 228.6 |
| 09/22/12 - 09/23/12 | 872-0100 | Science | 25.1 | 123.5 | 203.5 |
| 09/26/12 - 09/27/12 | 872-0101 | Science | 25.4 | 148.9 | 178.1 |
Flight Reports began being entered into this system as of 2012 flights. If there were flights flown under an earlier log number the flight reports are not available online.
HS3 - Global Hawk #871 11/01/12 Science Report
Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Mission
2012-11-01 Flight Report
This was the 1st flight of AV-1 for HS3. The mission is a simple range flight that is meant to test the aircraft and payload at altitude.
Flight Scientist: Paul A. Newman
1113 PDT Engine start
1154 PDT taxi
1205 Takeoff
1300 Payload performing nominally.
1400 Pilots will practice buoy overflight maneuver.
1444 Started 2nd buoy overflight maneuver.
1500 HIWRAP reports hard drive failure, HIRAD operating a bit too warm, HAMSR performing well.
1506 Buoy maneuver completed. It takes about 21 minutes to execute this maneuver.
Figure 1: the two “buoy” maneuvers.
Figure 2: HIWRAP quick look data. The top panel shows a vertical profile below the aircraft. The “red” trace is actually showing the surface. The deep canyons (e.g., near 810 km) result from the airplane banking. The middle panel corresponds to a constant altitude slice at about 13 km below the plane (indicated by the blue line in the top panel). The bottom panel is the constant altitude return at slightly below 18 km (as indicated by the 2nd blue line in the top panel).
1535 About 10 minutes more of cold soak, and then begin descent back to DFRC.
1545 Beginning descent.
1550 Leveling off for 10 minutes at 45kft to warm instruments.
1615 Resume descent
1630 Begin power down
Payload has worked pretty well over the course of the flight. Instrument performance seems to be pretty good, with the exception of HIRAD running a bit warm and HIWRAP losing a disk drive. HIWRAP believes that their new drives simply run hotter than the old drives. None of the instruments need to be pulled from the plane, and the fixes are rather straight forward. Hence, the payload looks good for a Monday range flight.
1635 Payload fully off.
1650 Landing