Laserfiche WebLink
<br />~ <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />) <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />base planes were stationed at Lakin, Johnson, Syracuse, Leoti and Scott City, or for about two <br />months it was based in Dodge City instead of Scott City, at the start and before the end of the <br />program, The cloud top plane was based in Dodge City. The Beech Baron was based in Syracuse, <br />Figure I, at the beginning of this report shows where the aircraft are based, <br /> <br />This is the second season in which we have opted to bum a 2% AgI seeding solution at a <br />rate of2,8 gallons per minute. Since the change, we've continued to experience relatively little <br />wing generator maintenance. Despite increasing our seeding rate by 40% in 2000, there have been <br />few corrosion or residue problems, Wing generator performance remained at high levels in 2001. <br />Only a small degree of regular, competent maintenance is required to keep them clean-burning <br />and totally dependable, <br /> <br />All aircraft are equipped with two Global Positioning System (GPS) units which allows <br />pilots and meteorologists to precisely reference distance and direction from the radar site. The <br />second GPS unit was added in 1998 to record seeding events, flight track information and provide <br />backup for the primary GPS, This second GPS also provides accurate flight track history which, <br />along with a more detailed flight form, is transmitted to the field headquarters later bye-mail. <br /> <br />Also incorporated into our operational radar systems are aircraft interrogator/transponder <br />(IFF) flight tracking systems. From the radar site in Lakin, six discrete transponder codes can be <br />tracked simultaneously. The cloud base planes were licensed to use any of 8 codes assigned to us <br />in our 1997 agreement with the FAA Cloud-top flights, which operate under Instrument Flight <br />Rules (IFR) always are assigned a new code for each flight and can be tracked on the system, <br /> <br />All cloud base planes are equipped with a 12-position, stainless steel wing rack mounted <br />to the trailing edge of each wing. The racks hold flares in place as they bum in-place to a stub <br />preventing any burning remnants of the flare to fall to the ground causing a fire hazard. <br /> <br />The type of flare used in hail suppression this year was the same as one of the two <br />varieties used last season, a 120-gram unit, manufactured by the Weather Modification Group, <br />Inc. (near Calgary, Alberta). Hail suppression flares make possible the addition of significant <br />quantities of ice nuclei to a cloud on an as-needed basis such as when extremely vigorous cloud <br />updrafts are encountered which would otherwise be beyond our capability to seed properly using <br />only wing generators, or when seeding solo on a vigorous cloud that requires more than one plane <br />to seed if it is to be done properly, Our reason for using flares was to add greater capacity to <br />combat severe storms in the early part of the season leading up through wheat harvest <br />Coincident through that time period is the greatest period of regional crop exposure to hail <br />damage. By the conclusion of wheat harvest in early-to-mid-July, the next crops of primary <br />concern are corn and milo, both being generally a little more resilient to small hail-size damage <br />by that time, Although wheat and corn are the two main crops grown in the region, milo, alfalfa, <br />soybeans and sunflowers round out the main crops in the region. <br /> <br />21 <br />