It was quite a fun day, we learned all about the flight operations, escape holes, and the wetsuits we have to put on in case we have to make an emergency water landing (which of course won't happen ;) ), and got to meet the 4 pilots that will be coming with us. We had to sign some paperwork saying we are in good health etc., and that they are not responsible if we get injured in any way. This actually posed a little problem, because in the list of health requirements, it stated that you cannot be pregnant beyond 20 weeks (Much earlier than commercial aircraft, because these research aircraft tend to fly through clouds for scientific purposes, which means turbulence! - however the type of clouds that we fly through during our project are not the true convective type clouds, so....?). Oops! In chile I will be in my 17th-23rd week, so that could be a problem. I went to the head of flight operations to ask about this, and he said he didn't really know, because they have never had a pregnant woman on board before! Wohoo! Always fun to be the first. :) - anyhow, I will make sure to chat this over with my doctor, and hopefully the NCAR safety people won't ban me after 20 weeks.
After all the safety stuff we went inside the plane, which is only a rough empty tube (no fancy interior or overhead compartments), showing all wiring and tubing, and inside are just a few (maybe 8 or 10?) seats for the scientists, and all the instruments. Sampling of the air is through inlets that come through the body of the plane, and some of the instruments are in pods underneath the wings. My professor took me in to show me what 'my seat' will be, right in front of a rack of instruments (4 of them - more will follow about those) that I will be responsible for. We will fly about every other day (both day and night flights), and each flight will be about 9 hours long (more about that to follow as well). No in flight service of course, so this pregnant lady will have to figure out how to make sure she gets enough food during those 9 hours! :) We will be allowed to move about the cabin, and even go up front to hang with the pilots in the cockpit. For restrooms they have one *wonderful* porta-potty in the back :( - so yes, I will also bring my clorox wipes.
That afternoon they had another test flight, however I had to race back to Laramie to substitute guest lecture a 4pm undergraduate Earth System Science class on air pollution - a whole story in itself - basically, I had just been given the slideshow on a memory stick that morning, with no way at all to prepare for the presentation. In the end everything went well, I was able to answer the students' questions, and I actually enjoyed teaching!
This is a pricture of the aircraft. I will make sure to take my camera with me next time we go to Boulder for a test flight (this thursday?) to take some pictures of the air sample inlets, the instruments underneath the wings, and 'my seat' :).
More about our whole 6 week project in Arica, Chile will follow at some point too.
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