Some C130 pictures

I did not have much time to take (good) pictures during and before the test flight, but here are a few anyway:

My seat!

My professor in the seat next to mine to train me during the flight. That little laptop is what we use to operate and 'check' the instruments. The actual data is stored in a much larger central computer on the plane. During normal operations, another person will be sitting in the seat next to mine (haven't met him yet), to operate the UWYO LIDAR.

This is the instrument rack that I'm responsible for. On top there is a CN counter (counts particles in the atmosphere), then a CCN counter (counts cloud condensation nuclei - the particles that clouds form on - in the atmosphere), then a UFN (a ultrafine particle counter), and a pump on the bottom to obtain flow through the system. Another person from our team will also be on the plane to operate the UWYO cloud radar, and LIDAR. I'm sure I will tell you more about the instruments as we get further into the project ;)

Another shot of the outside of the plane, right before take off.

Pilots doing their final safety inspections

Below the tip of the left wing, UWYO has an FSSP (Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe - an optical probe that measures cloud water content and number concentration, and cloud droplet size; size 1-45 um), and a PCASP (Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Probe - again to measure aerosol particles in the (dry) atmosphere ; size 0.1-3 um)

I learned a LOT during the test flight, about operating the instruments, and what to look out for during ascent and descent of the aircraft. We flew around for about 3 hrs, basically going from Boulder over highway 287 towards Wyoming, then to the west over I-80. Then we found a cloud that we flew in and out of (saw-tooth pattern \/\/\/ - barf!) for a while, and then through the boundary layer of the atmosphere back to Boulder via Laramie and Cheyenne. Another thing I learned? That flying through the boundary layer for 2+ hrs is definately very, very much worse than my morning sickness during the first trimester EVER was. I sat there with a sic sac in my lap the entire time, focusing on the fact that I could make it to the end (!), I don't have to lose my lunch! It doesnt help either that the plane barely has any windows, only this tiny little round one you see in the picture. My professor ensured me though that the type of clouds we will be flying through in Chile will not be as turbulent, and neither will the layers of the atmopshere that we will be flying through there. Lets hope so, because I would definately have filled up my sic sac if that flight was 9 hours long!