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Arctic LDB Program Development
The Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI) in a joint effort with Andøya Rocket Range (ARR), anticipates launching a total of 6-7 “Pathfinder” balloons from Svalbard (Norway) during the 2003 summer. Campaign information
Balloons launched
Campaign descriptionThe balloons will carry a payload of a GPS/Argos transmitter for tracking. This campaign is designed to prove concept for launching larger Long Duration Balloons (LDB) in the future from this high latitude location. These small (1950 cubic meters and 3600 cubic meters) balloons reach an altitude of +/- 5mb (127kft) and will circumnavigate the polar region between 78 and 80 deg. N. Making use of the Pathfinder balloons with a GPS/ARGOS payload for tracking purposes, this investigation will obtain a trajectory showing the stratospheric circulation pattern of stratospheric winds, diurnal excursions, and potential termination/impact locations for the future LDB flights. Stratospheric wind analysis and it’s impact on the balloon trajectories has been constructed for the past three years (2000,2001,2002). The wind data analysis for each year spans a period from May through August. The analysis data utilized for these procedures came from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). A complete set of ECMWF data (for each degree of latitude and longitude in the area of interest), was available every 6 hours. During the three year period we have constructed the geopotential altitude at 5 mb.; Fig. 1,2,3, show the typical isobaric behaviour in the polar regions. The ground track trajectory was simulated through a 20 day cycle by using a linear interpolation in space and time with a step of 0.5 hours. A latitude of less than 68º was an additional condition for the end of the propagation (Fig. 4,4,6 show the simulated balloon trajectories using actual data). from this link |
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N945MA shows
damage to left wing tip (top) after striking Jetway with wingtip at
Tri-Cities Regional
Airport TN/VA
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MD-83 (EC-GXU) of Spanair
will be out of service for about 8 weeks after the landing gear collapsed in a hangar during maintenance at Kastrup Regional Airport Copenhagen Denmark | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fire broke out in the left-hand
engine of this MD-82 of Dutch Caribbean Airlines forcing it to circle for
25 minutes (after engine shutdown) in order to reduce weight for landing
back at Curacao. Aircraft was enroute to St Maarten, Dutch Antilles, Eastern Caribbean. |
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Eclipse 500 prototype reg ECP101 collapsed its right main landing gear after touchdown at Albuquerque during a developmental test-flight. Wing-tip undersurface and flaps were damaged when the actuator casting fractured. Second MLG incident for the Eclipse 500 (for unrelated causes). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||