NOAA's new G-IVSP, N49RF, has a certified ceiling of
45000 feet, a range of 4075 nm, and a cruising true air speed
of 440 knots. The aircraft will be instrumented to provide 1-Hz
flight-level data, including GPS position, radar altitude,
pressure, all three wind components, temperature, and humidity.
The primary instrument systems will include a new GPS
dropwindsonde system, a main aircraft data system and local area
network capable of handling specialized sensors, and a workstation
for processing and coding the data from the GPS sondes for
direct transmission to NHC and NMC via a 9600 baud (2400
bd initially) satellite communications link.
Photograph (153K) of a N49RF in flight:
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