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MRMS HMT Hydro Experiment
The Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) Hydrometeorology Testbed - Hydro (hereafter denoted as HMT-Hydro) experiment is a part of the United States Weather Research Program (USWRP) through the Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) that runs from 25 June to 20 July 2018. During the HMT-Hydro experiment, forecasters and hydrologists from the National Weather Service (NWS) will work with National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) research scientists to assess new technology and techniques to improve the prediction and warning of flash flooding. In particular, NWS participants will evaluate new probabilistic hydrologic modeling concepts and output within the Flooded Locations and Simulated Hydrographs (FLASH) system that could help convey the uncertainty of the flash flood threat. NWS participants will also evaluate high resolution precipitation forecasts from the NSSL Warn-on-Forecast (WoF) project and the addition of these forecasts into the FLASH system. Feedback from participants will allow NSSL research scientists to identify how these precipitation forecasts could influence the warning decision making process, including the potential for increased warning lead time. The HMT-Hydro experiment runs in conjunction with the Flash Flood and Intense Rainfall (FFaIR) experiment at the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) to collaborate on the short-term forecasting of flash flooding for both a national and regional scale.
Airbus A340-311
MSN 0001 [Prototype/Testbed]
F-WWAI '001'
Airbus S.A.S
[300mm - NO CROP]
Copyright © 2011 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
At the end of World War II, Douglas Aircraft practically owned the airliner market in the United States, and a significant share in Western Europe as well: the DC-3, DC-4, and DC-6 dominated the airways, with the longer-ranged DC-7 due to enter service. Boeing's entry into the postwar market, the bigger and more luxurious Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, suffered from being more expensive and less reliable than the Boeing aircraft.
That was about to change. Boeing began working on a jet airliner with swept wings, and to stay competitive, Douglas began looking into a design as well. At first, the company only intended to compete with Boeing for the USAF's jet tanker project, but the USAF chose the KC-135 (based on the Boeing Dash 80 prototype) before Douglas' design was barely off the drawing board. Since it was known Boeing intended to develop the Dash 80 into a viable airliner--the 707--Douglas had to keep going with their design to stay competitive. This would become the DC-8, which first flew in 1958.
To the casual observer, the DC-8 looked nearly identical to the 707, in that both were narrow-body airliners with all four jet engines in pods below the wing. They were very different aircraft, however: the DC-8 used a slightly different wing design (including leading-edge slats) and a narrower fuselage, though with the same six-abreast seating as the 707. The nose was also different, with two cooling intakes being an instant identifier for the DC-8. Because of the similarities in design, airlines questioned what the DC-8 could offer that the 707 couldn't, though the DC-8 was faster (one prototype actually broke the sound barrier in a dive). After Pan American bought several DC-8s as a hedge against the failure of the 707, other airlines did the same--if an airline ordered the 707, its biggest rival would often order DC-8s just to be different. Delta Airlines would become the aircraft's first revenue customer in 1959
Still, though the aircraft was successful, DC-8 sales remained flat: Boeing offered short-range 720s, intermediate-ranged 707-120s, and the long-range 707-320, which Douglas could not match. In 1965, however, the DC-8 was saved when Douglas proposed the "Super 8" designs: this stretched the fuselage on either side of the wings. Though it gave the impression of being long to the point of being unsafe (the DC-8-63 was the longest airliner in the world when it entered service), this gave the DC-8 a much larger passenger capacity than the 707, and handling on the "Stretch 8" was no different than the earlier short-fuselage types. Until the arrival of the 747, the "Stretch 8s" were unrivaled for sheer amount of passengers carried.
Production of the DC-8 ended in 1972 in favor of the wide-body DC-10, but now-McDonnell Douglas wanted to keep the aircraft viable. To reduce smoke and noise (the DC-8 was notoriously loud), and increase fuel efficiency, the company offered a reengine program, using high-bypass CFM56 turbofans to replace the earlier JT3 turbojets. This was a huge success, keeping DC-8s in passenger service into the early 1990s. Even after the "Stretch 8s" were retired by airlines, they got a second life as cargo aircraft. 556 were produced, and at least six are known to still be flying; at least seven more survive in museums.
One of the last flyable DC-8s and possibly the last unstretched one, N817NA started off as a DC-8 for Alitalia in 1969. It flew with the Italian flag carrier for a decade, then was passed to Braniff in 1979. After Braniff went out of business in 1986, NASA picked up the DC-8 for modification into the Airborne Science Laboratory. By this time, it had been reengined with CFM56 turbofans. Flying on behalf of the Dryden Research Center and the Armstrong Flight Research Center, both at Edwards AFB, California, N817NA would remain with NASA until 2023, when it was retired to become a ground instruction trainer at the University of Idaho. N817NA made its final flight from Edwards to Pocatello in May 2024.
The similarity between the Airborne Science Laboratory and a standard DC-8 is only skin deep. The ASL was actually heavily modified on its interior, with a suite of electronics that rivals the USAF's RC-135 fleet. Various sensors for measuring atmospheric phenomenon could be attached as needed; satellites could be tracked to make sure their orbits are not decaying; it could track the reentry of spacecraft; the ASL can even monitor and track wildfires, while coordinating data in real time with NASA ER-2 aircraft and UAVs. In addition to these roles, it could also act as a testbed for various sensors and such.
I caught N817NA by chance: while researching the Gulfstream at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, I saw an article about N817NA buzzing Pocatello on its last flight (mainly to warn residents not to freak out about an airliner making low passes over the city). On our way down to Arizona in June 2024, we decided to make a stop at Pocatello, and sure enough, N817NA was parked there. I was able to get a decent through-the-fence shot. N817NA is looking a little dirty, but hopefully after it's done being a ground trainer, the ASL will be donated to a museum.
Rescue
handle
access
for
emergency
canopy
jettison
only
FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY
1. PUSH BUTTON TO OPEN DOOR
2. SQUEEZE 'T' HANDLE AND PULL
TO JETTISON CANOPY
Navy Tomcat 158623
Systems testbed aircraft
dsc00093, 2009:05:16 14:39:32, Oxnard, NAWS, Point Mugu, Naval Air Station, Missle Park, Navy Tomcat 158623
..don't care that he was a little too big for my viewfinder.
..climb out after a 32L departure for the first of three test flights that day. This one lasted precisely 12 minutes from take-off to touch-down.
Copyright © 2009 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
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Honeywell Aviation Services - Convair CV-580 (CV-340 Turboprop Conversion) - N580HW (c/n 2)
This aircraft was the second Convair 340 (CV-340) ever built. It was delivered to United Air Lines (UAL) as N73102, one of many wearing the name "Mainliner Convair" on September 2, 1952. Frontier Airlines would then be the next operator of the aircraft (same registration) in August 1966. After Frontier, the airplane would be purchased by Gem State Airlines and re-registered as N116GS in May 1979. Gem State as then renamed Golden Gate Airlines in 1980. In February 1984, Aspen Airways would buy the aircraft and re-register it as N113AP. Then in March 1991, Aspen Airways sold the aircraft to Renown Aviation, Renown then soon selling it to Allied Signal in January 1992. Allied Signal registered the aircraft as N580AS and equipped it as a flying testbed. Allied Signal and Honeywell merged in 1999, the aircraft now wears Honeywell titles and is registered as N580HW.
NASA's antique WB-57 high altitude testbed makes a spectacular approach during the last moments of desert light.
Departing Dublin Airport 29th December 2013, following repaint by Eirtech Aviation. Delivered back across to Hamburg, Germany for further cabin modifications prior delivery to the Bahrain Government.
The 38th and final Boeing 767-400ER produced by Boeing, initially as a military testbed, but later cancelled, and sold to the Government of Bahrain as a VIP transport.
Further information can be found at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_767#767-400ER
The XV-15 Tilt-Rotor testbed aircraft was designed by Bell Aircraft in the mid-1970s under a contract with NASA and the U.S. Army. It was capable of taking off and landing vertically like a helicopter and of flying horizontally when its "proprotors" were rotated forward and downward. NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, and the Army's Air Mobility Laboratory cooperated in a program to obtain two aircraft for flight research. Ship #1 was given NASA number 702, and ship #2 was number 703. The first aircraft arrived at Ames on 23 March 1978.This video is from a 1985 demonstration at NAS Moffett field during their airshow in1985. It itaken from the VHS tape I shot at that show.
A Sabreliner aircraft used by Northrop Grumman as a testbed for electronics was moved from BWI Marshall Airport to the National Electronics Museum on November 10, 2019. #avgeek #aviation #MDOTscenes
Photos by Shawn Byers
Premier John Horgan toured the Clean Energy Testbeds Site at the University of Washington as part of a two-day visit to Washington State.
Pentacon Praktica Super TL2
German 35mm SLR. Produced c.1975-1978
An ideal (film-based) test platform for M42 screw mount lenses.
Here with a Cosina Cosinon Auto 2.8/55mm lens.
One of the newest additions to the additions to the Northrup Grumman test fleet is this CRJ, N804X. Aircraft was one of three of the Northrup test fleet that was at BFI.
Karen Dunn Kelley, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Visits the NWC including stops at the NOAA Storm Prediction Center, the Norman National Weather Service Forecast Office, and the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed.
GoGo Wireless 737 testbed seen at BFI. In the background is the Museum of Flight's Concorde and 787.
Premier John Horgan toured the Clean Energy Testbeds Site at the University of Washington as part of a two-day visit to Washington State.
Airbus A340-311
MSN 0001 [Prototype/Testbed]
F-WWAI '001'
Airbus S.A.S.
[300mm - NO CROP]
Copyright © 2011 A380spotter. All rights reserved.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. On a tour of the KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site, Testbed Manager Louis MacDowell (right) explains to Center Director Jim Kennedy about the test blocks being used to test a newly developed coating to protect steel inside concrete. Between MacDowell and Kennedy are Dr. Paul Hintze and Lead Scientist Dr. Luz Marina Calle. The KSC Beach Corrosion Test Site was established in the 1960s and has provided more than 30 years of historical information on the long-term performance of many materials in use at KSC and other locations around the world. Located 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 1 mile south of the Space Shuttle launch sites, the test facility includes an atmospheric exposure site, a flowing seawater exposure site, and an on-site electrochemistry laboratory and monitoring station. The beach laboratory is used to conduct real- time corrosion experiments and provides for the remote monitoring of surrounding weather conditions. The newly added flowing seawater immersion facility provides for the immersion testing of materials and devices under controlled conditions. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum
During a socially-distanced tour, Soldiers got a first-hand look at the new ARL Robotics Research Collaboration Campus at Graces Quarters, Md., and an autonomous vehicle testbed independently operate in a various military scenarios Feb. 23
LII f.a.c.t. (flight aircraft control testbed) Tupolev 154M,
LII ACE (Advanced Control Experiment) Sukhoi 27LL
and Mikoyan-Gurevich 29LL
McDonnell Douglas MD-81 UHB N980DC testbed for the General Electric Unducted Fan engine on the port side. At times during the demonstration flight it flew on the Unducted Fan alone.
The project was discontinued in 1989.
Photo: Dick Gilbert, Farnborough Air Show, 4 Sept 1988.
The BAE Systems’ owned Jetstream (G-BWWW), known as ‘The Flying Testbed’, is an aerial laboratory. It's a unique aircraft which has been developed to be flown by pilots or as an Uninhabited Air Vehicle (UAV). Racks of computers and control systems in the rear of the aircraft, together with satellite communications, mean it can fly as if it were a UAV without any input from the pilots. This year it will trial a range of new technologies to be developed under the ASTRAEA programme, including what is believed to be the world’s first autonomous weather avoidance system, in addition to ‘sense and avoid’ technologies and an autonomous emergency landing system.
During a socially-distanced tour, Soldiers got a first-hand look at the new ARL Robotics Research Collaboration Campus at Graces Quarters, Md., and an autonomous vehicle testbed independently operate in a various military scenarios Feb. 23
Candles on a table are so beautiful.
I had my mind set on going out and take photos during the time the ham is in the owen but it's raining here again. Yes you read it correctly. Very strange winter.
If you feel for it you could take a look at testbed.fmi.fi to have glimpse of what the weather is over here.