NCAR updates research fleet with arrival of 
Lockheed EC-130Q
by Joan Frisch, NCAR Media Relations
Robert Henson, NCAR Information and Education Outreach Program

The newest addition to NCARÕs research aviation fleet, which can carry more 
equipment and fly farther and higher than the Electra, should be ready for 
research next summer.  

he latest, and long-awaited, addition to the NCAR research aircraft fleet, a 
Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules, arrived at NCARÕs Research Aviation Facility 
(RAF) in Colorado on 11 August.  After some refurbishment and retrofitting 
to accommodate the needs of scientists, it should be available for research 
next summer. 

The four-engine turboprop plane, formerly used as a communications aircraft 
for the U.S. Navy, will give a much-needed boost to the fieldwork capacity of 
atmospheric scientists.  ÒAtmospheric research problems and the programs 
being designed to study them are becoming increasingly global in scope and 
execution,Ó says RAF manager Lawrence Radke.  ÒNCARÕs present fleet of a 
Lockheed Electra, a North American Sabreliner twin-engine jet, and a 
Beechcraft King Air 200 cannot meet the scienceÕs growing need for heavy 
payload, extended-range research missions.  The EC-130Q will take a big step 
toward meeting these needs.Ó  He adds that ÒEverybody was being 
increasingly squeezed by the limited capacities of the Electra [mainstay of the 
NCAR fleet since 1974].  When you wanted to add 500 pounds of scientific 
equipment to the Electra, you had to take off 500 pounds of fuel.Ó  

Especially for atmospheric chemists, that trade-off was becoming increasingly 
tough because the focus of most large-scale chemistry experiments has shifted 
from Òworst-caseÓ pollution scenarios to more pristine atmospheric regions 
and the extremely low levels of certain atmospheric components present 
there.  The need for greater precision has brought a need for often-bulky 
instrumentation, and interest in global change research should keep the trend 
continuing, says Radke.

The EC-130Q can carry 240% more equipment, fly much farther, and ascend 10 
to 30% higher than the Electra.  It will carry an array of instruments providing 
measurements important to atmospheric chemistry, dynamics, radiation, 
cloud physics, and oceanography.  Unlike the Electra, it was originally a cargo 
plane, comparable in size to the Boeing 737-400 series but somewhat shorter 
and wider and with more interior space.  A large rear cargo door can be used 
for loading or deploying large instruments like oceanographic buoys.  Optical 
ports will be added at the top and bottom of the cabin to allow remote-sensing 
devices such as lidars to scan the atmosphere.  

Oceanic clouds, which play a crucial role in the earthÕs general circulation, 
will be a prime focus for the plane.  Its range of more than 3,000 miles (5,000 
kilometers) during a ten-hour crew day will provide researchers with new 
opportunities to study oceanic cloud systems over remote areas not easily 
tracked by land-based radars.  Equipped with a complete array of particle 
probes, spectral radiometers, millimeter-wavelength radar, Doppler lidar, and 
air-motion sensors, it will provide a data set badly needed for a better 
understanding of cloud and boundary-layer processes.  These processes are an 
importantÊpart of large-scale computer models of  global climate change.  

ÒThe trend toward global-scale observational studies of the atmosphere and 
oceans is clear,Ó says Radke.  ÒIt is important to resolve issues regarding heat 
and moisture fluxes over large areas.  It is also critical to measure carbon 
dioxide, methane, and other trace gases because of the impact of these 
greenhouse gases on model assessments of global climate change.Ó  

Planning continues to further upgrade the RAF fleet.  Efforts are under way to 
transfer another former military plane to the National Science Foundation 
and NCAR, this one a WB-57F high-altitude jet.  NCAR also intends to 
acquire a long-range midsized jet before the decade is out.  Radke expects the 
Electra Doppler radar will move to the EC-130Q in the latter 1990s, and the 
Electra be put to pasture at last.  The EC-130Q, says Radke, Òis a good start at 
establishing a new research fleet with global reach.Ó  For further information, 
see page 15.