From the Atlantic to the Alps, our research aircraft will be used to measure sulphur emissions from phytoplankton blooms and track the passage of air in mountainous regions over the next 6 months. 

We are getting our FAAM Airborne Laboratory ready for a summer of science projects, known as CARES and TEAMx, which involves reconfiguring the set of scientific instruments on board the research aircraft. 

Each project requires different instruments that measure specific atmospheric parameters, so some have to be fitted and some are taken off. Most of the time these reconfigurations use instruments that have flown on the aircraft before, but sometimes brand new instruments are needed and these can be more complicated to fit. In fact, this summer will be the first time some of the instruments being developed through the Mid-Life Upgrade programme will be used for scientific research. 

This whole process is known as the Aircraft Modification Programme, or AMP. This February will see our 29th AMP since the aircraft’s first science flight in 2004!

Although the aircraft has a science payload of four tonnes – meaning it can carry this weight of instruments used for research – we have a lot more than four tonnes of instrumentation. Not all our instruments can be fitted to the aircraft at the same time, so we have to select the right equipment for the science we want to do and change what is on board.

Usually, flights for a specific project are grouped together in the same time period. We need each flight to be as efficient as possible, which means only carrying instruments that will be used for that project. Sometimes the aircraft will be loaded with instruments for several projects at once, to achieve “more science per flight”.

The FAAM Airborne Laboratory maintains and operates a suite of instruments which fly with the aircraft most of the time. These cover a range of key atmospheric measurements, from turbulence to air temperature to humidity. Alongside the equipment maintained by us, we can carry instrumentation that belongs to or is managed by other organisations.

Once we know what projects the aircraft will be involved in, we see what instruments have been requested by the scientists. Instruments are usually housed in science racks – special frames that fit into the seat rails on the aircraft.

A rack can weigh as much as 227kg and, depending on where it is positioned inside the aircraft, affects how the aircraft is balanced. The overall weight of the aircraft also impacts how much fuel we use, so our engineers need to know exactly how much each rack weighs and where it needs to be on the aircraft.

The AMP process is not as simple as unplugging one instrument and plugging another one in – there is a lot of planning involved. 

The actual instrument changeover itself can take between two weeks and a month, but preparing for an AMP takes much longer than that. The scientists who are using the facility apply to work with us, and these applications are often submitted up to two years in advance.

As part of this application, scientists will specify what they will be measuring and what equipment they would need for this. If what they need is not already available from our existing instrument suite, we can start the process of adding a new instrument to the aircraft.

Keep up to date with our airborne research missions, and the new measurement capabilities we have. Connect with us on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and subscribe to our NCAS newsletter and a specific newsletter about the aircraft’s Mid-Life Upgrade Programme.