Hurricane Félix: RECON Discussion

[HURAKAN]

No word yet from the crew.

FLIGHT TWO
A. 01/1200,1800Z
B. AFXXX 02FFA CYCLONE
C. 01/0930Z
D. 13.5N 62.0W
E. 01/1030Z TO 01/1800Z
F. SFC TO 10,000 FT

[cycloneye]

I hope that whatever problem they are having that caused them to retun to St Croix is nothing serious.

[HURAKAN]

This season the RECON has been plagued with problems.

Why Bill Proenza, why?!?!?!?!

[cycloneye]

Lets see if pojo can be with us today and explain what is going on.

[hiflyer]

Interesting thought...was this the same ac that bingo'ed back on Dean?

These 130J's are basically all new guts aircraft in the same looking 130 shell...glass cockpits and such along with uprated RollsRoyce motors instead of the old standard Allison rock crushers. While a far better aircraft it seems like the reserve squadron is having teething problems with their introduction...can't recall as many flt turnbacks in past seasons.

On the WC130J
http://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/library/fa ... sp?id=7482

Overall on the C130J
http://www.403wg.afrc.af.mil/library/fa ... sp?id=3444

From Lockheeds website
Key Features:

* A new propulsion system, featuring four powerful Rolls-Royce AE2100D3 engines, generates 29 percent more thrust while increasing fuel efficiency by 15 percent. An all-composite six-blade Dowty Aerospace R391 propeller system is lighter in weight and has fewer moving parts than previous Hercules propellers.
* Advanced avionics technology includes liquid crystal display (LCD) instrument readouts for aircraft flight control, operating systems and navigation. Besides its two holographic head-up displays, the "J" has four multifunctional head-down LCD displays. The displays are night-vision-imaging-system compatible, enabling the crew to operate the transport into and out of areas of total darkness with special night-vision devices, wherever special operations dictate.
* Two mission computers and two backup bus interface units provide dual redundancy for the Hercules' systems. These computers also provide an integrated diagnostics system to advise the crew of the status of the aircraft's various systems.

[gotoman38]

That's good stuff - thanks!

Glad to see this investment in RECON ... IMO we can use even more.

[cycloneye]

Now what is going on that the second plane is not transmitting the obs for over an hour?

[HURAKAN]

I don't know why but every time there is a problem Proenza comes to my mid.

[WindRunner]

162200 1154N 06400W 9663 00376 0097 +173 +173 212037 038 062 030 00

SFMR measured an accurate 62 knot wind 20 minutes ago . . . oddly enough the FL winds were barely half of that . . .

[HenkL]

Most observations show higher values for SFMR then flight level winds.

[HenkL]

NOAA2 plane on the way. GoogleEarth file here: http://wxgr.nl/tmppic/WXRecon.kml

[Thunder44]

VDM is coming. Extra pressure is about 995mb

[Chris_in_Tampa]

SFMR measured a peak 10 second surface wind of 66 knots (~ 75.9 mph). According to my calculations, the highest 30 second sustained surface wind might be around 62.0 knots (~ 71.3 mph). So it is close to hurricane strength. They might just go ahead and assume they did not see the highest winds.

[Derek Ortt]

over land, the SFMR is always well too high

[Thunder44]

Latest vortex is reporting back a 30-mile wide eye now, open on the NE side. Max winds so far are 77kts, which may be short of hurricane force winds at the surface. But I will suprised if this isn't a upgraded to a hurricane by 11pm.

[pojo]

Yes, AF301 had to return to St. Croix.... it was an In-flight Emergency on the descent INTO Felix. I'm not explaining what it was but you can't fly thru a storm with an IFE.

The Crew switched planes to AF306... We had software problems with the ARWO pallet. That's all I'm passing along with that.

Please quit bring up Proenza's name with any possible problem associated with recon.... Its not his fault that we are having problems onboard our aircraft.

[RL3AO]

Thanks as always pojo.

[gotoman38]

Yeah! Thanks for the info!

I hope everything was resolved OK with that IFE - the crews must be under incredible pressure these days - I hope you know how much your work is appreciated!

[pojo]

Yeah! Thanks for the info!

I hope everything was resolved OK with that IFE - the crews must be under incredible pressure these days - I hope you know how much your work is appreciated!

It is extremely hard to comprehend the immense pressure.

[brunota2003]

Yeah! Thanks for the info!

I hope everything was resolved OK with that IFE - the crews must be under incredible pressure these days - I hope you know how much your work is appreciated!

It is extremely hard to comprehend the immense pressure.

Is everyone ok?