FAAM BAe 146ARA G-LUXE at Fresno Yosemite International Airport in March (Jim McQuaid)
FAAM’s BAe 146ARA has just returned from a month-long stay in California, where she participated in a program to study mountain rotors, the Terrain-induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) program. Mountain rotors are intense low-level horizontal vortices that form on the lee sides of mountains and are an important hazard to aviation. The T-REX program is gathering data to study the phenomena. FAAM’s BAe 146ARA G-LUXE (msn E3001) undertook sixteen flights in support of the program, operating from Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California’s Central Valley. She arrived in Fresno on 13 March after a 2-day ferry flight from Cranfield. The 146ARA was responsible for measurements at up to 35,000 ft, complementing a Beechcraft King Air taking readings from 500 ft to 28,000 ft and a Gulfstream V taking readings at altitudes up to 45,000 ft. The 146ARA departed on its return flight on 11 April, arriving back at Cranfield on 13 April.
Recent news items on FAAM:
- FAAM BAe 146ARA test-flies optical ice detection probe (2017-07-04)
- FAAM BAe 146ARA flies in formation … with a ship (2016-09-15)
- FAAM BAe 146ARA operator Directflight changes name (2016-05-29)
- NERC buys FAAM BAe 146 (2014-04-02)
- FAAM BAe 146 to operate in the arctic (2013-03-19)