After several years of gestation and a concentrated 3-y development program, the Phase I Aerosonde moved to a near-operational mode in 1998. The year started with a full operational trial of the aircraft undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology from Port Hedland on the northwest coast of Australia in January and February. This was followed by a series of flights from Vancouver Island for the Canadian AES, and from Dongsha Island for the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment.
The specific goals of the Port Hedland operational trial were to test the Phase I Aerosonde system, demonstrate its reliability and usability, establish operational benchmarks and provide real-time data to Bureau operations.
All of these objectives were achieved. The Aerosondes flew 150 h in total, with launch and recovery at Port Hedland and command during flight from the Perth Regional Forecasting Centre, 1500 km to the south. Highlights included missions into the perifery of a severe tropical cyclone and an encounter with a microburst that showed the aircraft's capacity to withstand extreme turbulence with accelerations of over 5 g being experienced.
The operations at Vancouver and Dongsha Islands further extended our operational envelope, with an additional 210 h of flight operations under a wide range of conditions.
Included in these flights are 5 flights of >24 h endurance with the longest being 31 h.
The success of these operations, and the lessons learnt have enabled us to move towards a full operational system. A small production line is being established in Melbourne and a reconnaissance facility is providing field deployments for a number of programs in 1999. A separate talk by McGeer et al will provide highlights of the year's activities. This talk will focus on the capacity and plans for Aerosondes in operations