Flight #1

Flight track in Google Earth with
today's NASA MODIS satellite overlay

A large open lead in the Beaufort Sea

Today at 10:24 (Mountain Daylight Savings Time), that is 1624 UTC, the Polar 5 took off for the first VERDI flight in Inuvik. It was a Bird mission, so we headed onto the sea ice, expecting cloud-free conditions in the target area. But there were low, foggy clouds that were missed on the satellite pictures, so conditions were not good: the clouds decrease the pilots' visibility, and the humidity seemed to irritate the Bird. On the way back, the remote-sensing equipment scanned the low clouds and the sea ice, which has several large open leads, also an interesting topic. The flight ended at 13:53 in Inuvik.