Wind Calibration Validation:  COBRA Flight (June 6, 2003)

  Using the wind calibration based on the July 11, 2003 flight, a comparison of the time segments is made for the June 6, 2003 COBRA flight when the aircraft flew at the same altitude (Figure 1) and over the same location (Figure 2).  The flight plan called for continuous altitude changes on a back and forth segment.  Altitude segments were selected that corresponded to time periods when the aircraft was in a similar location (see Figure 2).  Figures 3-6 show comparisons of the calculated winds parameters.  These figures show good agreement between the first leg (up to ~47600 seconds) and the second leg.  The largest difference are for the first and last segments, which is to be expected since they have the longest interval in time between measurements.  Considering the variation within each time segment, overall the agreement between the first and second legs is very good.
 
 
Altitude versus time (030606)
Figure 1:  The aircraft altitude versus time during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for different comparison time segments.  The seconds from midnight are given for the start and end of each segment.


Latitutde and Longitude during corresponding time segments.
Figure 2:  The aircraft's position (latitude versus longitude) during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for the different comparison segments, which are over the same time periods as given in Figure 1.


X component of the Wind (030606)
 
Figure 3:  The X (East) component of the wind versus time during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for the different comparison segments, which are over the same time periods as given in Figure 1.


  Y Component of the Wind (030606)
Figure 4:  The Y (North) component of the wind versus time during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for the different comparison segments, which are over the same time periods as given in Figure 1.


Magitude of the Wind (030606)
Figure 5:  The magnitude of the wind versus time during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for the different comparison segments, which are over the same time periods as given in Figure 1.


Direction of the Wind (030606)
Figure 6:  The wind direction versus time during the June 6, 2003 flight.  Symbols are given every second for the different comparison segments, which are over the same time periods as given in Figure 1.


Please contact David Delene at delene@aero.und.edu with your questions or comments.

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