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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration welcomed its third Beechcraft King Air to its specialized fleet. The aircraft was configured to support NOAA coastal mapping missions and aerial surveys of damage in communities after events such as hurricane landfall, tornadoes or flooding.
The new King Air 360 CER turboprop (N65RF) arrived at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida. The turboprop has a camera bay in the aircraft belly and work stations for sensor operators, able to process crucial aerial imagery in-flight and give emergency managers a rapid understanding of the ground conditions.
"This new, high-performance aircraft will greatly enhance NOAA's ability to collect data vital to forecasters, researchers and emergency managers," said NOAA Corps Rear Adm. Nancy Hann, the director of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.
The King Air was built at Textron Aviation's factory in Wichita, Kansas and was modified by Avcon Industries as part of a $13.9 million contract with Textron.
"The NOAA King Air aircraft contains cutting-edge technology that is helping unlock new capabilities for weather forecasting and data collection," Kansas Senator Jerry Moran said. "I worked to secure funding for this aircraft to expand the great work being done at Textron's Wichita location to aid in NOAA's mission of forecasting extreme weather and responding to flooding, drought and more."Rear Adm. Nancy Hann, Ron Draper, Senator Jerry Moran. Credit: Textron Aviation
The aircraft joins the two existing King Air 350 CERs in NOAA's fleet of specialized environmental data-gathering aircraft. NOAA is committed to building a fleet for the 21st century. This purchase is part of a long-term strategy entitled "NOAA Aircraft Plan, Building and Sustaining NOAA's 21st Century Fleet." With a fleet of three King Airs, NOAA can train a team of aviators, maintain airframes and meet the data requirements for NOAA missions. These missions include high-resolution coastal mapping to ensure safe navigation and the management of coastal resources, snow and soil moisture surveys to help in water resource management and flood forecasting, arctic monitoring and remote marine mammal population surveys, and weather and air chemistry research.
The specialized fleet is operated, managed and maintained by NOAA Corps officers and civilians. The NOAA Corps is one of eight uniformed services in the nation.
"We are honored the King Air 360CER aircraft continues to be the aircraft of choice to fill a variety of critical mission needs for NOAA," Textron Aviation President and CEO Ron Draper said. "The aircraft's ability to carry a wide range of special missions equipment, combined with its extended range performance, makes it a powerful and reliable platform to carry out the agency's unique missions during aerial surveys of damage in communities after events like hurricane landfall, tornadoes or flooding."