Aircraft List
The NASA Airborne Science Program provides a unique set of NASA supported aircraft that benefit the earth science community. These manned and unmanned aircraft carry the sensors that provide data to support and augment NASA spaceborne missions.
Reminder: All investigators with approved or pending proposals from the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) announcements that have a requirement for a NASA Airborne Science platform/instrument, must submit a Flight Request. The Flight Request is also the method to acquire an estimate if your proposal requires a cost estimate for Airborne Science support. However, for investigators proposing to participate on large, multi-aircraft experiments, a single Flight Request will be submitted for each mission by the Project Manager or Project Scientist. The Science Operations Flight Request System (SOFRS) can be reached directly at https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/sofrs.
Non-NASA Aircraft
NASA instrumentation may fly on non-NASA Federal aircraft as well as academic and commercial platforms for which agreements for access by SMD investigators are in place, in process, or have recently been approved by NASA Aviation Management as airworthy and safe to operate. For more information, please review the current ASP Call Letter for further requirements and guidance. Please note that in addition to filing the required Flight Request, investigators are responsible for contacting vendors to determine if the platform meets the requirements of the proposed scientific investigation. It is also the responsibility of the investigator to ensure that before any preliminary test flights or actual data collection flights utilizing NASA personnel, instruments or funds occur, all vendors successfully complete a NASA airworthiness/flight safety review in accordance with NASA Aviation Safety Policy for Non-NASA Aircraft.
B-200 (UC-12B) - LARC
The NASA Langley Beechcraft UC-12B Huron (NASA 528) is an all-metal, twin-turboprop research aircraft. The UC-12B aircraft is a military version of a Beechcraft B200 King Air. NASA Langley acquired this aircraft in 2007 from the U.S. Marine Corps. The aircraft has been modified with two nadir-viewing ports: 29.5 x 29.5-in. in the forward section of the passenger cabin and 26.75 x 22.5 in. in the aft section. These downward-looking portals allow the use of a wide variety of optical, laser, or R-F based devices that might require a nadir look angle out of the aircraft. Research-supporting subsystems, such as electrical power distribution, TCAS, GPS and satellite phone communications also have been installed. The UC-12B aircraft also has a cargo door in the aft left side of the passenger cabin that can accommodate payloads up to 51.5 in. wide. In past operations, the cargo door has allowed a forklift with a boom attachment to place large, heavy payloads directly into the aircraft cabin. In its current configuration, the aircraft serves as the primary flight platform for a suite of aerosol and cloud remote-sensing instruments, including the NASA Langley Doppler Aerosol Wind LIDAR (DAWN). The aircraft is fully IFR capable.
The ship’s starter generators have recently been upgraded from 250 A to 300 A, thereby increasing research power capacity from 4200 to 8400 W @ 28 VDC. An Iridium satellite phone system has been installed to facilitate both remote voice communications as well as data modem transfer.
This aircraft nominally flies mission profiles up to altitudes of 28,000 ft, but with prior coordination, is capable of conducting operations in the National Airspace System up to the aircraft's service ceiling of 31,000 ft. Typically, the aircraft can carry a 1000-lbs payload, three crewmembers (two flight crew and one system operator) and remain airborne for four hours covering approximately 800 n.mi. The aircraft is limited to a maximum certified takeoff weight of 13,500 lbs. The aircraft has successfully operated in both domestic and international deployments. In summary, the NASA Langley UC-12B aircraft and its flight team provide an efficient and effective operational platform for small to medium-sized science payloads, especially those requiring or desiring unique integration, dedicated flight profiles, coordinated flights with other platforms, or flight patterns in congested airspace.
Owner/Operator:
NASA Langley Research Center
Type:
Conventional Aircraft
Duration:
6.2 hours (payload and weather dependent)
Useful Payload:
4,100 lbs
Gross Take-off Weight:
13,500 lbs
Onboard Operators:
4
Max Altitude:
31000 ft
Air Speed:
260 knots
Range:
1,250 Nmi
Point(s) of Contact:
Individual Aircraft Details:
N528NA (NASA528) based at LaRC