Flight of the Particle Detectors May 1, 2004

On May 1, 2004, the particle progam carried out an experiment to measure the cosmic-ray flux as function of altitude. The experiment was conducted using Dakota N277SM from Bill Law Aviation. This page shows a few pictures of this flight to catch some cosmic rays. The two pilots on this mission were Joe d'Arpino and Frank Wolfs.

Pilot-in-command: Joe d'Arpino.	Second-in-command: Frank Wolfs

The cosmic ray telecope that was installed in the Dakota was constructed in collaboration with local high schools. Several representatives were present at the airport to ensure that the telescope was installed properly (see pictures below).

Installtion of the cosmic-ray telescope in N277SM.

The route of flight was as follows:

• ROC - BUF at 4000'
• BUF - ROC - SYR at 7000'
• SYR - ROC - BUF at 12000'
• BUF - ROC - SYR at 9000'
• SYR - ROC at 4000'

The total flight distance was 434.4 nm and the total flight time was 3 hours and 21 minutes. Total engine on time was 4 hours (initial problems with the startup of the cosmic-ray telescope prevented us from departing on time). Total fuel used for this flight was 54 gallons. The flight encountered many different flight conditions, such as solid IMC, icing, and bright sunshine. Below you find some pictures taken during the flight.

Pictures taken during the flight of the cosmic-ray telescope.

A detailed log of the flight is listed here. All times indicated are based on the clock on the laptop.

140: engine start; problems with computer
155: taxi to ramp for assistance
210: problem solved, start engine, computer keeps running but board is
off. I turned the 12V - 120 V off and on and the board started to count
and the computer is recording the counts.
217: take-off
224: level 4000', heading BUF
245: reach BUF, start climb to 7000'
252: level at 7000', heading ROC and SYR
331: reach SYR and start climb to 12000'
344: level at 12000', heading ROC and BUF
432: start descent and turn at CLUNG, first to 11000'
440: level at 9000', heading ROC and SYR
509: reach SYR, start turn to ROC and descent
514: level at 4000', heading ROC
532: start descent ROC
552: 2 T+G + 1 landing ROC

After the flight the ground crew quickly removed the cosmic-ray telescope from the plane. Note that the we had lost the majority of the particle group at this point, and without assitance of the Physics 121 staff, the cosmic-ray telescope would still be sitting in N277SM.