2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

flight control and management of the aircraft
operations. The Payload Operations Room (POR)
of the GHOC consists of the workstations
occupied by the personnel responsible for the
various aircraft payloads. The POR personnel can
monitor payload status, receive payload data, and
control the individual payloads.
The first flight of a NASA Global Hawk occurred
on October 23, 2009. The purpose of this initial
flight of TN 872 was to check out the aircraft
systems and verify the functionality of the ground
control station. The duration of the first flight
was four hours and the aircraft reached an
altitude of 61,400 ft. Four additional flights were
conducted to further check out systems and gain
experience with flight operations. During these
flights, NOAA Commander Phil Hall became fully
qualified as a Global Hawk Pilot. After the fifth
flight was completed, modifications began on the
aircraft to support the first science campaign,
which is Global Hawk Pacific. TN 871 is being
prepared for it’s first flight as a NASA aircraft,
which will occur in early 2010.
Figure 54:
Then Airborne Science Program Manager Andrew
Roberts at Global Hawk debut ceremony at DFRC.
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