Research UAV probes supercells

Humm AOPA talking UA (ed)

By Jim Moore

There were a few surprises along the way, but winding up wrecked in Kansas was not among them despite several supercell intercepts by an unmanned aircraft team from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2010.

The team hopes to return to the skies soon, with a little more room to maneuver. Their experience is helping to shape national policy on the management of unmanned aircraft within the National Airspace System.

Flying in the spring of 2010 as part of the massive VORTEX2 (second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment) project, the university research team managed to fly where few would dare. Operating an unmanned electric airplane with a 10-foot wingspan, they targeted, at low altitude, the rear flank downdraft of a supercell. Researchers were testing a hypothesis that this part of the storm has a critical role in the formation of a tornado.

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2013/130123research-uav-probes-supercells.html