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Lesson context: This lesson prompts students to select the best aircraft for their mission and create a flight plan given the mission characteristics. Based on their new understanding of NASA research aircraft, students will identify answers to their questions from previous lessons and use the answers to select the best aircraft for the airborne remote sensing mission. They will create a flight plan and then compare their flight plan to one that was used to fly the actual mission over Kilauea volcano.. 

Key science concepts:

• Science technology and instruments: the characteristics of NASA research aircraft and remote sensing instruments
• Calculating the great circle flight path 
• Latitude and longitude
• Weather: temperature, wind speed, wind direction, moisture in the air, dew and frost

Links to teacher background information:

• ER-2 operating bases (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/airsci/er-2/er2bases.html)
• ER-2 typical flight operations (http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/airsci/er-2/fltops.html)\
• Atmospheric circulation research and flight paths (http://www-gte.larc.nasa.gov/pem/pemt_flt.htm)

Pacific mapping research flight paths (http://www-gte.larc.nasa.gov/pem/pemb_flt.htm)

• Example flight plans (http://ghrc.msfc.nasa.gov/camex3/flight_plans/)

Great circle flight path display tool (http://gc.kls2.com/)

• AVIRIS (http://makalu.jpl.nasa.gov/html/overview.html)

Problems addressed in this lesson:

• What is the best NASA research aircraft to fly the KaAMS airborne remote sensing mission?
• Create a flight plan for Kilauea mission.

Activity bursts:

• Select aircraft based on characteristics of the remote sensing instruments (http://www.higp.hawaii.edu/kaams/lessonplans/develop/support.html#group1)
• Select aircraft based on mission planning factors (http://www.higp.hawaii.edu/kaams/lessonplans/develop/support.html#group2)
• Selecting aircraft based on flight planning parameters (http://www.higp.hawaii.edu/kaams/lessonplans/develop/support.html#group3)
• Create a flight plan and compare it to the actual NASA flight plan

Links to other resources: