Cloud Seeding King Airs Ordered By Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia A Beechcraft King Air 360CHW (cargo door, heavy weight) and four Beechcraft King Air 260 aircraft have been ordered from Textron Aviation. The aircraft are to be used in Saudi Arabia's Cloud seeding program. Firstly, the aircraft need to be outfitted for the job and that is where AvMet International and its partner Weather Modification International (WMI) along with Fargo Jet Center come in. These companies will carry out the modification and equipping of the aircraft to aid the intended missions for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology.
"We’re honored AvMet has chosen a fleet of Beechcraft King Air aircraft to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology cloud seeding program," said Bob Gibbs, vice president, Special Mission Sales for Textron Aviation. "The King Air continues to be selected for a wide range of special mission roles around the world due to the aircraft’s capabilities and reliability."
AvMet and its partners Weather Modification International (WMI) and Fargo Jet Center (FJC) will work collaboratively to equip the four King Air 260 aircraft with a Cloud Water Inertial Probe (CWIP), Data Logger with aircraft tracking, and cloud seeding equipment. The King Air 360CHW will be rigged with Cloud Seeding equipment, a research laboratory and an instrument package for studying cloud physics and aerosols.
The aircraft will be modified at WMI’s headquarters in Fargo with sister company Fargo Jet Center LLC (FJC). FJC’s Part 145 Repair Station, which is an authorized service facility for the family of Beechcraft King Air aircraft, teamed with WMI to certify the Federal Aviation Administration approved Supplemental Type Certificate modifications for cloud seeding and atmospheric research equipment. Together, Textron Aviation, WMI and FJC will provide the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology with the newest technologies in cloud seeding and atmospheric sciences instrumentation. For more information: Cessna Aircraft Company 1 Cessna Blvd. Wichita, KS 67215 www.cessna.com ***
