How a Wichita plane can help NOAA in emergencies

Laura McMillan
·2 min read

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A plane built in Wichita will aid weather experts during major weather events, and it is not the first Wichita plane that is helping.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just added a third Beechcraft King Air to its specialized aircraft fleet.

The Beechcraft King Air 360 CER turboprop is configured to support NOAA coastal mapping missions and aerial surveys of damage in communities after events like hurricanes, tornadoes or flooding.

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There is a camera bay in the aircraft belly and workstations for sensor operators. The plane can get and process vital aerial imagery and give emergency managers a quick understanding of conditions on the ground.

Workers at Textron Aviation in Wichita built the plane. Avcon Industries in Newton modified it.

“This new, high-performance aircraft will greatly enhance NOAA’s ability to collect data vital to forecasters, researchers and emergency managers,” NOAA Corps Rear Adm. Nancy Hann said in a news release.

“The NOAA King Air aircraft contains cutting-edge technology that is helping unlock new capabilities for weather forecasting and data collection,” U.S. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas said. “I worked to secure funding for this aircraft to expand the great work being done at Textron’s Wichita location to aid in NOAA’s mission of forecasting extreme weather and responding to flooding, drought and more.”

“We are honored the King Air 360CER aircraft continues to be the aircraft of choice to fill a variety of critical mission needs for NOAA,” Ron Draper, Textron Aviation president and CEO, said. “The aircraft’s ability to carry a wide range of special missions equipment, combined with its extended range performance, makes it a powerful and reliable platform to carry out the agency’s unique missions during aerial surveys of damage in communities after events like hurricane landfall, tornadoes or flooding.”

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NOAA says its fleet of three King Air 350 CERs enables the team to train aviators, maintain airframes and meet data requirements for missions conducting:

  • High-resolution coastal mapping to ensure safe navigation and management of coastal resources,

  • Snow and soil moisture surveys to aid water resource management and flood forecasting,

  • Arctic monitoring and remote marine mammal population surveys, and

  • Weather and air chemistry research.

The newest addition to the fleet is at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida.

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