Textron Aviation has been awarded a contract by AvMet International (AvMet), based in Fargo, North Dakota, for one Beechcraft King Air 360CHW (cargo door, heavy weight) and four Beechcraft King Air 260 aircraft. The fleet will support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's National Center for Meteorology programme for cloud seeding.
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 (FJC). FJC's Part 145 Repair Station, which is an authorised 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.
More than 7,700 Beechcraft King Air turboprops have been delivered to customers around the world since 1964, making it the best-selling business turboprop family in the world. The worldwide fleet has surpassed 62 million flight hours in its 58 years, serving roles in all branches of the U.S. military and flying both commercial and special mission roles around the world.
