IT'S ABOUT TIME !

Scientists Want to Fly an Armored Warplane into Hailstorms

TO GO WHERE NO CAPE VULTURE HAS EVER GONE BEFORE

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN REPORTS : 

At the start of a three-day conference  hosted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to explore ways to reduce hail damage...   Andrew Heymsfield,  an  NCAR  senior scientist, said the lab has been in talks with the Navy to procure
a surplus Navy A-10 for research missions.

Known as the Warthog, the titanium-armored aircraft was used to attack tanks during the Gulf War with a nose-mounted gatling gun. The plane would be fitted with instruments and flown into large forming hailstorms to learn more about the internal workings of the most damaging storms.

The last plane that could do that was retired in 2002. The renewed interest in hailstorms is timely, experts noted, because last week a storm with softball-sized hailstones hit Colorado Springs. It injured 14 people and damaged about 400 cars parked at the local zoo. Among the victims was a cape vulture and a muscovy duck;