Textron Aviation, the manufacturers of the Beechcraft King Air, will be sending five of the turboprops to Saudi Arabia in support of a weather modification mission.
The specially modified aircraft will be used for cloud seeding.
Cloud seeding involves the deliberate introduction of various substances, often dry ice or silver iodide, that acts as condensation nuclei in an attempt to induce precipitation.
According to Textron, the company was awarded the contract by AvMet International LLC based in Fargo, North Dakota, for one Beechcraft King Air 360CHW and four Beechcraft King Air 260.
AvMet and its partners Weather Modification International (WMI) and Fargo Jet Center (FJC) will equip the aircraft with a cloud water inertial probe (CWIP), data logger with aircraft tracking, and cloud seeding equipment.
“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.”
