Our capability can be available for commercial users to install instrumentation and conduct flights.

To use the FAAM Airborne Laboratory for commerical purposes, you must initially contact Mark Carpenter, FAAM’s Project and Contract Manager, for guidance on available access periods, technical issues, and potential costs. We must schedule commercial work alongside existing commitments.

There are no absolute limitations as to what can be done, but past commercial users have made use of the facility in two different ways:

Dedicated flying

Dedicated flying often uses a mixture of existing FAAM instrumentation and customer equipment, and will be managed similarly to any normal science programme. Meetings will establish the feasibility of the campaign, and the costs of operation and equipment installation. After initial contact with our Project and Contract Manager, users will be asked to complete a FAAM Project Proposal Form, so that feasibility and costs may be fully established.

Ride-along testing

FAAM can provide the capability for organisations who wish to test equipment for a period of time on board an instrumented large aircraft. Our team are specialists in putting new equipment regularly onto the aircraft. We have a wealth of data available from our existing instrumentation which can be used as a baseline for evaluating the data from new equipment.

 Commercial customers may require signature of a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before sharing technical information with FAAM. In such cases, the NDA will initially be with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and University of Leeds, and information will initially be restricted to a small core of suitably cleared personnel at FAAM. If a task goes ahead subsequently, then derivative NDAs will be put in place with internal partners to ensure task delivery with suitable data confidentiality. 

 Costs will be determined on a case by case basis. Any commercial profit will be re-invested in facility capability. Costs typically will be quoted as an estimate in the first instance, with a fixed price quote available if required. If costs are required for inclusion in a grant application, an estimate can be provided for a defined timescale. Please allow an absolute minimum of 3 months, preferably longer, to produce this.

See what our aircraft is capable of…

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