[Im4ca-wp1.beta] Minutes WP1 meetings aircraft

[Röckmann, T. (Thomas)]

Dear all,
Thanks for the productive WP1 meeting on Friday.

Dominik Brunner kindly took minutes, which are attached, below, thanks Dominik

Thomas

IM4CA aircraft flight planning meeting
Friday, 23 May 2025

Agenda


  1.  Airport
  2.  Time period
  3.  Flight permissions
  4.  Targets

Discussion

  1.  Airport
The best home base for the aircraft is  Strejnicu airfield in Plojesti
According to Sebastian Iancu, the hangar should be large enough for the three aircraft of INCAS, U. Bremen and Empa


  1.  Time period
April is too early as the sun is low (lots of shadows in the images according to Gerrit) and the weather is too uncertain.
The favourite period is mid-May to mid-June (or even end of June)


  1.  Flight permission
Based on previous experience, this needs to be organized >3 months in advance.
Fortunately, similar aircraft missions have been performed in the area before by INCAS, Empa and others.
Aircraft operators should ideally have an aerial work license. Because this is limited to commercial operators, such a licenses is not available for the operators of the Dimona of the University of Bremen.

Sebastian Iancu asks would like all aircraft operators to send him information on
- type of aircraft
- instrumentation
Empa's AVIRIS-4 instrument has high spatial resolution, which might be a sensitive aspect.
Bremen would like to fly profiles down to at least 100 m above ground to measure wind profiles. Bremen may also fly plume transects at multiple altitudes with an in-situ sensor.
- type of fuel (should not be a problem, in the worst case a truck will have to bring fuel to the airport)
- list of target areas with coordinates of extreme points
Sebastian will then coordinate the flight permit process with the local air traffic control authorities.
Without an aerial work license, the process might be complicated and require many signatures.

It was noted that it will be difficult to get permits for flying over the city of Bucharest. The two landfills near Bucharest are outside the city, but they may be close to airports.

In previous campaigns (years ago) there were issues with the necessity of renting the aircraft to a Romanian company (wet leasing). This prevent, for example, DLR to perform campaigns in Romania.
Such a request could be a show-stopper for both U. Bremen and Empa.

Once permissions are there, it should be possible to inform air traffic control 1 day in advance of the specific flight plans and which of the defined targets will be observed.


  1.  Targets
Empa would like to repeat the same flight lines as in 2021 targeting oil- and gas production facilities in  the area of the Romeo 2019 campaign.
In addition to these, there are the following targets of interest:
- Glina and Sintești landfills near Bucharest
- Additional oil- and gas-production regions in Romania: Gas fields in Transylvania from ROMGAZ, fields in the northeast of the country not covered previously by ROMEO and ROMEO-2
- Other targets? Other sources of interest could be coal mines and mud volcanoes.

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