Textron rains in Saudi with cloud seeding order

Textron Aviation has been awarded a contract by AvMet International for a Beechcraft King Air 360CHW (cargo door, heavy weight) and four Beechcraft King Air 260 aircraft to support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology programme for cloud seeding.

A King Air 360 in the special mission role

King Air 360 aircraft will play a central role in cloud seeding (Image Textron Aviation)

“We’re honoured 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.”  

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, North Dakota, USA 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 FAA approved supplemental type certificate modifications for cloud seeding and atmospheric research equipment.

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