Textron Aviation Secures Five Beechcraft King Air Turboprops for Saudi Arabia’s Revolutionary Weather Enhancement Project
Textron Aviation has revealed it has secured a contract from AvMet International LLC (AvMet), located in Fargo, North Dakota, for one Beechcraft King Air 360CHW (cargo door, heavy weight) and four Beechcraft King Air 260 aircraft. The Beechcraft King Air fleet is set to assist the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology initiative for cloud seeding.
The Beechcraft King Air is engineered and produced by Textron Aviation Inc., a subsidiary of Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT).
“We’re privileged that AvMet has opted for a fleet of Beechcraft King Air aircraft to bolster the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology cloud seeding effort,” stated Bob Gibbs, vice president of Special Mission Sales for Textron Aviation. “The King Air is consistently chosen for diverse special mission functions on a global scale due to the aircraft’s features and dependability.”
AvMet along with its associates Weather Modification International (WMI) and Fargo Jet Center (FJC) will collaborate to outfit the four King Air 260 aircraft with a Cloud Water Inertial Probe (CWIP), a Data Logger with aircraft tracking capabilities, and cloud seeding apparatus. The King Air 360CHW will be outfitted with cloud seeding technology, a research laboratory, and an instrument suite for investigating cloud physics and aerosols.
The aircraft modifications will take place at WMI’s main facility in Fargo in partnership with sibling company Fargo Jet Center LLC (FJC). FJC’s Part 145 Repair Station, an authorized service hub for the Beechcraft King Air series, collaborated with WMI to validate the Federal Aviation Administration approved Supplemental Type Certificate modifications for cloud seeding and atmospheric research equipment. Collectively, Textron Aviation, WMI, and FJC will equip the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology with cutting-edge technologies in cloud seeding and atmospheric science instrumentation.
