{TrueSound}™ Beautiful NASA Douglas DC-8-72 Takeoff / Landing Action at Ft. Lauderdale for CPEX 2017

Ladies and gentlemen... The Horizon Productions SFL team proudly presents one of our best and favorite works yet. This is no ordinary "spotting video," but rather, it is a much-needed proper documentation of one of the very few Douglas DC-8's still flying today. This is NASA's Airborne Science Laboratory, "acquired in 1985 and highly modified to support its airborne science mission. The aircraft has a range of 5,400 nautical miles (6,200 statute miles) and can fly at mission altitudes from 1,000 to 42,000 feet for up to 12 hours, although most science missions average 6 to 10 hours. The DC-8 can carry 30,000 pounds of scientific instruments and equipment."

NASA's beautiful DC-8 is based in Palmdale, California. But for a few weeks, she was temporarily based at Ft. Lauderdale for the Convective Processes Experiment, or CPEX: "The NASA Convective Processes Experiment (CPEX) aircraft field campaign will take place in the North Atlantic-Gulf of Mexico-Caribbean Oceanic region during the early summer of 2017. This campaign hopes to collect data that can help to answer questions about convective storm initiation, organization, growth, and dissipation. For this effort, NASA's DC-8 aircraft will log 100 hours of flight time and be equipped with multiple instruments capable of taking measurements that will help scientists improve their understanding of convective processes."

Although it may seem easy to catch this bird since she was based at FLL, the schedule was extremely unpredictable. Thus, much effort went into giving this classic aircraft the attention it deserves. We made 4 different trips to catch this bird... The first 2 were unsuccessful, but we refused to give up, and you can see the results of our perseverance here. The DC-8 is dear to the HPSFL team (as are all DC jets) and we felt the need to push the outside of the envelope with the editing for this video. For those of you who read all this, it is much appreciated. And so, finally, enjoy this short film featuring... The legendary Douglas DC-8.

Credit to Damon J. Duran / PhantomPhan1974 Photography for the "Fly DC Jets" photo.

Filmed from...
Day 1: Ravenswood Road and near the FedEx loading area. BJG + MVP + SJH 6/3/17
Day 2: the Hibiscus parking garage and near the FedEx loading area. BJG + MVP 6/14/17
Day 3: the Hibiscus parking garage. BJG 6/17/17
Day 4: Ravenswood Road. BJG + MVP + TDG 6/19/17

Music: Space Mountain Entrance Music

Equipment:

Canon T6
Canon T3i
18-55mm standard lens
55-250mm telephoto lens
Zoom H1 microphone
Uniden BC75XLT
Tripod with Magnus VPH-20 head

Aircraft Featured:

N817NA
Douglas DC-8-72
(ex Alitalia 1969-1979, Braniff International Airways 1979-1982, Quiet Nacelle Corporation 1984-1986, modified from DC-8-62H in 1986)
MSN 46082
Built in 1969
4x CFMI CFM56-2C1
NASA 817 from Ft. Lauderdale FLL | to Ft. Lauderdale FLL