weather modification plane specs - please help me.

zatatime wrote in message . ..
On 19 Oct 2004 05:28:17 -0700, (sahelsteve)
wrote:

Hi. My name is Steve Davies, I am a writer. I am currently working on
a story about weather modification in the Sahara desert. A pilot in a
weather modification lands in a Sahelian village to refuel. The story
is about villagers' different attitudes to what he is doing.

I am appealing to you experts for a bit of plane info, because I know
nothing about this area. What kind of plane would be used for weather
modification programs in a developing country (dumping silver iodide
crystals on clouds to precipitate rain)? Can you suggest a model name
so that I can find out more? What kind of fuel would it take? Is it
conceivable that it could run on normal motor gas or diesel?! what
would it look like? Is it possible there would be just one man
piloting it?

Any help you could give me would be hugely appreciated.

thank you.

Steve


Is what your writing fact or fiction?

z

Fiction based on fact. I have lived in Burkina Faso for three years,
but returned to England this year. I know that five years ago Blaise
Campaore (president of Burkina) asked the Moroccan government for help
in producing rain, and that was the beginning of Operation Saga, an
annual operation sending planes up to 'fatten' the clouds with silver
iodide and then fly into them to disturb the air and precipitate rain.
Interesting project, sometimes successful. (sometimes not - last year
there was flooding in Mali which the Malian government blamed on
Operation Saga!).

You can read about the technical issues involved he
http://www.rbs2.com/w2.htm


but I am having problems finding info on the actual planes involved,
and whether it is even remotely possible that a plane would run out of
fuel and land in a village to fill up with Motor gas.

Thanks for showing an interest, z.