This flight was called because southerly winds were forecast up the entire Gulf. The early morning profiler observations from Kino Bay and Puerto Penasco were used to confirm the southerly flow and continue with the mission. The profiler data was received during the flight - this confirmed the strong winds observed by the P-3.

The flight track was intended to provide cross sections at a number of places along the Gulf. The central gulf transects were the same as done during the previous two flights. The northernmost cross Gulf-transect was followed by a N-S transect to evaluate any along-flow changes between the over-Gulf and over-land. The last two transects repeated earlier mid-Gulf transects to look for any diurnal or synoptic changes over the flight. Two ferry segments were used to minimize flight time and fuel consumption. The most significant observations were the strong winds in the far northern Gulf, reaching 43 kts (1-sec data), with 34 kt winds at 500 ft above the surface. Strongest winds were close to Puerto Penasco. Winds were also strong, to about 27 kts, over the central Gulf (west of Guaymas). Surprisingly, winds were from the NE shortly after takeoff from Mazatlan, leading to concern that the flight might measure a SE-ly LLJ. The attached figures are self-explanatory.