For the artificial rain in Lahore, a US-made aircraft, a Beechcraft C-90 with registration N-6393U, was used. It was a six-seater aircraft with two engines and fixed wings. Currently, the aircraft is in the possession of the UAE Air Force.
Pakistani authorities hired the aircraft from UAE authorities for rain purposes. The aircraft made two sorties in the metropolitan area towards Gujranwala district since winds were blowing from the north to the east.
The pilot fired into the clouds, and after the first sortie, scattered rain was observed in the city. As per meteorologists' report, the city received less than one mm of rain after its first sortie. A pilot who was part of this exercise while talking to Samaa said, “All expenses were born by the UAE government, and the Punjab government paid nothing in this regard.”
The aircraft consumes around 360 liters of fuel per hour, he added. The reason behind this hiring of aircraft and then making artificial rain was to improve the air index of the city. It merits mentioning here that Lahore was ranked at the top of the list of the most polluted cities in the world. But all this exercise went in vain after receiving only less than one mm of rain following the first sortie of the plane.
