Millions of eyes were on the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton even as another major UK news story took shape—one dealing with meteorology rather than monarchy.

On 17–18 January, staff from the German Aerospace Center got to compare their new Gulfstream G550 jet, dubbed HALO, with its closest counterpart—the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V, called HIAPER, which debuted in 2005.