AbstractAn ultralight aircraft was used to make concurrent, near continuous measurements and to acquire spectral responses in several wavelengths over various ground features: water bodies (river and irrigation channels), geomorphological features (sand banks, levees, iron crust), aquatic vegetation (rice and spontaneous aquatic vegetation) and stubbles (millet and sorghum). The experiment was performed in Mali, along the Niger river. The airborne instrumentation made it possible to collect simultaneously spectral responses in the MSS and SPOT bands, flying height by laser rangefinder and colour video tapes of the area over-flown. Five profiles, several kilometres long, were obtained at heights above the ground varying from 20 to 75 m. Along each profile spectral data and flying height were scanned every 0-1 s and recorded on the audio channel of a videotape, after multiplexing and analogue-to-digital conversion. The preliminary data analysis suggest a very high potential for ultralight aircraft in remote sensing applications.