Over the last two weeks, instruments were installed, cables laid, and the seats tightened into the aircraft to prepare for the COMPEX-EC (Clouds over cOMPlEX environment – EarthCARE) campaign in Kiruna. During the first half of April (2.-16.4.2025), scientists from the Universities of Cologne and Leipzig will conduct an EarthCARE validation campaign with the Polar 5 research aircraft from the Alfred Wegener Institute. Equipped with a suite of cloud remote sensing instruments, we will make research flights along the track of the overpassing EarthCARE satellite to validate its performance. Stay tuned for some impressions and regular updates from Kiruna.