The project ''Research on Atmospheric Volcanic Emissions'' is a unique effort by NASA and university scientists to investigate the detailed chemical nature of plumes from volcanic eruptions. The major goals of the project are to: 1) understand the impact major eruptions will have an atmospheric chemistry processes, 2) understand the importance of volcanic emissions in the atmospheric geochemical cycles of selected species, 3) use knowledge of the plume chemical composition to diagnose and predict magmatic processes. Project RAVE's first mission used the NASA Lockheed Orion P-3 outfitted with equipment to measure concentrations of the gases SO2, OCS, H2S, CS2, NO, O3 and trace elements in particles in Mt. St. Helen's plume on September 22, 1980. Measurements of SO2 column densities in the plume permitted calculations of SO2 fluxes. This article is an overview of the first experimental design factors and performance of the initial RAVE experiment.