Quick-look reduction software for FORCAST grism mode on SOFIA

We have designed and fabricated a suite of grisms for use in FORCAST, a mid-infrared camera scheduled as a first-light instrument on SOFIA. The grism suite gives SOFIA a new capability: low resolution spectroscopy from 5 to 38 microns at resolving powers from R=200 to R=1200, without the addition of a new instrument. We have developed an IDL based spectral data reduction and quick-look software package, in anticipation of FORCAST grism spectroscopy becoming a facility observing mode on the SOFIA telescope. The package allows users to quickly view their data by extracting single-order and cross-dispersed spectra immediately after acquiring them in flight. We have optimized the quick-look software to reduce the number of steps required to turn a set of observations into a fully reduced extracted spectrum. We present a description of the philosophy of the data reduction software, supplemented with screen shots and examples in hopes of garnering feedback and critiques from potential end users, software developers, and instrument builders.