Looking up at the sky! No, really, take a look. Should those planes be that low?
But don’t worry, because the aircraft you are looking at is conducting research and studying atmospheric data. The plane will fly through Southern California from Sunday to Wednesday.
NASA announced in a news release that low-altitude atmospheric flights will rise between 1,000 and 10,000 feet. For comparison, most commercial flights reach between 31,000 and 42,000 feet.
From the ground, the research appears unique as pilots circulate and vertical spiral through power plants, landfills and urban areas.
NASA has not provided details on the flight route and has announced that the aircraft will be bustling across the Los Angeles Basin, the Salton Sea and the Central Valley.
The flight is part of the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), which involves two aircraft.
The P-3 Orion Aircraft (N426NA) and King Air B200 Aircraft (N46L) cross Southern California, but are not in the same flight pattern. The P-3 is a modified four-engine turboprop surface designed for endurance and range, used in various research projects, according to NASA.
Flights are used to conduct various studies, sample atmospheric gases, and measure land and water surfaces. The information will be used as part of the student research project presented at the end of the program.
Data collected in the programme apply to ecology, meteorological, oceanography, soil science, biology, and satellite calibration/validation studies. According to NASA, the P-3s are usually located from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, with a science payload that can total 40 hours of science flights on each US coast.
The King Air B200 flies at the same time as the P-3, but does not do the same operation.
According to NASA, NASA students can gain real-world experience during the eight-week program, to help them collect data on scientific aircraft equipment by gaining real-world experience during the eight-week program.
“Even though SARP is a learning experience for both students and mentors, our P-3s fly and operate on several [the] Brian Berns, flight operations chief for NASA Wallops, said in a statement.
The aircraft also creates what appears to have missed a landing at a local airport, sprinting through pants on the runway, gathering air samples along the ground.
On previous SARP flights in Southern California, aircraft were bustling in Glendale and other areas.
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