Running now through Wednesday, July 2, two research aircraft will make a series of low-altitude atmospheric research flights near Philadelphia, Baltimore, and some Virginia cities, including Richmond, as well as over the Los Angeles Basin, Salton Sea, and here in the Central Valley of California.

Pilots will operate the aircraft — NASA’s P-3 Orion aircraft (N426NA) and a King Air B200 aircraft (N46L) owned by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA — at altitudes lower than typical commercial flights, executing specialized maneuvers such as vertical spirals between 1,000 and 10,000 feet, circling above power plants, landfills, and urban areas. The flights also will include occasional missed approaches at local airports and low-altitude flybys along runways to collect air samples near the surface.

The East Coast flights are scheduled for June 22–26, over Baltimore and near Philadelphia, as well as near the Virginia cities of Hampton, Hopewell, and Richmond. The California flights will occur June 29–July 2 in the Central Valley area.

The flights support NASA’s longstanding Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), an eight-week summer internship that provides undergraduates with hands-on experience in every aspect of a scientific campaign.

For more information about SARP, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/early-career-opportunities/student-airborne-research-program/

Additional information about the low-altitude flights is available at https://www.nasa.gov/missions/airborne-science/nasa-aircraft-to-make-low-altitude-flights-in-mid-atlantic-california/.