(FOX 5/KUSI) — Keep your eyes on the skies next week — but don’t be alarmed. Southern Californians may notice research aircraft flying unusually low between June 29 and July 2 as part of a large-scale NASA atmospheric study, the agency announced Friday.
NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), an eight-week summer internship for top undergraduate STEM students, will conduct low-altitude flights over several areas in California. This includes areas like the Los Angeles Basin, the Salton Sea, and parts of the Central Valley. The aircraft will be collecting vital air quality data using specialized equipment onboard.
Two aircraft will be used in the mission: NASA’s P-3 Orion, a four-engine turboprop flying out of Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and a King Air B200, operated by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA. Both will fly coordinated yet independent missions at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 feet—far below typical commercial airliners.
Residents may see the planes performing vertical spirals, circling over power plants and landfills, and making low passes along runways to collect air samples close to the surface. As explained by NASA officials, the flights may also include “missed approaches” at local airports—standard aviation maneuvers where aircraft descend as if to land, then climb away without touching down.
“The SARP flights have become mainstays of NASA’s Airborne Science Program, as they expose highly competitive STEM students to real-world data gathering within a dynamic flight environment,” said Brian Bernth, NASA’s chief of flight operations at Wallops.
The mission is already underway on the East Coast, with flights taking place from June 22 to June 26 over Philadelphia, Baltimore and cities in Virginia, including Richmond and Hampton.
“Despite SARP being a learning experience for both the students and mentors alike, our P-3 is being flown and performing maneuvers in some of most complex and restricted airspace in the country,” said Bernth. “Tight coordination and crew resource management is needed to ensure that these flights are executed with precision but also safely.”
This year’s flights are part of a broader effort to engage future scientists and engineers in the field of earth science while simultaneously collecting critical data for environmental research.
