Preparations are underway at NASA for a unique flight operation, where two aircraft will soar over the mid-Atlantic states and parts of California, executing specialized maneuvers in close proximity to gather crucial data about the Earth’s transformations.

NASA has announced that the two research planes, identified as the P-3 Orion (N426NA) and the King Air B200 (N46L), will be flying over several locations, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Virginia cities of Hampton, Hopewell, and Richmond, as well as the Los Angeles Basin, Salton Sea, and Central Valley. According to NASA, these flights are scheduled to take place along the eastern coast from Sunday, June 22, to Thursday, June 26, and in California from Sunday, June 29, to Wednesday, July 2.

These flights will provide a rare opportunity for observers to catch a glimpse of the aircraft, as they will be flying at lower altitudes than typical commercial flights, performing complex maneuvers such as vertical spirals between 1,000 and 10,000 feet (304 to 3,048 meters), circling above power plants, landfills, and urban areas. Additionally, the planes will conduct missed approaches at local airports and low-altitude flybys along runways to collect air samples near the surface.

The P-3, operated by NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, is a four-engine turboprop aircraft equipped with six science instruments. The King Air B200, owned by Dynamic Aviation and contracted by NASA, is a twin-engine aircraft. The aircraft will accumulate 40 hours of data collection for NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) on each U.S. coast.

SARP is an eight-week summer internship program at NASA that offers undergraduate students hands-on experience in various scientific disciplines. The low-altitude flights will be utilized to gather atmospheric data through the onboard science instruments, which will be operated by the students.

“Despite SARP being an educational experience for both students and mentors, our P-3 is navigating and performing maneuvers in some of the most complex and restricted airspace in the country,” stated Brian Bernth, chief of flight operations at NASA Wallops. “Tight coordination and crew resource management are necessary to ensure that these flights are executed with precision and safety.”

NASA employs low-altitude flights for Earth science research, collecting high-resolution data that cannot be captured by satellites at the same level of detail. These flights have typically supported research on climate change, natural disasters, and atmospheric science. As the upcoming flights will take place near populated areas, there will be numerous opportunities to spot the aircraft flying overhead.