Mystery Solved So I Can Get Back to Work Now
This is truly important, so pay close attention!
Yesterday I was shocked to hear, and then catch a quick glimpse of, a P-3 Orion flying at low altitude (I guessed less than 2000 feet) over the University of Houston campus. Then I heard it again. And again. And again today. It is a four engine, prop-driven aircraft, so it makes a lot of noise at that altitude.
The primary use of the venerable P-3 is as an anti-submarine aircraft, a role it has played since the 60s (it is based on a Lockheed Electra airframe, a 1950s design). Figured there were no submarines in downtown Houston, so I was very puzzled.
Today, taking my afternoon constitutional, I heard the plane and got a good view of it. It didn’t have USN markings or color scheme. Instead, it had a long blue stripe along the side. Searching Google Images, I found a picture of a NASA P-3 with that color scheme. A little more digging uncovered this article from the Baltimore Sun describing how NASA flew a P-3 at low altitude over Baltimore as part of an air quality testing program. Yet even more digging and I was able to determine that yes, NASA is conducting tests under the AQ [Air Quality] Discovery program in Houston this month.
That mystery solved, I can get back to work. Work will include a couple more posts this evening.
