NASA Test Plane Circling Houston for Hours Tonight

reply to post by timewalker


You do have to wonder why they would do this on 9/11..

Why risk scaring people on such a day..

Takes me back to that BS photo op shot of airforce 1 over NY..

I think they get a laugh from it...

reply to post by CynicalM

Why? It's not as if the day is a national holiday, not that that matters. It's a routine. It's what the plane does, what it was designed to do. The fact that the plane was creating a contrail was a result of the weather conditions, not a plan.

reply to post by Phage


Hi Phage,
Do you know what they use the plane for, what kind of research the plane supports?

reply to post by Phage


How many days a year does this plane DO that???

Maybe someone with a brain may have thought of a better day, IMO...

Sorry, to me its just "common sense" and I though most had that...

So do you think the Airforce 1 photo OPs issue was fine also?

reply to post by atlasastro

High altitude atmospheric sampling.
jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov...

In case anyone is interested, here's the flight track:
flightaware.com...

reply to post by CynicalM

Well, it was doing it on the 9th and the 3rd.
flightaware.com...

It's sister was doing it on the 3rd and the 1st.
flightaware.com...

Beyond that I can't tell you. I don't care enough to spend the money or ask NASA to find out.

No, the Airforce 1 stunt was pretty stupid. And also quite different. It was in New York, at low altitude, afterall.


Actually, looking at the tracks, 928 was only flying racetracks on the 9th. 926 wasn't doing it at all.

reply to post by Phage


Thanks. I still find it strange to pick 9/11 for the longest flight by a huge margin..

Its only flown 3 dates for the month..

I just have to wonder what some people think about before arranging things like this..

reply to post by Phage


Thanks Phage.
Probably a bit lazy on my behalf, but I knew you would have the goods, cheers.

reply to post by CynicalM


I am assuming that it was testing it's own contrails, hence the "race track" flight pattern.

The date would then be coincidental because it's flight would be determined on the atmospheric conditions.

This photo would make you wonder with the big fire to the left.

reply to post by Chadwickus

The date would then be coincidental because it's flight would be determined on the atmospheric conditions.

I read the links Phage gave...

Its mission was to check clouds and emmissions from rocket launches...

I saw minimal clouds and don't think there had been any recent rocket launches so what exactly was the reason for this day?

reply to post by CynicalM

Those are quite old missions on that page. I just linked it as example of the kind of stuff they do...high altitude air sampling.

I see cirrus clouds in the images. That's one of the things they look at. As Chadwickus said, they can't study something that isn't there. They have to fly when the conditions are right for what ever experiment they are doing.

NASA Claims Chemtrail Plane

I saw this in Alvin, Texas. Funny because the initial reports came from Spring which is the extreme North side of Houston. Here's links to my video and pics.


www.msnbc.msn.com...www.khou.com... e-102705414.htmlwww.click2houston.com...

I have several photos of this plane that many people saw on Saturday 9-11-2010 - I thought it was ironic also. I have searched to see if there were other articles on this and cannot find any except for the KHOU 11 news alert I received on it.

Im new here so im not sure how to post photos yet -


M

I was at Hooks Airport located in Spring, Texas and photographed the plane on Saturday 9-11-2010

Originally posted by timewalker
Hello ATS

Been away for a while, but thought this was worth a bit of digging. For the last hour and a half or so tonight a plane has been circling Houston,TX at 50,000 ft leaving many circular contrails spanning the entire Houston metro area. Freaked us out a bit for a while being Sept. 11th and all. This was highly unusual.

Did some digging and found one article found here. Officials: NASA test plane circling city is safe
NASA test from Ellington Field. Pretty spectacular test.

My camera battery is dead sorry, wish I could post pics.

Did anyone else see it?

Did anyone else see it?!

No the real question is DID ANYONE ELSE SEE WHAT NASA/GOV IS TRYING TO HIDE??? This is ridiculous. What are they testing the plane for? That is not normal procedure for any airline.
What is this plane supposed to do? I hope this isn't the 757 they have already used and tested back in June. I give up.

reply to post by packinupngoin

The plane has all kinds of sensors, mostly for analyzing air samples at high altitudes, according to the PDF that phage linked to. Plane has big wings so it can fly stable way up in that thin air.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by CynicalM

 

I am assuming that it was testing it's own contrails, hence the "race track" flight pattern.

The date would then be coincidental because it's flight would be determined on the atmospheric conditions.

Except apparently NASA Officials said it'd been flying all week and people never saw the plane or the trails before due to the 'atmospheric conditions'

Any planned experimental or test flying by NASA within actively controlled airspace would have had to have been reported in a NOTAM (NOtice To AirMan). I don´t see any restricted airspace, Military Operations Area, or Special Use Airspace anywhere near Houston that may have allowed flight operations without having to have issued a NOTAM. sua.faa.gov...

This is a good NOTAM site. Adding KIAH with a 75 NM radius shows all the issued NOTAMs over the past year for operations around George Bush International Airport in Houston. I don´t see any reports of special NASA operations at all for the whole year, and nothing extraordinary on Sept.11th.

www.notams.jcs.mil...

Sounds a bit fishy. Peraps there is a LOA (Letter of Agreement) between the Houston ARTCC and NASA which allows these operational flights to happen without a NOTAM report, but why the secrecy?

reply to post by fockewulf190

It was not an experimental or test flight. The aircraft was sampling the atmosphere. It was simply flying a "racetrack" pattern. That doesn't really require a NOTAM, does it?
Here's the track log as reported by Houston Center. Not really very secret.
flightaware.com...