Lajes Air Force Base, Terceira, Azores. Puntas Arenas, Chile. The ER-2 operates from bases within the United States as well as locations in foreign countries. Flight paths over specific terrain, or in certain atmospheric regions may be out of range of US bases. For situations such as these, it is necessary to secure permission to operate the ER-2 from a foreign base in the proximity of the data collection area.
Special planning is required to support the aircraft and associated investigator teams.
A preliminary review of the airfields in the country of interest will be conducted. Once this has been done, site surveys will be conducted. Site surveys are normally conducted one year prior to the scheduled mission date. The purpose of these surveys will be to determine if adequate support facilities exist for the ER-2 aircraft, personnel, and science support teams. Weather considerations such as winds, precipitation, snow or ice, cloud ceilings, available daylight hours, and airfield conditions will be carefully evaluated.