Plane flying back and forth - doing what?

No way to know by Flite Aware but I would guess that it might be some kind of magnetometer. Or other surveying equipment.

 

http://www.eongeosciences.com/eon-flying-in-eastern-usa-3/

EON Geosciences is currently flying a very large fixed-wing aeromagnetic and radiometric (gamma-ray spectrometry) survey in Arkansas, USA, on behalf of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

 

One of the reasons is the movement of the North Pole and the slow shift of magnetic north at airfields that requires periodic changes of runway designations. As an example, when I was at Cannon AFB, NM in the 1970s, the primary runway was 03/21. It is now 04/22.

 

I may have posted this before. When I worked for the Gulf Oil Co. as an assistant in operating a ground radar station, the company was conducting an aerial survey of sub-surface dome structures when they were looking for oil deposits. Our station helped to guide the airplane, a DC-3, so that it flew lines precisely one mile apart while it was towing an aerial magnetometer exactly east and west. We set the station on geodetic survey markers, one of which was in the southern Everglades, the first one that I worked. Quite interesting and I wrote about it in my book. I remember the airplane flying over our station camp twice, once 1/2 mile to the north headed east and once 1/2 mile south headed west. The alligators didn't give a hoot (or a grunt).

 

The same thing happened at Palm Beach International Airport.

 

Something strange here:

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It is the flying hub for all the onboard cameras of the participants on the 24h race on the Nürburgring.
The race is always worth to watch on youtube!