US Govt. Private Airline

RyanB

RyanB

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Ryan
Recently on vacay in Las Vegas, I did some hanging out at the Maverick Helicopter Tours terminal which sits on McCarran Airport property. I walked in and noticed they had an airport observation area that you could sit with front row seats to the tarmac...perfect! While sitting there watching the heli tours and airline arrivals and departures, I noticed this "private" 737-300 taxi by. I initially thought, "someone must be living the good life, traveling around in their own 73" I watched it depart and that was it. Anyway I got curious later on and Googled the N-number off of it to see who she belonged to. After doing a little homework, I found out this wasn't just any private 733, it belonged to the US Govt., operating for the Air Force. I found a Wiki article on this and it turns out its a private government airline that makes multiple trips from McCarran to Tanopah Test Range which appears to be Area 51! They operate under the callsign "Janet". According to Wiki, "Due to the secretive nature of the airline, little is known about its organization." Funny enough, as "secret" as it's supposed to be, they are able to be tracked on flightaware. I thought this was pretty interesting and wanted to share this with you all. Has anyone else heard of this, or know what kind of operations they do?
 
flight2000 said:
That is the "airline" that shuttles the workers back and forth from the facility in area 51. Best way that I can think of to commute back and forth to work... :)

Cheers,
Brian
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That's interesting, so employees that work at Area 51 who live in Vegas get flown back and forth on this? I've always been interested about Area 51 from all of the speculation and theories of UFO sightings and such, so this had me curious.
 
Yep, that whole area is off limits for vehicles and this makes it really easy for Security Forces to identify unauthorized vehicles trying to get to close. Also a good recruitment tool if the employees are flown into the middle of nowhere for work and can return to civilization at the end of their shift.

Brian
 
And here is the flight crew:

star-wars-tv-spot-7-160319.jpg

P8020045_zpshimukzk7.jpg
 
Discovery Channel did a show on those getting shuttled into Area 51. It's probably on YouTube.
 
Had a us gov run Beech 1900 Tuesday at Pine Bluff. Interesting bird. Ugly though.
 
It has been somewhat common knowledge in the aviation world for years. When I lived in Vegas I knew someone who worked at Groom Lake and flew to work in it. It even has its own Wikipedia entry. There are also several other sites that talk about it. Not exactly a secret.
 
TommyG said:
Nicknamed Janet air.
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Not it's nickname. Janet is their call sign. Had some buds that flew out to 51 during the Stealth fighter project, fellow USAF controllers. Always wondered why they used McCarran and not Nellis AFB.

ufo-alien-airlines-janet-flights-area-51-3-x-7-patch-3db7.jpg
 
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Thanks for the info. I never knew this existed before I saw them operate at LAS. Thought it was pretty neat.
 
They used to and probably still do fly out of the Los Angeles area, can't remember exactly which airports. They had a 737-200 back in the mid 80's. They'd go regular commuter hours. Up in the morning and back late afternoon. They used to fly Beech 1900's from HHR to PMD also I think. They used the N number on those. May have been contract flights and not owned by Uncle Sugar.
 
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luvflyin said:
They used to and probably still do fly out of the Los Angeles area, can't remember exactly which airports. They had a 737-200 back in the mid 80's. They'd go regular commuter hours. Up in the morning and back late afternoon.
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Janet flies from Palmdale, Vegas, and some undisclosed location north east of Vegas.
I have an acquaintance that was mechanic and steward on the 737..
 
Pat Elliott said:
Janet flies from Palmdale, Vegas, and some undisclosed location north east of Vegas.
I have an acquaintance that was mechanic and steward on the 737..
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Guess they aren't flying out of LA anymore. Hey. Where on the Southern Oregon Coast are you. Do you know about the Monkey?
 
Ryan, I am curious (politely) what you approximate age is.
This famous secret airline has been around for many decades. Heck, they even put it in Microsoft's Flight Sim! LOL!
 
Not much point in keeping the way people get to work a secret, especially if that's part of the recruitment aspect. The secret is what goes on at Area 51.

They probably use McCarran instead of Nellis AFB because of location. McCarran is more centrally located.

Ultimately, they're doing some things that may be really cool but they have the same recruitment issues that any company would. You have to be able to attract people to work for you, and nobody wants to live in a top secret military installation in the desert. Your family can't be there, obviously. I'd also presume that they're competing with top companies for some of the best minds in the country. Vegas isn't a bad place to live. 30 minutes on the 737 to commute? Not bad at all.

The oil rig helicopter operators in the Gulf of Mexico do similar - they pay for commuting expenses (at least up to a certain amount) and you work shifts. There's a lot of flying out of Louisiana, but most of the people live elsewhere - Texas or Florida, for instance.
 
BigBadLou said:
Ryan, I am curious (politely) what you approximate age is.
This famous secret airline has been around for many decades. Heck, they even put it in Microsoft's Flight Sim! LOL!
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Im a young buck (early 20's). I must be behind times. Never knew about this since I saw them.
 
Pat Elliott said:
KOTH- North Bend OR. The Monkey? nope..
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https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/the-great-monkey-race-volunteers-needed.87634/
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/the-great-monkey-race-progress-thread.87759/
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/monkey-to-oshkosh-and-beyond.96649/

The Monkey is in Portland now. I have him. If you want to get involved let me know. I have a tentative handoff in the works for someone up in the Tacoma area and one for Klamath Falls on Labor Day or a day or two after. Maybe I could get him to you first and then you take him to KLMT
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Not much point in keeping the way people get to work a secret, especially if that's part of the recruitment aspect. The secret is what goes on at Area 51.

They probably use McCarran instead of Nellis AFB because of location. McCarran is more centrally located.

Ultimately, they're doing some things that may be really cool but they have the same recruitment issues that any company would. You have to be able to attract people to work for you, and nobody wants to live in a top secret military installation in the desert. Your family can't be there, obviously. I'd also presume that they're competing with top companies for some of the best minds in the country. Vegas isn't a bad place to live. 30 minutes on the 737 to commute? Not bad at all.

The oil rig helicopter operators in the Gulf of Mexico do similar - they pay for commuting expenses (at least up to a certain amount) and you work shifts. There's a lot of flying out of Louisiana, but most of the people live elsewhere - Texas or Florida, for instance.
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Intel runs scheduled service for employees out of KHIO in Embraer 145-XR's to KMHR, KSJC and KIWA. HGTxxx call signs. Radio call is Hightech.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Ultimately, they're doing some things that may be really cool but they have the same recruitment issues that any company would. You have to be able to attract people to work for you, and nobody wants to live in a top secret military installation in the desert. Your family can't be there.
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Probably true for civilians, but the USAF never gave me a choice of whether I was going or not based on personal preference. :D

Although my ATC buds did volunteer (which one usually NEVER does in the military) for the F117 program out there.
 
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The three branches of government. Congress, Executive, Supreme Court and Intellegence.

"There are a lot of things that happen in the world you never hear about, and it's a darn good thing you don't" Mark Felt
 
coloradobluesky said:
The three branches of government. Congress, Executive, Supreme Court and Intellegence.

"There are a lot of things that happen in the world you never hear about, and it's a darn good thing you don't" Mark Felt
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Yup. Very true.
 
luvflyin said:
They used to and probably still do fly out of the Los Angeles area, can't remember exactly which airports. They had a 737-200 back in the mid 80's. They'd go regular commuter hours. Up in the morning and back late afternoon. They used to fly Beech 1900's from HHR to PMD also I think. They used the N number on those. May have been contract flights and not owned by Uncle Sugar.
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I want to say Northop-Grumman still runs a shuttle with 1900's somewhere in SoCal, I remember seeing jobs posted for it before.
 
Hmm, looks like this one landed at Groom Lake.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/WWW331/history/20160826/2208Z/KLAS/KTNX

So another interesting thought - what happens if you file as a Janet flight (assuming you're not filing to Area 51)? I figure there's a law about using a call sign you're not supposed to be using.

luvflyin said:
Intel runs scheduled service for employees out of KHIO in Embraer 145-XR's to KMHR, KSJC and KIWA. HGTxxx call signs. Radio call is Hightech.
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Plenty of other companies do similar. Conoco/Phillips does that in an Embraer of some sort between Houston and Bartlesville, OK. Hydro Quebec also does that going from Montreal to the various hydro-electric plants.

mscard88 said:
Probably true for civilians, but the USAF never gave me a choice of whether I was going or not based on personal preference. :D

Although my ATC buds did volunteer (which one usually NEVER does in the military) for the F117 program out there.
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Right, I was specifically talking about the civilians.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So another interesting thought - what happens if you file as a Janet flight (assuming you're not filing to Area 51)? I figure there's a law about using a call sign you're not supposed to be using.



.
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Years ago I recall seeing one of them (737) taxing at ATL. Don't know what they were doing there or where they were going. Didn't want to know either. But they were using Janet as their call sign.
 
Corning also runs thier own fleet out of Elmira NY for employees.
 
mscard88 said:
Years ago I recall seeing one of them (737) taxing at ATL. Don't know what they were doing there or where they were going. Didn't want to know either. But they were using Janet as their call sign.
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Right, but that was Janet using their appropriate callsign. My point was someone like @EdFred deciding he just wanted to screw with ATC and file Janet 727, a PA24 going to 6Y9. Because anyone who's been to 6Y9 knows that aliens are up there.
 
Chatted with a kid who was an engineer for Saudi Aramco. The company had sent him to the US to get his commercial pilots license and 100hr turbine time so he could fly as FO on their employee shuttle. They have runways at their oil fields in the desert and at the time they were buying a fleet of EMB175s to replace existing equipment.
 
What about the U.S. Government's other private airlines? The CIA front companies that fly jets, L-100's and CASA 235's all over the world. To be a passenger on some of these though you may have to be a lucky recipient of extraordinary rendition.
 
topgun260 said:
What about the U.S. Government's other private airlines? The CIA front companies that fly jets, L-100's and CASA 235's all over the world. To be a passenger on some of these though you may have to be a lucky recipient of extraordinary rendition.
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All sorts of stuff. Sierra Nevada Corp makes a good living modifying airframes for Uncle's special needs.
 
Just saw Janet in Atlanta yesterday. I'm not sure that I've ever seen them out this far east before.
 
Operated by AECOM defense contractor. Seems like some easy flying. Wouldn't be a bad gig.
 
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