DOJ aircraft, not very stealthy....

dans2992

dans2992

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Dans2992
Noticing some weird things above Phoenix. I've seen 3-4 planes circling endlessly on the flight tracker. Someone is monitoring something, I suspect.... Planes are registered to two different companies, both out of Bristow, VA. Both are C206's, but yesterday there was a PC12 doing the same thing. Always at 9,500 or 10,500. Currently, one of them is flying a perfect circle endlessly over Maricopa. (Appears to be GPS-coupled, autopilot flown). This plane is registered to "PSL Surveys", but I'm not sure too many surveys are done at night......

And the plot thickens... there are a highly unusual number of C206's and 182Ts registered to a variety of three letter companies, all in Bristow... http://planedb.net/city/bristow-va.htm I don't think it's a conspiracy or anything, but I wonder what the explanation is?

OK, so there are about 55 of these C206's or 182T's, mostly 2010 models, registered to PO boxes in Bristow, VA. Some are registered to the same PO box as a Department of Justice aircraft. If this was something nefarious, I would think they'd cover it up better. Whatever they are doing, they are not very sneaky....

At the recent FFZ open house, I told the Mesa PD guys "hey - you know I can see on my 1090 Mhz receiver everytime you fire up the chopper and go out on patrol - aren't you concerned the bad guys know where you are". His response - "yeah, the bad guys aren't all that smart." I wonder what you _could_ get away with if you _were_ a smart bad guy.... hmmm....

A bit more info here, at least the aircraft I'm watching now is not broadcasting it's position via ADS-B, however the flightradar24 website is getting it's position via MLAT, and it's using Mode S, so the aircraft's ID and position is publicly available via triangulation. Not smart.
 

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This is at least the second night in a row I've noticed this.... I wonder what the reaction would be if I went up and followed him around, 1/2 mile in trail..... ;)
 
Kind of like following the State Patrol along the interstate, above the limit, when his lights and siren are turned off. Poke the bear all you want, just don't. Mo plain if it makes him mad at you.
 
Seems like our tax dollars bought quite a few of those guys, oldest one is a 2010, guessing all G1000s plus all the spy equipment and the infamous super quiet exhaust mod.

143GS CESSNA T206H PXW SERVICES
182EM CESSNA 182T PXW SERVICES
267RH CESSNA 182T PXW SERVICES
520EP CESSNA 182T PXW SERVICES
657TP CESSNA 182T PXW SERVICES
Click to expand...

And

326PS CESSNA 182T PSL SURVEYS
467TS CESSNA 182T PSL SURVEYS
879WM CESSNA 182T PSL SURVEYS
916WR CESSNA 182T PSL SURVEYS
959JT CESSNA T206H PSL SURVEYS
Click to expand...

All to milk the govt cash cow known as the "war on drugs"

Glad around 1/4 of my lifetime income goes to such noble causes :rolleyes:


Holy crap....

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinq...s.aspx?Statetxt=VA&Countytxt=LOUDOUN&PageNo=3

Kinda easy to see their planes, just scan the list for a PO box in Bristow, confirm with a 2010 or newer 182/206 etc and the stupid three letter name which screams "nothing to see here".

Within a few minutes I got

RKT PRODUCTIONS
FVX RESEARCH
NBR AVIATION
NG RESEARCH
OTV LEASING
OBR LEASING


And that just page 3 of 50!
 
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Yep... My favorite is "worldwide aircraft leasing" registered to the same PO box as a DOJ 757!!
 
You'd think they would just revert back to Mode C, at least until 2020.

Do they have a plan to be more "stealthy" after 2020? ADS-B will give them away even worse.
 
Guess they feel they don't need to hide their stuff, after all what are the peasents going to do.
 
Hey, just be glad they're doing it in US-made aircraft with actual pilots, instead of drones.
 
Well, if I was a drug dealer or something, I'd call off whatever "deal" I was doing tonight, drive out of town and see if the plane follows....

I would assume they wouldn't want the suspects to know they were being surveilled.
 
The private owners of Sierra Nevada Corporation, thank you for the cash.
 
They've been doing this in the Cessnas since at least the late 1980s.
 
The Manassas (city) Airport sits right against the city line and Bristow is the adjoining town. I.e., once you step off he airport on Piper Drive you're in Bristow. In fact, the airport is only connected to Manassas City proper by the right of way of the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

The Bristow post office is only a couple of blocks from the airport where the Manassas post office is a few miles away. I'm willing to bet your "mystery owner" operates out of HEF.
 
dans2992 said:
This is at least the second night in a row I've noticed this.... I wonder what the reaction would be if I went up and followed him around, 1/2 mile in trail..... ;)
Click to expand...

I'd not recommend this......

A hangar neighbor of mine did this once. A C-206 with a suspicious wing pod was flying the area....just orbiting the airport and the area, everyday at certain times, for weeks. We noticed this strange aircraft and wondered who and what they were doing. So my neighbor friend, fires up his Citabria and goes up to get his tail number. They, the FBI, were not happy to see this aircraft following in trail. In fact, it resulted in an extensive interview and search of the guy's hangar and aircraft. They claimed that he was interfering with their operation. :nono:

We think they were gathering text or other electronic cell data regarding the anthrax dude at Ft. Detrick.
 
The DEA uses King Airs.
 
So where do I go to get one of these pilot jobs? Sounds like good easy work in nice new planes.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I thought that the government always goes for the Gulfstreams
Click to expand...

There was a whole gaggle of BBJs and G5s owned by companies with lofty names as 'Bayard Foreign Marketing' and 'Premier Executive Transport Services'. The informal name for the fleet was 'Guantanamo Express'.
 
StinkBug said:
So where do I go to get one of these pilot jobs? Sounds like good easy work in nice new planes.
Click to expand...

Sign me up too. Alternatively, I'd sit at a desk and watch movies fly a drone all day.
 
They now have a p210 doing cricles along with the 206.. N55BE is the phoenix PD.... Tonight N143GS is not doing quite as tight of circles as the last 3 nights.. the pilots are racking up lots of hours...
 
StinkBug said:
So where do I go to get one of these pilot jobs? Sounds like good easy work in nice new planes.
Click to expand...


Many require that you be LE of their particular flavor, prior to applying. Depends on which agency is operating them. But there's some strict rules (often bent) on who's allowed to do "surveillance" of Citizens. You're supposed to be LE, and in your jurisdiction to do that. You're also not supposed to be CIA or NSA.

Not that they care much anymore, since the "supposedly going to sunset someday" anti-terrorism laws let them break those rules with impunity via rubber stamp orders from a closed courtroom with all sealed documents.

Don't worry. It's all for your "safety". Bask and soak in a few billion in warm fuzzies.
 
A guy in my reserve unit was DEA. He said they would fly at night with a thermal camera and look for houses growing pot. Those big heat lamps would light up the house and make it easy to spot.

He also said it was usually a rental where they tore out all the interior walls to make large areas for the heat lamps to work on the plants.
 
cgrab said:
A guy in my reserve unit was DEA. He said they would fly at night with a thermal camera and look for houses growing pot. Those big heat lamps would light up the house and make it easy to spot.

He also said it was usually a rental where they tore out all the interior walls to make large areas for the heat lamps to work on the plants.
Click to expand...


Interesting.
 
cgrab said:
A guy in my reserve unit was DEA. He said they would fly at night with a thermal camera and look for houses growing pot. Those big heat lamps would light up the house and make it easy to spot.

He also said it was usually a rental where they tore out all the interior walls to make large areas for the heat lamps to work on the plants.
Click to expand...

Hope they had a warrant!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
We think they were gathering text or other electronic cell data regarding the anthrax dude at Ft. Detrick.
Click to expand...
no need to use an aircraft to pull cellphone data. Much easier to just get a court order and get it all straight from the cell companies.
 
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