N623BA lands at Groom Lake; Janet scanner audio

In this file, N623BA is "Booty 5". Note that it leaves the airspace squawking 1200, i.e. visual flight rules to avoid internet tracking.
www.lazygranch.com/sound/janet/groom_08202008.ogg

N623BA and N146PC are PC-12s owned by LMCO, which is Lockeed Martin Corporation. They often file to KDRA, KBTY, etc., then land in the Nellis range. Most likely at Groom Lake, but probably also at the somewhat secret new runway at Yucca Lake.

There is a Southwest flight that comes up on one of the Groom frequencies. As usual, the base doesn't answer, but they probably snicker a little.

Ogg files can be played with
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Hey Gariac, quick question.

How does squawking 1200 allow the aircraft to avoid being tracked via the internet? It still sends out a radar signature....correct? You seem to be pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, so just thought I would ask! Thanks!

reply to post by desertdreamer


Internet tracking is for IFR flights. Squawking 1200 means you are flying VFR.
Wiki has some info on this
squawk code wiki

In the US, you can change from IFR to VFR in flight if you follow a few rules. This is used by spook aircraft to hide their final destination. That is, you will see internet tracking of the IFR flight, but you will not see the plane land. The internet site will say something like "timed out".

Regarding the Nellis range, I gather the tracking is designed to filter certain squawk codes. To land at Groom, the squawk code is generally of the form 033x, where x is a single digit. The FAA feed is probably designed to filter out a flight with those codes. In the old days, the 737 Janets would show up on internet tracking, then disappear when close to Groom. This is probably where they left normal ATC then switched to the 033x code, i.e. talking to Groom approach/depature, which is called "control" on the radio. I think now they completely filter the flights to Groom since the aircraft are "known."

N146PC and N623BA are not officially Groom aircraft, so their flights are not filtered. They could easily request that their flights are not displayed publicly, which is what many celebrities do. For instance, N1EB, Rush Limbaugh's private jet, can't be tracked via the net. (Well, there may be ways around this. ;-) ) I'm not completely sure N146PC and N623BA are really owned by LMCO. It may be LMCO just fronts the ownership of the aircraft, and really the USAF controls them. When N27RA was destroyed, Groom used a leased plane for a while (tail number escapes me), but then eventually bought N623RA. Leased aircraft show the owner's name under registration, not the operator's name.

The number of known (i.e. tail number documented) civilian planes that have landed at Groom Lake has to be pretty small. The only other tail number I know of is N105TB.

Thanks for the VFR/IFR information.

I was doing some research, and it looks like LMCO is in charge of range operations at Nellis (Blackjack) Guess that could explain some of the flights in and out, although I am sure that gariac is correct in saying that the majority are government flights.

reply to post by desertdreamer


These LMCO planes visit many of the places the Groom Beechcraft visit. For example, one LMCO PC-12 recently showed up at KSTS (Charles Schultz) in Sonoma County. The Groom Beechcraft go there as well.

I should point out that these small planes often file concurrent VFR and IFR flights between the same destinations. It may be they do this just to cover their bases in terms of getting a good time slot. In any event, you will often see the IFR flight cancelled, but the trip occurs anyway under VFR.

LMCO operation of Blackjack predates the PC-12s coming on scene, at least as far as I have records. I started logging flights on N623BA in 2005. Back there, the flights were just to PMD, so I thought the planes had little spook value. The Henderson operation started in 2/2006. My records may be incomplete, but I believe the Groom flights didn't start until 2008. Most of the flights were to places like KNSI, KBAB, KVCV, likely military destinations. There were a few trips to KSLC that seemed out of place.

Lockheed has two bizjets: N402LM and N403LM. These often fly to KIAD, so I suspect they are more corporate rather than spooky.

N402LM and N403LM are registered to LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. N623BA and N146PC are registered to LMCO. Perhaps the name difference is significant.

Originally posted by gariac
In this file, N623BA is "Booty 5". Note that it leaves the airspace squawking 1200, i.e. visual flight rules to avoid internet tracking.
www.lazygranch.com/sound/janet/groom_08202008.ogg

N623BA and N146PC are PC-12s owned by LMCO, which is Lockeed Martin Corporation. They often file to KDRA, KBTY, etc., then land in the Nellis range. Most likely at Groom Lake, but probably also at the somewhat secret new runway at Yucca Lake.

There is a Southwest flight that comes up on one of the Groom frequencies. As usual, the base doesn't answer, but they probably snicker a little.

Ogg files can be played with
www.irfranview.com...
www.winamp.com...
www.videolan.org...

I don't see a link to the audio.

Originally posted by FosterVS

Originally posted by gariac
In this file, N623BA is "Booty 5". Note that it leaves the airspace squawking 1200, i.e. visual flight rules to avoid internet tracking.
www.lazygranch.com/sound/janet/groom_08202008.ogg

N623BA and N146PC are PC-12s owned by LMCO, which is Lockeed Martin Corporation. They often file to KDRA, KBTY, etc., then land in the Nellis range. Most likely at Groom Lake, but probably also at the somewhat secret new runway at Yucca Lake.

There is a Southwest flight that comes up on one of the Groom frequencies. As usual, the base doesn't answer, but they probably snicker a little.

Ogg files can be played with
www.irfranview.com...
www.winamp.com...
www.videolan.org...

I don't see a link to the audio.

Third line of the quote you made.

You probably have all this already:

N-number : N623BA
Aircraft Serial Number : 623
Aircraft Manufacturer : PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD
Model : PC-12/45 Engine Manufacturer : P&W
Model : PT6A SER
Aircraft Year : 2005
Owner Name : LMCO Owner Address : 4511 W CHEYENNE AVE STE 704 NORTH LAS VEGAS, NV, 89032-2464
Type of Owner : Corporation
Registration Date : 22-Jun-2005
Airworthiness Certificate Type : Standard
Approved Operations : Normal

reply to post by emsed1


Yes, though they seem to use KHND (Henderson) as a base. new security manual from Glenn Campbell's blog

Note EG&G in this updated security manual (though still 7 years old) has a Henderson address.

Referring page

reply to post by gariac


Thanks for that link! I couldn't find anything recent by Glenn but if he is doing a blog that's great!