Could a person fly a modified RC plane over Area 51 with cameras mounted

carbon fiber and copper absorb RF signals thats all im going to say.

I thought Area 51 Doesn't exist, officially!

Area 51 has been discussed so much, I doubt that there is anything outside, in view, that would make any difference to national security anymore. Everything important is either underground or locked away in Cheyenne Mountain, and the like.

But, maybe if you put a camera on a homing pigeon you might get some pics. But THEY probably already thought of that too.

You would want to just program it to fly to a certain GPS coordinate (at night) turn around and fly back. No need to have a transmitter. Just create a program on a Iphone phone to fly the plane to two coordinates. One at the target location and one at the return location. The cell phone would be the camera and guidance system.

You could get around the range problem by designing it as a powered glider. Ultimately you could release it at high altitude from a private aircraft at a safe distance for the inbound trip and have it fly low on the way out of target area. If painted to resemble the sky and made of mostly plastic components you would not get picked up on radar and you could allow it to glide over target area to reduce it's heat signature. I hear regular trashbag plastic can hide heat from sensors.

If you had the range and a safe area to control it from, yeah you could do it (must be small vehicle).

The actual security on base is very low believe it or not. Getting to the base is the major focus of security (both the private contractors and the very few military folks there).

Then again know that you won't see anything amazing when you get there, no matter what you read on the Internet or want to believe. The place is a typical airbase with hangers devoted to certain military contractors as well, and the stuff they test there is mundane and conventional.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

LOL yeah, it could be done if I were looking at a lake say 20 miles from where I am and I wanted the vehicle to return. I started thinking about this a little more in depth after I read a bit through the thread.

What if government people came on here (ATS) and posed questions like these as a means of developing information on what to try to prepare for or circumvent next? Or simply to find out how much people knew (in general terms, like phishing) and what they could do. So I dropped my big technical thread on how to do this.

Suffice it to say, yes, it can be done and it can be done almost silently with literally no radar or RF footprint and a range of 20 to 30 miles or more each way.

Cheers - Dave

It is easy.
you use a laptop connected to the internet.
it is easy to add a board to a PC with a USB cable.
with this you can use a CCTV to remote control a small glider.
use as little metal as posible.

send it at night.
on a radar it will look like a bird.
buy a second hand laptop.

Originally posted by relocator
Okay and body got one of them fly insect bio weapsons?

Well lets see how about a trained pigeon with a camera that could take pictures....It's all I got.

Probably the best idea.

Anything that transmits would be detected very quickly I'd say.

reply to post by Glassbender777


no an rc makes too much noise
what you want is a homemade drone

diydrones.com...

AR.Drone Parrot run from an iphone
ardrone.parrot.com...



the pigeon sized [and killer bug sized drones] referenced earlier
Air Force bugbots
video.designworldonline.com...

They might scramble jets to shoot it down without realizing it was a model.

From a distance a model plane just looks like a full size plane much further away.

What a surprise when they get closer...

Originally posted by kawika
They might scramble jets to shoot it down without realizing it was a model.

From a distance a model plane just looks like a full size plane much further away.

What a surprise when they get closer...

should be able to tell by noise though i think?

but seems like an awful lot of trouble to get pictures of a military airbase, as if they are going to have an alien spacecraft being washed on the tarmac.

First you get a fleet of these to even find an Area 51.
flying robots
great video. enjoy

reply to post by relocator


Less likely to get shot on sight.

I doubt you would see anything. I used to work for a company that did service at area 51 and the drivers said that the roadsigns had pics of gray aliens on them so if they are willing to joke about it, it's not there and hasn'e been for decades.

reply to post by earthdude


Really cool video.

Is there some reason we can not just look using google earth?

this one looks like a good bet

Originally posted by buddha
It is easy.
you use a laptop connected to the internet.
it is easy to add a board to a PC with a USB cable.
with this you can use a CCTV to remote control a small glider.
use as little metal as posible.

send it at night.
on a radar it will look like a bird.
buy a second hand laptop.

Birds don't fly at night. It would look suspicious either way.

Originally posted by klhbrown

Originally posted by buddha
It is easy.
you use a laptop connected to the internet.
it is easy to add a board to a PC with a USB cable.
with this you can use a CCTV to remote control a small glider.
use as little metal as posible.

send it at night.
on a radar it will look like a bird.
buy a second hand laptop.

Birds don't fly at night. It would look suspicious either way.

Kildeer do. as well as others. And lets not forget or mammal friend the bat.

Maybe a remote control dragonfly.

I beleive their is a thread on this also?

reply to post by Glassbender777

It is possible, to a degree.

You would require an R/C Turbine Jet, as these are the only models capable of holding enough fuel for the long journey beyond the gates. You can also easily mount a FPV camera to them without their centre of gravity being heavily affected. The only issue with this plan is that all models are required, by law, to operate within the 2.4Ghz range and to allow transmission interference. Something that Groom Lake can easily do, just think of all the electronics they have scattered in the desert. Also, you'd have to wave goodbye to your model once you reach the base as if by some miraculous chance you haven’t run out of fuel by this point, they'd just follow it back to you.

Of course you would have to use the SR-71 Model, it's the only appropriate choice.



Oh and you'd need around $10,000+ and three years to build one of this quality. I could go on about model planes all day, it's a hobby of mine. Wait, let me re-phrase that. Expensive hobby of mine!

reply to post by kawika


Google Earth has moved it. Many things on Google Earth are in the wrong place. Good luck trying to find uncensored sat pics.

Highly unlikely. I am sure if you and I could think of something, Area 51 already has a counter measure in place to deter it.