PC-12 out of Creech AFB N108JQ

Here it is leaving Creech and orbiting over Cold Creek Nevada.
flightaware.com...

It was photographed at the Fayetteville airport, which is frequented by the CIA and Special Forces contractors.
www.flickr.com...

This could be related to the Special Forces exercise being run out of the Tonopah Test Range.

Wait, your post is that a plane left an airport?

What purpose would this plane have with the CIA and the special forces ?

Originally posted by Thorneblood
Wait, your post is that a plane left an airport?

I was thinking the same thing, I don`t understand the significance of this flight or this topic, maybe the OP could give more details about this?

After peeking at your posting history, now i get it, your tracking something important to you.

What's your theory on the purpose of the flight, if any?

I grew up in Las Vegas watching George Knapp so i always keep an eye out for any hometown weirdness.

Originally posted by gariac
Here it is leaving Creech and orbiting over Cold Creek Nevada.
flightaware.com...

It was photographed at the Fayetteville airport, which is frequented by the CIA and Special Forces contractors.
www.flickr.com...

This could be related to the Special Forces exercise being run out of the Tonopah Test Range.

That is an odd flight path, looks like the were watching/searching for something.

Also, that flight path (if that sthe green line) doesn't make sense if you try and follow it. (is that normal?)

First of all, just try flighting out of Creech AFB. You need permission to use an Air Force base, so this is not just any plane. You need to be on the CALP list. That is the Civilian Aircraft Landing Permit list. The CALP is now FOUO.

Further, it is operated by Sierra Nevada Corporation, which is a military contractor. They do a lot of civilian to military aircraft conversions.

Third, it is a round robbin (depart and land at same airport). This implies a mission rather than transportation. Of course the mission could be flight training, or it could be surveillance.

reply to post by Guyfriday


The flight could be SAR (search and rescue) , airborne surveillance, airborne radio repeater, etc. Then these can be either mission or training.

reply to post by gariac


Gariac apologies first off I don't have a great knowledge of air craft but judging by the picture of the air craft in question it doesn't look like a search and rescue plane however seeing its circular pattern maybe you are on right tracks of some sort of surveillance maybe they were circling a test area for a new weapon ?

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


The area is off the range, that is non-military land. They could test a weapon targeting system on "targets of opportunity", but not a weapon itself.

Note this area contains two prisons. But otherwise it is public land. I have driven/hiked the area.

That is a bit odd, the plane was clearly circling a pre-planned plot using the autopilot (look at the speed and altitude chart, that not a human flying the plane manually).

It raises my curiosity but if the plane was flying any kind of military op it would most likely have flown a racetrack pattern vs. circling. Have you checked the flight path against an aerial chart that shows navigation transmitter locations?

The only time I've seen military craft fly in circles is when they are supporting a ground op - airborne command / control, FAC, etc and fly over / around the ground target area. Sensor and test flights normally use a racetrack pattern as I mentioned.

The PC-12 is the U-28A, and is operated by the Special Operations Command for various missions. One of the more common ones is SIGINT/ELINT. They're part of the SOCCOM Non-Standard Aircraft (NSAv) fleet that they use when they don't want people to know who they are. Several of them even have an N-number registration instead of a standard USAF tail number.

www.af.mil...

The U-28A isn't to be confused with the M-28A (this is the first time I've seen very similar designations used for two very different aircraft). The M-28A is based on the Polish built Skytruck twin engine aircraft. They use the M-28 for inserting teams into rough field areas where a C-130 or C-17 are too big to get in and out (like in Africa).

www.strikehold.net...

Most of the NSAv fleet is based at Canon AFB in New Mexico.

reply to post by Zaphod58


N305ST is SNC's M-28.

reply to post by ecoparity


I know all the nav aids in the area. Besides Creech, there is a NDB at Desert Rock and a VOR south of Beatty airport. I don't think they were using any navaids other than maybe a GPS.

reply to post by Thorneblood


In Vegas, most of the "strange" aircraft are out of VGT. Twin Otter for instance. Sometimes interesting aircraft use Henderson. (North Las Vegas (VGT) has a less than stellar safety record.)

People get all nervous about drones. Most of the snooping is done with very ordinary aircraft.

Note that Lockheed has flown one of their PC-12s at Groom Lake. Lockheed aircraft are registered under LMCO for Lockheed Martin COpany.

reply to post by gariac


Well that certainly is interesting. As I've said I'm not a pro on aircraft (I thought I was until I joined ATS lol) but circling over public land and like you said 2 prisons in the area I find most strange. Thanks anyway I like to think I learn from snippets of info from ATS

I wonder what they were doing

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


The U-28A and M-28A are currently being used flying out of Mali (possibly aiding French forces now fighting the rebels there) and have been flying over several areas in Africa from there. Special Forces teams have been doing God only knows what there, but operating in the area this one was would be appropriate training, as there isn't much there as far as navigation, and if they aren't using navaids, then they are training to operate in that region most likely.

So what you are saying is that the aircraft was simply on a training mission or am I missing the point? Ill use the excuse that I'm on a tube going through London packed like a sardine

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker


Yes. They were probably training with an SF team or teams. That area is as close to where they're currently operating several of these aircraft as they're going to find here in the US.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by ThePeaceMaker

 

Yes. They were probably training with an SF team or teams. That area is as close to where they're currently operating several of these aircraft as they're going to find here in the US.

thanks zap....nice to know we have people on here that know what the hell they are talking about as far as some aspects of the military goes. some of the old timers left because of the caustic political circus.