A new aerial oddity in my town

Something new and odd is occuring here in the skies of my town. Shortly after dark each night, a small prop driven plane takes of from the airport, then spends several hrs flying widening spiral pattern over the city, at maybe 3-5k feet?
It flies relatively slowly, and sounds like a single engine, its still climbing when it flies over my neighborhood, so i get a good listen to it.
But like i said its in the air over the city for a few hrs, I just noticed it a few weekes ago, while walking the dog at the regular time, early evening.
Then i noticed it in the air at various times, like when i had to walk the dog late due to work, it seems the thing is always in the air even fairly late like near midnight.

Not sure what to think of it, but its my opinion that its local law enforcement running fast and loose with the 4th amendment, which i do know for a fact they are doing with stingray type devices. There is a certain police substation in town, that strangley enough when im near, my phone drops out of 4g and goes to 3g.

I observed something similar when i was in D.C. Every evening, round 6 ish a helicopter bristiling with antena and a large pod undernenath, would fly up and down the street, every couple of blocks, just above the tree line, back and forth. Flying north/south and progressing from the west to the potomac.
And the first day i was there, i found a local pub to hang out at, wanting to save my cell battery i turned off my phone and set it on the bar. 30-40 min later i went to check it and the thing was hot, like it had been chewing away on something for a while. When i turned it on, it was cycling through my most visited web pages and after a few minutes it went to my address book and it scrolled through it, then it turned itself off. This was just about the time that the heli would have been flying over the area

I believe it is you they are looking at. Take your battery completely out of your phone next time and see what the plane/drone does.

If it is indeed you, charge your phone fully, keep it off and take it to the local train tracks. Turn it on and throw it in an open, moving boxcar. See if the plane follows it out of town.

Buy burners from now on...

a reply to: punkinworks10

That sounds like they're either looking for something with an IR sensor, or they're using a cell capture system to track phones.

a reply to: punkinworks10


They're looking for pot farms man. It gives them a better idea of who they need to keep their eyes on.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Strange stuff.

I helped my brother move a few weeks ago, a single prop plane was doing circles at about 3000-6000 feet for about 6 hours. It would take about 20 minutes at a guess to finish a circle.

Never deviated or anything, I did think possible training or something but what exactly are you learning flying around in circles for hours on end.

Thought maybe the pilot was having a nap or something, your post reminded me of it.

a reply to: RAY1990

They use handheld IR cameras looking around as they orbit.

a reply to: Zaphod58

The area is known for cannabis growing so that makes a lot of sense to me.

a reply to: RAY1990

I've seen U-2s and RF-4Cs used to look for growing areas. A small plane seems nice compared to the F-4s. Heh.

a reply to: Zaphod58

This is the UK, I suppose a plane alone is pushing the boat out on funds. Being honest I don't think many would expect a prop plane to be spying here, chopper yes.

Sneaky sods.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: Zaphod58

This is the UK, I suppose a plane alone is pushing the boat out on funds. Being honest I don't think many would expect a prop plane to be spying here, chopper yes.

Sneaky sods.

What town? Plane is better and cheaper than a chopper for many things.

a reply to: Forensick

People don't realize how versatile a small plane can be.

Download a app like flightaware and see if you can pull its registration and flight paths.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: punkinworks10

Strange stuff.

I helped my brother move a few weeks ago, a single prop plane was doing circles at about 3000-6000 feet for about 6 hours. It would take about 20 minutes at a guess to finish a circle.

Never deviated or anything, I did think possible training or something but what exactly are you learning flying around in circles for hours on end.

Thought maybe the pilot was having a nap or something, your post reminded me of it.

very similar.
At first i thought it might be night flying training, but it up there to late for that.
I know its in the air for at least 1-1/2 to 2 hrs, thats the longest i've had eyes on it, but like i said i've seen/heard it, on separate nights over the span of 4-5 hrs.

The mrs dad has had a few visits from the local constabulary thinking he's running a weed farm, he's got an outside built brick oven thats wood fired for making bread/pizzas etc and every now and again they go out in a helicopter with a thermal imaging unit and look for tell tale glows and he gets a knock on the door...normally a couple of slices and a cuppa later its all sorted. He's not a bad baker either so some of the locals put in an order now and again for some of his stuff.

FBI with a cell tower simulator aka "Kingsisher" or "Stingray". It tricks cell phones into connecting with it, then it can initiate a "man in the middle" attack and intercept communication content (texts, calls, internet data).

The FBI uses small prop planes flying circles around cities to do this.

Reports last year revealed that U.S. law enforcement agencies might have special aircraft at their disposal that masquerade as cell phone towers and collect data from the unsuspecting citizens as it flies. New information on the matter reveals that the FBI is indeed behind the planes, and it uses more than a dozen fake companies to conceal its air support missions, which include these “Stingray” cell phone-spying equipment.

More:

The Associated Press identified more than 100 flights in 11 states over a 30-day period since April, tracing at least 50 aircraft to the FBI in flights over parts of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle and Southern California. Furthermore, it looks like at least 115 planes, including 90 Cessnas, were mentioned in federal budget documentation dating back to 2009.

These planes apparently fly in counter-clockwise patterns spanning several miles, and they stay roughly one mile above ground. The spy planes can be used to track suspects from the sky, while ground teams can keep a lower profile and avoid detection.

Link

Local law enforcement has these as well. They're small enough to fit into the trunk of a typical police patrol cars.

It's a real program using planes similar in description to the opening post, flying patterns similar to that described in the opening post.

The fast and loose part of this is ... any cell phone within range of these things will connect to these fake cell towers and share its IMSI, ESN, and other identifying data. It's a huge net, and catches a hell of a lot more than the just a targeted individual covered under a search warrant.

Oh well, they changed Rule 41 today anyway:

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies will be able to search multiple computers across the country with a single warrant thanks to a controversial rule change that takes effect on Thursday.

The expanded search power, known as “Rule 41,” is intended to make it easier for the FBI to carry out complex computer investigations. Until now, the government could only carry out a search of computers located in the district where the federal judge granted the warrant—typically only a few counties in a given state.

fortune.com

Why that isn't a top thread around here right now is beyond me. *shrug* C'est la vie...and such is America these days.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: RAY1990

I've seen U-2s and RF-4Cs used to look for growing areas. A small plane seems nice compared to the F-4s. Heh.

Before 911 we used to get predators here on the prowl for weed, and a forest service contact spilled the beans about u2 flyovers. And we also used to get various special forces groups working with CAMP to locate and survail grow ops.
Once, when out on an mtb ride in a remote steep canyon, we heard helicopters coming in, and about a 1/4 mile away two blackhawks dropped a couple of squads into the forest as they hovered just a few feet above the tree tops, then the next day we were riding on the other side of the canyon and saw a couple of blackhawks hauling cargo nets full of weed out to the incinerator at the nearby saw mill.
And another time a "special forces" unit tracked a group of growers through the remote coast range mountains for a week without catching them. One of the local papers did a good article on the incident. They never mentioned what unit was involed, but they were one of the living off the land groups, and were confident they would catch their quarry, but they never did. The locals knew the lay of the land, where there was water and shade, or hidden arroyos and washes, that would lead them back around behind the trackers. It was the water that finally put an end to the chase, after a week of hiking up and down 3-4000' ridges in summer temps of 100+ degrees, the soldiers simply ran out of water, and couldnt find any. I think the guys being chased were " contractors" guarding the plantation, and it was a huge plantation that measured a couple miles on a side.

a reply to: punkinworks10

This is where sensor fusion and data matching will soon come into its own. What the officials really want to do is to be able to combine information: say FLIR images and any other aerial surveillance, cell phone data, local intel and some general rules about likely behaviour. If they are able to get that data matched and presented in near real time, then the battle will soon be won.

like someone said before.
flightaware might be a good start.

give us a time, date and location. and we can probably find the plane and it's track.

Good deal, those pesky marijuana growers destabilizing government's and wreaking havoc on the system's. Maybe soon they will turn their sensor attention to the gases let off by the manufacturing of Meth(since the gov regulated the chemicals and now they leech said chemicals to extract the trace meth from the pills, the government could end Meth tomorrow by banning all amphetamine over the counter products), but I doubt it, maybe they will develop a sensor for that black tar stuff , but I doubt it. Never mind those legal killers taking out innocents behind the wheel of a DUI driven vehicle.

We already know Cessna's have been used to operate Stingray systems. But the helo with antenna array's sure isn't scanning for growing operation's.

Side note: I have personally witnessed local law enforcement hanging out of a Cessna's door at tree top level in a local river bottom, Which was followed up later in the day with the parade of cannabis on a trailer followed by 4x4's with trailers full of 4-wheelers. Seen the parade of found growing stashes more then once in this small town.

You don't happen to be a "Native American" sympathizer do you?

Signs Of A Creepy Government Conspiracy At Standing Rock