Mystery Aircraft Frightens Quincy, MA Residents

Mystery Aircraft Frightens Quincy, MA Residents

boston.cbslocal.com

Every night for nearly the last two weeks, residents have spotted a low-flying aircraft doing loops over the city. WBZ has learned the FAA knows what’s going on, but the agency isn’t telling.

“We’re as frustrated as our constituents,” said Mayor Tom Koch. “We’d like to be able to give our citizens some answers, but we don’t have any answers.”

Sources tell WBZ that the aircraft is not a drone, that it is manned. FAA spokesman Jim Peters would only say, “We have to be very careful this time” concerning information.

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Quincy is a city just South of Boston.

For the past 10 days there has been a small, low-flying aircraft that residents say is buzzing the city low and slow. Residents claim that the aircraft is present over the city nearly 24 hours a day. Officials claim that "It is not a drone, it is a manned aircraft."

Apparently these flights are sanctioned by the FAA, but they're not giving any information beyond "We have to be very careful this time."

Interesting! What is this mystery aircraft doing and why is it being kept secret?

boston.cbslocal.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[It is a] low humming, low flying plane that the FAA says isn’t a drone; however, I would love to get some answers,” said Palmucci. “If it’s not a drone, how is it staying in the air nearly 24 hours a day? It’s my understanding that the FAA mandates that flights last no more than eight hours.

At night, on a clear night, you can look up and think it's a single engine passenger plane," O'Malley said. "It sounds like one, has the running lights like one, and it passes my house in Wollaston, circles over Milton, Blue Hills, over Randolph, Holbrook and comes back to the same spot every eight minutes.

Flying over every day for nearly two weeks and nobody has pics or video of it?

I think there is already a thread from yesterday on this. However with the search function as bad as it is I am not going to attempt to find it.

reply to post by METACOMET


Walking into work in Boston today and couldn't help but notice a very low flying aircraft going over downtown boston...I estimated the plane to be about a couple of hundred feet above one of the buildings...beige/off white small prop airplane...thought it was very unusual because I never notice them to be that low..not sure if it's the same one but I was mostly surprised that nobody looked up to notice it as the engine was audible. Logan Airport is literally a stones throw away from here so not surprising that the area is always saturated with traffic.

According to one person it's a Cessna Caravan, N1132F which is owned by the FBI. However, they also claimed it was a different aircraft entirely at one point, so there's no telling if they're right or not.

This is most definitely strange! Now I really want to know what's going on.

I live a couple of hours North of Boston. On Wednesday, both me & my spouse noticed multiple jets taking off from a place that we don't see them take off from. They were headed South when they flew over.

I didn't see them yesterday (Thursday) or today although I haven't been outside much since Wednesday.

They were not small planes like mentioned in the article they were jets.

This to me - is a weird coincidence.

Could they be mapping the area? Perhaps a GPS type thing, just the current version of whatever the government is using?

Although...why not just say so?

The thing I find the most confusing is the officials who refuse to comment or explain the situation to the city council/mayor. It seems to me that keeping the purpose a secret will only fuel rumors and speculation. Why not just give a bogus answer if its classified and avoid all the skulldraggery?

Unless they want folks talking.....

reply to post by smyleegrl


If it IS N1132F, then they may be on an FBI operation that they want kept quiet for now, and they told them not to explain what they're doing there. They have to let the FAA know who they are, and what they're doing, at least as far as the flight goes but they can request that the FAA not say anything that might blow the operation.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Why not just give a bogus answer if its classified and avoid all the skulldraggery?

Perhaps because "We have to be very careful this time."

what possible surveillance can be better done orbiting (not looping folks) a small plane around a major city and in a Class B airspace than by some other means? Watching the movement and routes of a vehicle(s)? Radiological monitoring? And why a Caravan (pretty big small engine plane). Why not a smaller plane like a 172? Need for a large payload? Interesting...

The most interesting part of the article for me was:

FAA spokesman Jim Peters would only say, “We have to be very careful ***THIS TIME***” concerning information

"This time" says to me whatever they are doing - they have done before.

But the question is: What???

reply to post by jtma508


Cameras, both electroptical and thermal, electronic evesdropping, and a number of other systems that can be installed in the bottom cargo bay of a Caravan (if it's mounted), or even in the fuselage (it's a pretty good payload), that a 172 or even 182 can't carry because of either sheer size, or weight.

At 200ft. from buildings the aircraft would have to be operating under a waiver from the FAA. That is some tightly controlled airspace and as such there are answers out there somewhere. A surveillance of nearly anyone or anything can be accomplished at higher altitudes.

Tis a strange thing to be certain. We may never know what it is about.

Hi all this is a thread I replied in a few days back .. The OP was saying a plane was circling the city he was in ut wouldn't state which city for some reason
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Wow .. Strange plane + possibly FBI aircraft + Boston + recent events in Boston + a lot of people making assumptions of the Boston bombing = someone is gonna have a field day

I haven't a clue

we need to make a few assumptions first.If it's truly an FBI plane,then why? FBI would have the lead on home grown terrorists,so what could they find from an aerial observation? Air samples for sure.
If I recall,weren't they going to release some harmless gas in the subways of NY to test dispersion patterns? Maybe they are tracing that gas.

reply to post by Mamatus


They're staying low because it keeps them under Class B airspace. The further out you go from the airport, the higher Class B goes. At Quincy (without charts), 200 feet is probably below the lower reaches of the airspace.

Regardless, as long as the pilots meet the Class B requirements, and they have ATC clearance, they can operate there with no problems, as long as their transponder works, and they answer any and all ATC instructions that are given. If there's a VFR corridor in the area, they won't even need that much, as they won't technically enter Class B airspace.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Sorry zaphod ... What does class b air space mean .. How many classes are there

Originally posted by ThePeaceMaker
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

Sorry zaphod ... What does class b air space mean .. How many classes are there

Airspace classification info

Class B Airspace is generally the airspace from the surface to 10,000 feet. This airspace is normally around the busiest airports in terms of aircraft traffic such as Chicago or Los Angeles. Class B airspace is individually designed to meet the needs of the particular airport and consists of a surface area and two more layers. Most Class B airspace resemble an upside down wedding cake. Pilots must contact air traffic control to receive an air traffic control clearance to enter Class B airspace. Once a pilot receives an air traffic control clearance, they receive separation services from other aircraft within the airspace.

You are welcome.

If N1132F is indeed the tail number - it is indeed an FBI Cessna Caravan and you can watch its progress here

flightaware.com...

And it is not looping, that would just be really weird.