Janet 652 diverted to Groom Lake

flight aware

Sometimes when a plane is diverted, it is due to an in flight emergency (IFE). In this case, I think they filed the paperwork incorrectly since it seems that the normal destination of Janet 652 actually IS Groom Lake.

I guess an explanation is due here if the reader doesn't know the scheme the USAF uses to hide flights to Groom Lake. All flights allegedly fly between McCarran and the Tonopah Test Range. In real life, some of those flights actually go to Groom Lake. They file their flight destination with a wink and a nudge, but air traffic control knows the real destination.

The easiest way to tell if a flight is going to Groom Lake is the altitude will be 14Kft going to Groom Lake and 15Kft leaving Groom Lake. FlightAware has the flight plans, so this is easy to check. In the case of Janet 652, it is usually flying to Groom Lake, so the diversion is probably some sort of paperwork error.

Thus the only thing interesting here is Homey XTA appeared as the destination in the diverted logging. Groom Lake is known is Home Plate over the radio. Homey XTA appeared in the Honeywell flight management database many years ago, so the secret got out. You won't find many flights to XTA on FlightAware.

a reply to: gariac

Interesting! I like to watch the Janet flights from work and, sure enough, 652 got to a point in its flight today and suddenly went from displaying its data to "estimated" and followed its projected path perfectly. Also just watched 876 do the same thing.

a reply to: apexbuddha

They do a handoff to Groom control, which is like approach /departure at a normal airport. That is probably where things go estimated. But a few times a year the filter will not work and flightaware will track a Janet to Groom right to the runway.

I am surprised to even see this on FlightAware:
HOMEY (GROOM LAKE) AIRPORT (LINCOLN COUNTY, NV) KXTA / XTA
Of course it has absolutely no recorded arrivals or departures, or any other real data.

a reply to: FosterVS

A blast from the past.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm not sure when Homey first showed up on flightaware. They used to call Groom Lake KTKM.

www.lazygranch.com...

originally posted by: gariac
a reply to: apexbuddha

They do a handoff to Groom control, which is like approach /departure at a normal airport. That is probably where things go estimated. But a few times a year the filter will not work and flightaware will track a Janet to Groom right to the runway.

Ohhhh, duh. Of course. Man...got all excited there for a moment.

Janet 675 divert

route
For some reason the link isn't showing up correctly. Just look on pastebin. You have the rest of the information.

I spotted another Homey landing. I'm starting to think that the pilot is filing to Homey by mistake. Maybe the pilot is new, or a substitute due to the holidays. So if they file to Homey, Flightaware tracks the plane until it lands.