PC-12 out of Creech AFB N108JQ

reply to post by gariac

Does that constant varying blue speed graph indicate it was because it was circling, or that it was doing some oddball speed manoeuvre as it circled?

reply to post by smurfy


The variation in the speed graph is a good question. If it was just circling, seems to me the speed would be constant.

flightaware.com...

There is another plane coming into Creech. Usually when they have a flight ID that is not in the format of AAAxxx or AAAxxxx, which AAA is three letters and xxx/x is three or four numbers, it is a military flight. I don't see anything useful when Googling HORNT73 other that the Wall Street Journal article on the BARR program regarding blocked planes.

WSJ

I suppose stepping back a bit here for those not familiar with internet aircraft tracking, the BARR program is a way to hide your aircraft or flight ID from flightware or similar services. Ray LaHood (Department of Transportation) thought this was a steaming pile of bovine feces since the aircraft were using federal resources, so he pulled the plug on the program. Well the politicians that were getting free rides on corporate jets didn't like that reporters could track their movements (as in the meeting of the GOP elite with the Koch brothers), so they got a provision in a funding bill to start the BARR program again.

There are two ways to block your flights. One is to file with the FAA. That is the document you can FOIA. The other way is to contact each tracking company individually. If you do that, then the information is not subject to FOIA requests.

I presume HORNT73 blocking got lost in the paperwork. It is declared as a CV-22, which is consistent with Special Ops.

They might have some new equipment on board that they were testing,and had to see how it affected the aircraft at different speeds. Or it might have a speed window it needs to be in. I'm leaning more towards affecting aerodynamics though.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
They might have some new equipment on board that they were testing,and had to see how it affected the aircraft at different speeds. Or it might have a speed window it needs to be in. I'm leaning more towards affecting aerodynamics though.

Yes, I suppose it could be something as mundane as new modulating LED equipment being able to be read in all circumstances, and tweaked as per that vehicle for some particular reason, but also as you say, how new equipment might affect that aircraft's stability. The question is for what purpose.

reply to post by smurfy


The aircraft are used primarily in an ELINT/SIGINT role, so if it's something affecting aerodynamics (which I doubt due to the fact that they're in the "We're not American military" fleet) then it would most likely have something to do with that mission. Personally I think they were testing something and were checking how it worked at various speeds, as it may be something that deploys out of the aircraft in flight from inside the aircraft.