CIA airvehicles

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20 years 5 months

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Not sure this isn't a non-topic -

Inspired by Pirate's CIA link http://aviationnow.ecnext.com/free-scripts/comsite2.pl?page=aw_document&article=02285p01 I started looking on the net for pictures of CIA aircraft. And I don't mean only those black machines posted below, more like those flamboyantly nondescript turboprops with their scrop of antennas you can see when you fly into various parts of the world.

So, any of you got any CIA airvehicle pictures?

http://area51specialprojects.com/images/a12stGroom.jpg
That's from Groom Lake. Made for spindly dwarfs that site says (shorter than 6ft, lighter than 175lb - no wonder they are talking about the Small Greys flying for the CIA! :D ).

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19 years 9 months

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Such as CIA operated Mi-8/17s in Afghanistan?

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24 years 2 months

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From Newsweek

OK you guys are all knicked! :diablo:

"No Secrets: Eyes on the CIANewsweekMarch 7 issue - Aviation obsessives with cameras and Internet connections have become a threat to cover stories established by the CIA to mask its undercover operations and personnel overseas. U.S. intel sources complain that "plane spotters"—hobbyists who photograph airplanes landing or departing local airports and post the pix on the Internet—made it possible for CIA critics recently to assemble details of a clandestine transport system the agency set up to secretly move cargo and people—including terrorist suspects—around the world.

Google searches revealed that plane spotters Web-posted numerous photos of two private aircraft—one a small Gulfstream jet and the other a midsize Boeing 737—registered to obscure companies suspected of CIA connections. Some of the pictures were taken at airports in foreign countries where CIA activities could be controversial. When the 737 last year went through a change of tail number and ownership—a suspicious company in suburban Boston apparently transferred the plane to a similar company in Reno, Nev.—Internet searches of aviation and public-record databases disclosed details of the plane's new owners and registration number. One critical database, accessible via Google, was a central aircraft registry maintained by the government's own Federal Aviation Administration. A U.S. intel source acknowledged that the instant availability of such data and photos on the Internet is not helpful "if your object is clandestinity." (To see how it works, check the Web for info on a business jet carrying the Liechtenstein tail number HB-IES. The search should turn up pictures of that plane at a European airport, as well as public records and news stories describing how the plane, registered to a company called Aviatrans, once belonged to Saddam"

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Well,they have fleets of Twin Otter small planes & U2 spy planes.You can try doing searches for them.

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Here is one! Operated by the CIA in Afghanistan, marked N353MA, but it should actually be N353RH (or has ben re-registred by now), operated by R J HARROFF BUSINESS ASSOCIATES LLC Co.

Full company details:
7315 WISCONSIN AVE STE 800W
BETHESDA, MD 20814 US

The helo itself is a Mi-8MTV-1, c/n 95747 (which makes it a Soviet-built helo made for domestic use, so non-export, and possibly ex-military) registred as N353RH since april 2004. Harroff & Henchmen also operate the following Hips on 'contractor duties' in dusty places:

N393RH, c/n 95716 also a Mi-8MTV-1.
N52173 c/n 95840 (on the FAA register as a Mi-8, but because of it's c/n and building year 1992 it should be a Mi-8MTV)
N8065R c/n 108M06, (Mi-17)
N8066L c/n 108M13 (Mi-17)
N80652 c/n 108M10 (Mi-17).

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The mentioned CIA-operated ex-Saddam's business jet HB-IES is a Dassault Falcon 50, photo taken in Bern, Switzerland

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/460584/L/

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20 years 7 months

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Another axample is this CIA-operated L100 which is registrated N8183J under Tepper Aviation Inc. Tepper has several other civilian Hercs, could it be that some other are used by CIA, too..

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/714164/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/313202/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/215157/L/
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/591452/L/

Flex

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It's not that the CIA isn't trying to obscure things by changing regs as often as possible, especially with the bizjet-variants of the good old cattle-wagon prison transports. From http://spaces.icgpartners.com/index2.asp?category=6E687EFC376F4D04AD504AB7543722E6:

Tradecraft update on N44982 (was N8068V, N379P) and N4476S (was N313P)
- Gordon Housworth [ 2/23/2005 - 23:47 ] #
Consider this a tradecraft update to Gulfstream N379P becomes N8068V: the price of carelessness with flight logs, or notoriety, or just business practice. Others, such as BlueOregon and the Chicago Tribune have noticed that tail number N8068V, the G-V serial number 581, is now N44982 under new management, and that tail number N313P, the Boeing 737, is now N4476S under a different new management. (In an otherwise good analysis on the G-V, Global Security makes a rare error in stating that N8068V "was sold [by Premier] to two Limited Liabilities companies: Bayard Foreign Marketing, and Keeler and Tate Management.")

Another check beyond the airframe serial number is to go to the FAA Registry Document Index Inquiry, and enter 'Premier Executive Transport' into Party Name. That turns up the two original aircraft. Click on the old tail number and you have the new owner. A cursory look at this FAA registry for the state of Massachusetts, County of Norfolk (which contains the city of Dedham, the registry address of Premier Executive Transport Services, the prior owner of both aircraft), would indicate that PETS is not now in possession of any aircraft.

In a case of casual "security by obscurity," the issue of rendition gave rise to public 'discovery' of what any competent intel agency has known for some time. I would agree with Stygius that the more interesting news was in the bevy of front identities exposed in the 2004 Washington Post.

More likely an issue of site update lag, I note that neither Bayard Foreign Marketing or Keeler and Tate show up in the CALPs (Civil Aircraft Landing Permits) of the US Army Aeronautical Services Agency. The worldwide landing permit for Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., the former owner of both aircraft, remains in effect until 6 March, 2005. I leave it to the eager student to examine the other worldwide access holders.

Researchers miss a trove in not obtaining copies of the registration and airworthiness certificates on aircraft of interest. (Too many forget that not everything is immediately available on the web.) The Civil Aviation Registry has a Request for Copies of Aircraft Records page that will deliver a CD-ROM or paper copy for $6.25. (For the unfamiliar, the registration and airworthiness documentation are comprised of many paper documents which for this modest sum are copied front and back and then sent on to the inquirer.) One discovers many interesting items, e.g., the airframe and electronics mods to the 737, tail number N313P now N4476S, classify it as an experimental aircraft (worth the read if you like detail) and the (former?) operator of the G-V, tail number N8068V now N44982, is as interesting as the owner. One can start to look at the airfields from which it flies, which military assets are in the vicinity, etc. Worth the trouble.

Another source is the FAA and ICAO aviation networks that drag around substantial information on the comings and goings of airline and General Aviation flights, much of it available in real-time or near real-time. There are all manner of PC-based real-time flight tracking and monitoring programs suitable for a private enthusiast, operator, or Fleet Base Operator (FBO) to track all airline and General Aviation flights over the US, Canada, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Data can be had 24/7 in both fully graphics-based presentation or XML feeds. One version for executive jet operations specifically notes "monitor your competition" as one of its benefits in addition to knowing the precise location of one's corporate aircraft, departure and arrival times, and other data to improve scheduling and aircraft utilization.

Readers can gain a cursory education by looking at the index of ARINC, formerly Aeronautical Radio, but some of the major sources are:

ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System)
SELCAL (Selective Calling) that allows ground radio alert to an air crew that the operator wants to talk with that aircraft. (Because of HF background noise levels, air crews often turn down HF audio levels until alerted by SELCAL of a message specifically intended for them.)
ACARS, HF and VHF real-time tracking and monitoring
WACARS (Windows ACARS) databases and flight data from many European and Asian users - another of those 'committed collector' class of folks
Photos of tracked aircraft
Real-time weather and sunrise/sunset if that were of interest
Substantial remote flight records can be obtained in this manner. Failing that, there is always physical access to filed flight plans, pilot and aircraft flight logs. Joint access airfields allow many opportunities.

Gordon Housworth


Unfortunately, this author forgets those horrible part-time spies who actually keep track of the aircraft, as in the article quoted by Mpacha :D

As for the 737 transporting prisoners to the East:
N4476S, formerly N313P, c/n 33010 (it's actually a Boeing BBJ bizjet).
Here in it's previous guise
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=410511

And the cattle-wagon Gulfstream:
formerly N8068V, N379P (and N581GA, but that's obviously a reg based on the manufacturer), now N44982, c/n 581. Operated by (well, until January at least) Bayard Foreign Marketing LLC in both it's latter guises.
image of N8068V at Airliners.net

For once, it could be interesting to read what our brethren at the Airliners.net forum write as well: http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/1979684/

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T-28 Trojan and A-26

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T-28 Trojan and A-26

The CIA operated B-26 in SEA, but those were painted black or left natural.
Not sure about Trojans, but either way, all flew w/o national insignia or other markings.
Those pictures are from the 4410th CCTW I think.

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The CIA wasn't just active in SEA, but in the early 1960s they were very active with T-28s (actually, a lot if not all of those were ex-French Fennecs rather than original T-28s or later AT-28s) and Invaders in the Congo.

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The CIA wasn't just active in SEA, but in the early 1960s they were very active with T-28s (actually, a lot if not all of those were ex-French Fennecs rather than original T-28s or later AT-28s) and Invaders in the Congo.

I know, Cuba, Congo, the Sundas. And quite a number of the Invaders were French.

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This example served with the US Navy before joining the Congo AF under the auspices of the CIA. The CIA also made use of Air Zaire, Seagreen(or related aircraft), Herc Airlift Corp, Southern Air and very possibly even SAFAIR!?

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24 years 2 months

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assigning mil8's american tail numbers makes me laugh..........the american 'intelligence' agency must think that their enemies are as stupid as the american 'intelligence' agencies actually appear to be....having read the a.net post that arthur linked I am more and more confident in my opinion to NOT go to america...america is beginning to sound more and more like a certain 1930's european country..........

however, nice pics..........I checked out the official air-america website and their galleries have some prety cool pictures........

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Actually this last summer in a certain airport near Athens, several civilian registered, multi "bumped" Beechcrafts and Jetrangers were based (in daytime always inside the Hangar)...

Now this post will self destruct... :diablo:

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Actually this last summer in a certain airport near Athens, several civilian registered, multi "bumped" Beechcrafts and Jetrangers were based (in daytime always inside the Hangar)...

There is weird stuff in Athens more often. Back in 2000, there was a really weird, anonymous-looking (Agusta-)Bell412 with a whole array of antennas and bumps parked on the light aviation platform. It was grey overall, with an American registration. No titles whatsoever.

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wot no photos???

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Sorry Coanda. I'm usually way too close to make decent pictures. Besides, lighting conditions inside a wheelbay are usually less than perfect :D