The white FEST C-32 to Andrews AFB using an FBI callsign on a "black" mission?

May 15, 2011 Military Aviation
David Cenciotti

Once again a Foreign Emergency Support Team C-32 (B757) with registration 02-4452, belonging to the 227 SOF (Special Operations Flight) based at McGuire AFB, NJ, appeared on both FlightRadar24 and PlaneFinder on arrival to Andrews AFB just before 08.38UTC on May 15. Noteworthy, using LiveATC radio stream on KDCA approach I’ve heard it using an unusual callsign “Jenna 71” being vectored for an ILS approach for RWY 19L at Andrews AFB. The aircraft hasn’t used one of the callsigns used by the 227 SOF (the most usual of which is “Terra”) but “Jenna” or “Jena” that according to some websites should be used by non-FBI aircraft and non-FBI flight crews involved in FBI operations. For instance, another FBI callsign reported to be use by FBI flights is “Ross”.

Here’s a part of the radio comms of Jenna 71 with KDCA Approach from LiveATC.net archive:

Jenna 71 arrival

After a rapid stopover, the aircraft took off just before 11.00GMT to fly again on an oceanic route eastbound using the usual c/s Terra 71.

Anyway, it’s still weird that such an interesting “black” plane is clearly visible on the Internet by means of ADS-B.

Here’s a screenshot of the departure

Salva

About David Cenciotti
WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

Related Articles

4 Comments

  1. i love you guy but if you think that highlighting black flights is going to gain readership in the US then i must tell you that it won’t.

    i personally don’t care, but just want to give you a heads up.

    • Thanks for the feedback.
      Actually I publish everything that I consider interesting, hence worth a post. I’m not going to publish a screenshot each time I see a presumed black flight but I find it noteworthy that such flights, usually hiding behind bogus callsigns and serial numbers to deceive aircraft spotters, are “advertising” themselves in the clear with ADS-B. I did more or less the same during the beginning stages of the Libyan war: a Canadian tanker revealed its position to FR24 unveiling the location of the refueling orbits. After publishing 2 or 3 screenshots, and receiving a few more visits from Canada, they switched it off. I consider that episode interesting because it confirmed me that CAF, as a few other air forces/services, read my posts meaning that large organisations can be helped improving OPSEC by journalists, aviation geeks, spotters, bloggers, etc.

  2. you know what David.

    i apologize.

    if my government agencies are that bumbling then they deserve to have the whole world look up their skirt.

    thanks for posting.

  3. Foreign Emergency Support Team C-32 (B757) with registration 02-4452 IN THE AIR RIGHT NOW VIA PLANE FINDER OVER MISSISSIPPI COMING OUT OF NE. HIGHLIGHTING BLACK FLIGHTS DOES GAIN READERSHIP. ME.

Comments are closed.