Tikaboo Tales

Oops - it wasn't N20RA that crashed then.......it's still filing plans Aircraft ID N20RA Aircraft Type BEECH 1900 Owner/Operator DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE PO BOX 1504 LAYTON UTAH Serial Number UB-42 Year Manufactured 1985 Certificate Issued 07/28/1988 Airport most visited: LAS MC CARRAN INTL, NV See a list of all based aircraft at LAS Flight Plan Received 2004-03-26 20:40:08 from Los Angeles Departure PMD PALMDALE PRODN FLT/TEST INSTLN AF PLANT 42, PALMDALE CA Destination LAS MC CARRAN INTL, LAS VEGAS NV Status Planned Planned Alt 19000 Feet Planned Speed 260 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-27 00:30 Actual Dep Planned Arrival 2004-03-27 01:20 Route PMD..DAG.CRESO3.LAS/0050 Previous Flights OXR - LAS 2004-03-15 21:26 PMD - OXR 2004-03-15 18:36 PMD - NSI 2004-03-12 20:46 NSI - LAS 2004-03-12 22:30 OXR - EDW 2004-03-11 15:07

Hmmm - N105TB filed a plan to Pt Mugu then it was cancelled and this appeared instead! Aircraft ID N105TB Aircraft Type GRUMMAN G-1159 Owner/Operator AIR FORCE MATERIAL COMMAND ESC/DIKL 5 EGLIN ST BLDG 1624 BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS Serial Number 31 Year Manufactured 1968 Certificate Issued 05/10/1993 Flight Plan Received 2004-03-26 21:36:32 from Los Angeles Departure TNX TONOPAH TEST RANGE, TONOPAH NV Destination PMD PALMDALE PRODN FLT/TEST INSTLN AF PLANT 42, PALMDALE CA Status Landed Planned Alt 16000 Feet Planned Speed 400 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-26 21:45 Actual Dep 2004-03-26 21:48 Planned Arrival 2004-03-26 22:55 Estimated Arrival Actual Arrival 2004-03-26 22:32 Latest Speed 61 kts. Latest Altitude 2700 Feet Distance to Dest. Last Update 2004-03-26 22:34 Route TNX..BTY060030..MCY..CLARR.V394.DAG..PMD/0110

Accident Description Status: Preliminary [legenda] Date: 16 MAR 2004 Time: ca 05:00 Type: Beechcraft C-12J Operator: United States Air Force - USAF Registration: ? Msn / C/n: Year built: Crew: 1 fatalities / 1 on board Passengers: 4 fatalities / 4 on board Total: 5 fatalities / 5 on board Airplane damage: Written off Location: 125mls NW of Las Vegas, NV (USA) Phase: Nature: Military Departure airport: Destination airport: Tonopah-Test Range Airport, NV (XSD) Remarks: The Air Force Materiel Command Beech 1900 crashed while on a routine support mission from a remote classified airstrip on the Nellis range to the Tonopah Test Range.

Previous Arrivals/Departures Flight# Type Dep Time Arr Time Date N20RA B190 PMD 18:21 OXR 18:36 03-15-2004 N20RA B190 OXR 20:17 LAS 21:26 03-15-2004 BLOCKED G TNX 21:25 NTD 22:10 03-15-2004 N178B I TUL 21:40 RVS 04:11 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 PMD 01:28 OXR 01:44 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 OXR 02:00 LAS 03:06 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 TNX 19:27 NSI 20:50 03-22-2004 N661BA BE20 OXR 21:15 LAS 21:44 03-22-2004 N178B W RVS 23:08 RVS 03:49 03-24-2004 N662BA BE20 PMD 01:03 LAS 01:47 03-24-2004 N661BA BE20 PMD 01:21 LAS 02:05 03-25-2004 N178B GLF3 RVS 14:14 SDL 16:34 03-25-2004 BLOCKED G NTD 18:12 DRA 18:57 03-25-2004

Here's the next update - N105TB apparently 'landed' at DRA while at 15000ft!! N105TB_25Mar04_5.doc

Having reached DRA N105TB takes a right turn; this is the last plot before it changes to Military radar. N105TB_25Mar-04_4.doc

N105TB-Mar25_3.doc

N27RA not heard of since 5-Mar-04 Aircraft ID N27RA Aircraft Type BEECH 1900C Owner/Operator DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE PO BOX 1504 LAYTON UTAH Serial Number UB-37 Year Manufactured 1985 Certificate Issued 07/28/1988 Airport most visited: LAS MC CARRAN INTL, NV See a list of all based aircraft at LAS Flight Plan Received 2004-03-05 17:11:56 from Los Angeles Departure NSI SAN NICOLAS ISLAND NOLF, SAN NICOLAS ISLAND CA Destination LAS MC CARRAN INTL, LAS VEGAS NV Status Landed Planned Alt 19000 Feet Planned Speed 260 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-05 19:00 Actual Dep 2004-03-05 20:29 Planned Arrival 2004-03-05 20:30 Estimated Arrival 2004-03-05 21:59 Actual Arrival 2004-03-05 21:43 Latest Speed 159 kts. Latest Altitude 10000 Feet Distance to Dest. Last Update 2004-03-05 21:41 Route NSI..VTU.V299.FIM.V386.PMD..DAG.CRESO3.LAS/0130 Previous Flights PMD - NSI 2004-03-05 18:42 NSI - LAS 2004-03-01 21:12 TKM

Meanwhile N105TB has vinished its vacation by the sea at Point Mugu and is on its way home to Groom Lake N105TB_25Mar-04_2.ppt

Actually neither of the BE1900s has been reported since the date of the crash. Will put the history of N27RA on here in a sec

Here is the history for N20RA_15Mar04.doc This was the last filed flight plan on the day before the crash (Monday). It shows it went from Oxnard to (by the track shown here) Groom Lake as it stopped tracking in the usual area NE of Indian Springs where it changes SSR code and changes freq to Military radar.

Hi Paul & all, a little more detail has appeared on the wires over the past few hours, courtesy of AP: Five people died Tuesday morning when an Air Force plane crashed in the Nevada desert about 125 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base, military officials said. The Beechcraft KA 1900 went down about 5 a.m. in an unpopulated area of the Nevada Test and Training Range, killing four contractors and the Air Force civilian pilot, Staff Sgt. Shane Sharp said. The Air Force did not release their identities. There were no survivors. Sharp said the plane was on a routine mission, ferrying the four contractors to the Tonopah Test Range. The cause of the crash is unknown and remains under investigation. Best regards Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News On Wednesday, Mar 17, 2004, at 14:30 Europe/London, Paul Geary wrote: > The excellent Dreamlandresort site are reporting that a Beechcraft > KA1900 en route to Tonapah Test range crashed on the Nellis Ranges

N105TB 15_Mar_2004.doc

Hurrah! N105TB is flying again. It's been at Groom Lake so long that I thought they may have pranged it! And it's not going to Bedford for a change; perhaps this movement explains some of the recent IVJ Learjet movements from NZJ (or was it Pt Mugu)....anyhow Aircraft ID N105TB Aircraft Type GRUMMAN G-1159 Owner/Operator AIR FORCE MATERIAL COMMAND ESC/DIKL 5 EGLIN ST BLDG 1624 BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS Serial Number 31 Year Manufactured 1968 Certificate Issued 05/10/1993 Flight Plan Received 2004-03-15 18:16:43 from Los Angeles Departure TNX TONOPAH TEST RANGE, TONOPAH NV Destination NTD POINT MUGU NAS (NAVAL BASES VENTURA CNTY), POINT MUGU CA Status Planned Planned Alt 16000 Feet Planned Speed 400 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-15 20:00 Actual Dep Planned Arrival 2004-03-15 21:00 Route TNX..BTY..FLM..NTD/0100

The website for Lincoln Labs also says this A major part of our Surface Surveillance Program involves using advanced signal processing and adaptive-array techniques for locating communications emitters in high-interference environments. We’re also investigating how advanced processing techniques can maintain surveillance radar performance in hostile electronic environments. A second major emphasis is on Tactical Air Defense which includes a broad range of activities in the detection, location, identification, and engagement of air vehicles. We combine the modeling results of phenomenological investigations and testing insights from air vehicle measurements into system performance predictions. Our suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation sensors includes two business-sized jet aircraft with instrumented radar and infrared sensors and electronic countermeasure systems.

The Lincoln Labs report for 2001-2002 is finally on the web at Annual Report 2002 from MIT included in here is this Airborne Seeker Test Bed The Airborne Seeker Test Bed, in a Gulfstream II aircraft, has participated this year in two major test campaigns and infrastructure upgrades. One of the test campaigns was conducted in Nevada to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic countermeasures against a modern surface-to-air missile system and to measure bistatic radar cross sections. The second test utilized the seeker test bed's IR focal-plane arrays and IR seekers to test flare countermeasures.

MIT's exemption from FAA regs for their fleet

Document FAA-2001-8870-5 Docket Information Category Petitions Docket Status Pending Subcat. General Operating and Flight Rules Old Docket Num. Docket Subject Petition for Exemption Docket Title Exemption/Rulemaking - Masschusetts Institute of Technology Data Entry Date 02/05/2001 RIN # Action Office AFS Action Sought Docket Parties Stat. Deadline Comment Close Last Update 03/13/2002 Close Date Statutory Citation Submissions 7 Statutory Judicial Requirement CFR Citation Docket Attributes ALJ Hearing Archived Docket Abstract Document Information Document Type Petition(s) Data Entry Date 05/15/2003 Document Title MIT/Lincoln Laboratory - Exemption/Rulemaking Next Due Date Document Date 05/15/2003 Filing Date 05/15/2003 Answer Date Reply Date Next Due Item Federal Reg. Citation F. R. Pub. Date Submitter MIT/Lincoln Laboratory John G. Benkert 5C-212 244 Wood Street Lexingto

and the last leg to Groom for N105TB Aircraft ID N105TB Aircraft Type GRUMMAN G-1159 Owner/Operator AIR FORCE MATERIAL COMMAND ESC/DIKL 5 EGLIN ST BLDG 1624 BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS Serial Number 31 Year Manufactured 1968 Certificate Issued 05/10/1993 Flight Plan Received 2004-01-30 21:35:15 from Denver Departure PUB PUEBLO MEMORIAL, PUEBLO CO Destination DRA DESERT ROCK, MERCURY NV Status Planned Planned Alt 31000 Feet Planned Speed 430 kts. Planned Dep 2004-01-30 22:00 Actual Dep Planned Arrival 2004-01-30 23:30 Route PUB..DVC.J146.LAS..DRA/0130

Here's todays arrivals and departures at 'TNX' . UTC time: 20:31 on Fri, 30th Jan(Note: ALL Times are UTC/GMT) Planned Arrivals Flight# Type Dep ETD Arr ETA Alt Speed Time to ETA WWW276 B73Q LAS 21:15 TNX 21:50 260 0420 01:22 WWW265 B73Q LAS 22:00 TNX 22:35 260 0420 02:07 WWW254 B73Q LAS 22:45 TNX 23:10 140 0420 02:42 WWW235 B73Q LAS 23:30 TNX 00:05 260 0420 03:37 WWW243 B73Q LAS 23:40 TNX 00:05 140 0420 03:37 WWW202 B73Q LAS 23:45 TNX 00:10 140 0420 03:42 WWW221 B73Q LAS 01:00 TNX 01:35 260 0420 05:07 WWW210 B73Q LAS 02:45 TNX 03:10 140 0420 06:42 Planned Departures Flight# Type Dep ETD Arr ETA Alt Speed Time to ETD WWW288 B73Q TNX 21:00 LAS 21:24 150 0420 00:32 WWW278 B73Q TNX 22:00 LAS 22:24 150 0420 01:32 WWW234 B73Q TNX 22:30 LAS 23:06 250 0420 02:02 WWW276 B73Q TNX 22:40 LAS 23:16 250 0420 02:12 WWW291 B73Q TNX 23:00 LAS 23:24 150 0420 02:32 WWW265 B73Q TNX 00:00 LAS 00: