Mystery Plane With No Callsign Circles South London For Hours

Chad

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Maybe nothing, maybe something.

With everything happening right now, and some of the speculation given in the article, i thought it may be good to make a note: (more pictures and tweets in the article)

_http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/22/mystery-plane-no-callsign_n_5608777.html?1406027713

Mystery Plane With No Callsign Circles South London For Hours
The Huffington Post UK
Posted: 22/07/2014 12:09 BST Updated: 1 hour ago


A mysterious plane has been spotted on a flight tracking app circling South London, over and over again, for no obvious reason.

The plane - a Cessna F406 Caravan II, with the registration G-BVJT - took off from near to Farnborough on Tuesday morning and then circled south London several times at an altitude of about 10,000 feet.

The course of the plane was publicly viewable on flight tracking apps and websites.

huffpost

At first the plane just looks like a weird but mundane curiosity - though maybe something to justify the £1.99 price of the number one paid app in the App Store.

It circled London from about 10am to 12.30pm, whereupon it appeared to vanish (though that may have been the app's fault).

But it looks like users of plane tracking forums might have solved the mystery -- and it might not necessarily make for entirely comfortable reading.

The plane with this registration appears to have been linked in the past with spy planes operated by the Metropolitan Police. The planes, which the Telegraph reported in 2011 cost up to £3 million each per year, have been in use since at least 1997.

So what's the point of these planes? Apparently -- at least this is the widespread theory, and we can't definitely confirm it - the plane is used for surveillance, or more specifically to intercept mobile phone conversations and intercept calls.

The Telegraph report suggests they are roughly similar to planes used by MI5 for anti-terrorism operations and have been used to crack various plots over the years. That said, it's possible they are now used for other operations or have other "intel" packages on board. We really have no idea.

Update 1: There are now some more details on the plane and where it went. According to the Bristol Post the plane "has links to Bristol" and is registered with the Civil Aviation Authority to Nor Leasing. Scotland Yard has denied the plane was used for policing.

Others on Twitter joked that they had another theory:

Oddly one of the only other Google references to the plane appears to be a report of a dicey moment above the South Coast when a crew door opened suddenly in mid-air (no one was hurt). Mysteries upon mysteries.

UPDATE: There's another! This plane was circling Romford from about 2pm. It was a different class of plane, however, with a slightly less ornate flight pattern and the registration G-UMMI.
 

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Interesting. Thanks for sharing, itellsya.

It's curious, but it's already the third time when I stumble upon this name - Farnborough - within a couple of weeks, although I've never heard about it before:

# 1: The first time was when Russian aviators were barred from visiting the Farnborough airshow

# 2: Today the UK declared that they are going to retrieve data from MH 17 black boxes at Farnborough

# 3: your report

Coincidence? Or maybe this place is somehow significant now (like in terms of revealing the truth about MH 17 maybe)?? A what is this circling plane story all about? :umm:
 
I thought the same to be honest Siberia!

Update:

Mystery Plane Spotted Again Circling London With No Callsign (It's Also On YouTube)
The Huffington Post UK | By Michael Rundle

Posted: 23/07/2014 12:22 BST Updated: 23/07/2014 16:59 BST

Another mysterious plane has been spotted circling above London with no callsign -- and the Mayor's office will not say why.

The mystery began on Tuesday, when HuffPost spotted a plane with no callsign and the registration number G-BVJT circling for hours above South London.

It was clear from the outset that we were not the first to spot the plane, or to remark on its unusual flight pattern. The planes have been found numerous times on plane-spotters' forums and social media, and not just above London.

After another brief search above London's skies on Wednesday morning, another plane of exactly the same type (a Cessna F406 Caravan II) and with a similar flight pattern was obvious in the skies -- though it had a different registration number - G-TDSA - and was circling in a different area closer to Central and North London:

flightradar24

Here's another picture:

flightradar

It is still unclear who operates the plane, but it is thought to be part of an an official covert surveillance program.

The Telegraph reported in 2011 on a similar - though not necessarily the same - program operated by the Metropolitan Police since 1997, at a cost of around £3 million annually, possibly connected to the monitoring of mobile phones.
[i'm dubious of this]
And now it has emerged that leader of the Liberal Democrat Assembly group, and Chair of the London Assembly's Transport Committee, has directly asked Mayor of London about the planes -- and received a blunt answer.

On June 11 Caroline Pidgeon asked at Mayor's Question time:

"Can you tell us who is in charge of the deployment of the MPS's two Cessna aircraft and what is their remit?"

The Mayor's office replied:

"For operational security reasons, it is not appropriate for MOPAC to respond."

She also asked:

"How much was the capital cost of the MPS's two Cessna aircraft, registrations: G-TDSA and G-BVJT? What is their annual running cost?"

And received the same answer.

Pidgeon told HuffPost that the Mayor should be open about the planes' existence, and how much they cost:

"Of course the Met needs to defend some secrecy over its surveillance work, however you can’t put planes up over London without people noticing. It would be best if the Met simply admitted that vital surveillance work takes place and at the same time was open about the costs of such operations."

The only official documentation online about the two planes indicates they are privately owned, and operated by a series of companies about which little external information is available.

However, the planes have also made another appearance in recent months -- on YouTube. [footage is from march 2014]

Footage of what appears to be a Cessna F406 with the registration G-TDSA printed on the wings can be seen on the video site, allegedly taking off from near Cambridge. We have no way to independently confirm if this is the same plane as spotted on FlightRadar 24, or if the details in the description are accurate.

From youtube 19th march 2014

https://youtu.be/J5xkhRggAVQ?rel=0

So i did a quick look online and found the other pasted info below - it's not for anyone in particular, just to note.

I had a look at the research for the base where the 'loopy' fire ball was filmed, but it was in Croughton, Northamptonshire, about an hour away.

in short:
There are a number of 'sarcen stones' signifying a megalithic site nearby.
They plan to use the base 'Britain plans to build commercial spaceport'
The Police use the base for their spy planes, as well as 'managing' the front.

i don't expect this to be revelatory, but good to have all the same.

This site mentioned: _http://militarybases.com/overseas/united-kingdom/ has no info on Farnborough.

Plane spotters discussing the incident, mainly discussing covert surveillance: _http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/search.main?search_table=general_aviation&search=Plane+Circling+Low+Over+London+Today&search_field=topic&search_type=any&starter=1&search_active=1

ITV news headling: Mysterious spyplane circling the skies could be eavesdropping on mobile phone calls


_http://www.secret-bases.co.uk/cia-rendition.htm
Metropolitan Police's secret army of spy planes
October 2011 – News Exclusive
In October 2011, Jason Lewis at the Sunday Telegraph used exclusive background research provided by me to expose the Metropolitan Police's secret army of spy planes – similar to the Northolt Islanders – but operating out of Farnborough and using a fake front company called Nor Leasing using a Mail Boxes Etc shop in a suburban London high street.

April 2014 – Update
The Met Police added another Reims Cessna F406 Caravan II to the fleet of spy planes based at Farnborough in 2013. The two regulars G-TDSA and G-BVJT have now been joined by G-UKAL, but a different front company called Aero Lease UK has been chosen for the new airframe. Showing that the Met Police haven't learned from previous lessons, they have chosen to operate from another Mail Boxes shop in Camp Road, Farnborough!
Tower Hill

Tower Hill, Cove: There is substantial evidence[2] that many years ago a large accumulation of Sarsen stones existed upon what later came to be known as Tower Hill. To this day well over 1,000 of these stones remain, sized from one or two ton down to loaf size, scattered, reused for many different purposes, but still within a short distance of their probable original site.

National
The local MP is Gerald Howarth (Conservative) for the Constituency of Aldershot, a former defence minister.

Current tenants include: AgustaWestland, Autodesk, a BMW & MINI dealership, Costco warehouse, Blue Coat Systems, Bluhalo,[29] Defence Strategy & Solutions, Imagine Homes, a hotel, Orcare Limited,[30] Fluor Limited,[31] and Red Hat.

Other notable companies
Other notable companies present in Farnborough are Qualcomm, IBM, Absolute Validation, Toshiba, Lockheed Martin and RBS.


Since 2003 Farnborough Airport has been a business airport operated by TAG Aviation. The Farnborough International Airshow takes place at the airport on even numbered years.

Britain plans to build commercial spaceport
Eight possible locations for spaceport will be announced by ministers at Farnborough air show on Tuesday
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/13/britain-plans-commercial-spaceport-farnborough-air-show

http://www.beamsinvestigations.org/FARNBOROUGH%20-%20A%20Mini%20Stonehenge1.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8857517/Met-Police-spends-millions-of-pounds-on-secret-aircraft.html

The planes have apparently been fitted with secret surveillance equipment capable of intercepting mobile phone calls or eavesdropping on conversations.




They are understood to be similar to surveillance planes available to MI5 which have been used in anti-terrorism operations and were used to help West Midlands Police track suspects connected to a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier.

One of the planes is a Cessna F04, which can carry up to 14 passengers or be fitted with specially integrated patrol mission packs. We have been asked not to disclose full details of the aircraft on security grounds.

The twin engine craft are operated separately from the Met's Air Support Unit which has three helicopters and flies hundreds of hours a month in support of police operations around the capital at a cost of £3 million a year.

Last week a Metropolitan Police spokesman refused to discuss its use of the fixed wing aircraft but insisted it has gone through a "full" procurement process.

However members of the Metropolitan Police Authority, which scrutinises the force's spending said they had never been told of the existence of the aircraft.

According to Civil Aviation Authority records, the aircraft is registered to a firm called Nor Leasing.

There is no trace of the firm on any other official record and its business address registered with the CAA is actually a branch of Mail Boxes Etc, which offers a virtual office services and mail forwarding, in Surbiton, south-west London.

Another Cessna was also previously registered to Nor Leasing at the same address and at another service address in Kensington, west London.

In 1997 one of the original individuals listed as "trading as" Nor Leasing was John Carnt who at the time was a senior Metropolitan Police detective.

Superintendent Carnt was the then head of the Serious and Economic Crime Group, which was set up to combat major fraud, money laundering and art and antiques thefts.

The pattern of hidden spending is believed to have been established by Tony Williams, a former assistant finance director at Scotland Yard, who established a secret web of companies for use in specialist undercover operations.

But Mr Williams also used the same techniques to steal millions of pounds from the force to set himself up as a bogus Scottish "laird". Williams was accused of stealing more than £4 million from Scotland Yard. He was jailed for seven years in 1995.
 
When I lived in the UK in town of about 40.000 in a very rural area, there were always the same planes circling in the sky. There was also a helicopter at exactly 5pm checking out whatever it had to check out. I kept wondering about these planes, they seemed to "patrol" in a way, not going from A to B, neither being in private ownership (hobby-pilots). They were there every day from morning to evening.

I will check it out this flightradar link ...

itellsya said:
This site mentioned: _http://militarybases.com/overseas/united-kingdom/ has no info on Farnborough.

That's probably because Farnborough was never a military "base" as such, just involved in plane testing and research. As quoted, the MoD dropped out and it's a small business airport now (on the surface at least).

Other notable companies present in Farnborough are Qualcomm, IBM, Absolute Validation, Toshiba, Lockheed Martin and RBS.

All the biggies in communications and defense, huh.

M.T.
 
This years crop circles strangely enough been pointing to Londons Southend Airport. http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2014/Sutton/articles.html
Also interesting about crew door opening in mid air. Parachute crop circles.
http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2014/Macmillan/comments/html.
 
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