Mystery Aircraft Frightens Quincy Residents

WBZ-TV ^ | May 9, 2013 11:59 PM | Bill Shields, WBZ-TV

[BenLurkin]

QUINCY (CBS) – A mystery in Quincy continues to deepen: Who is flying around the city from dusk to dawn, for the past ten days or so?

“It’s frightening, not just weird, but frightening,” said one resident of the Wollaston section.

Every night for nearly the last two weeks, residents have spotted a low-flying aircraft doing loops over the city. WBZ has learned the FAA knows what’s going on, but the agency isn’t telling.

“I mean it is strange. I don’t know if they’re looking for somebody, I have no idea,” one resident told WBZ.

It’s not the state or local police doing the flying, and the FAA is giving out little information, even to city officials.

“It’s frustrating, it really is,” says City Councillor Brian Palmucci. “I specifically asked, ‘Is it a law enforcement flight? Can we tell people that?’ He said, ‘No, we can’t tell you that.’ Then I asked that when folks call me can I at least tell them that it is something that they shouldn’t worry about, it’s something they shouldn’t be concerned with? He said, ‘I can’t tell you that.’”

The aircraft doesn’t appear to be flying when it’s cloudy out, only taking to the skies on starlit nights.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Student pilot night flights with Forward-Looking InfraRed (FLIR) pods attached? That doesn’t square, does it?

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Law enforcement pilot training, maybe? That makes sense. But why treated like ‘top secret’ then?

[mnehring]

Pretty cheap Cessna for anything official. Could be a rental plane outfitted for fire or pipeline work which is why you see the IR pods. We have them monitoring pipelines around here occasionally. Of course, that is assuming it is an IR pod and not something like a parachute. They have them attached for lighter and training aircraft now. Pretty cool.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

That doesn’t rise to the level of keeping it top secret though, does it? Why would the public be kept in the dark over that?

[Defiant]

Is that Quixy, Illinois?

[Flick Lives]

Where’s the tail number of the aircraft?

[freeandfreezing]

Boston.com reports that "The tail number, N906TM, which can be seen in one photo, is registered to a company called RKT Productions. The only information that could be found on the company is a post office box in Bristow, Va.

A spokesman for the nearest airport, Manassas Regional Airport, had never heard of the company and said the plane did not fly out of that airport."

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

‘N906TM’, and registered to ‘RKT Productions’.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

Possibly one of those ‘false storefront’ companies managed by one of those 3-letter agencies. Hehehe.

[Greysard]

Russian fighter jets 'training' over U.S. territory? Wouldn't surprise me.

Where on this planet will you find a fighter pilot who is willing to fly loops over a city, in a Cessna, every night? Even if you issue a direct order, what the pilot is going to learn in such a mission that he hasn't learned in his first week of flight school?

As other comments indicate, this is a law enforcement operation ran by a TLA. If I were to guess, judging by absence of any ground activity, they are just testing new equipment.

[Fester Chugabrew]

There are 11 towns in the United State named Quincy. It is up to you to do some sleuthing and figure out which one is under discussion here. Have fun!

[az_gila]

I would hope the FAA knows about the flights and that they are approved.

Not because of a flight plan, but because all of Quincy appears to be in the Boston Class B airspace with a ground level to 7,000 altitude. All aircraft operating in this airspace must be in contact, and have permission to enter, with/from ATC.

Link to sectional chart

Lots of Aerospace and Software companies in the Boston/NH area. Could it be a part of this?

[Rev DMV]

DEA, maybe.

They have a similar plane based at KOAK.

[goldi]

Either that or take a gun and shoot the damn thing down.

[Yo-Yo]

FlightAware's last recorded flight of N906TM shows a ferry flight from Corning, NY to Nashua, NH on February 18th.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N906TM

[Defiant]

I don’t care that much. I was just hoping for a Quix sighting.

[gaijin]

Could be a full-scale Cessna 182, but now my understanding is that there are UAV’s that are actually small (less than 1/2 scale) models of civil a/c —against empty sky with no perspective they very easily appear as normal civvy aircraft.

They’re mostly used on the southern border for drug interdiction.

Typically they arouse little suspicion and take off from and land at unconventional places.

[Chuckster]

50 hour student pilot doing moose turns?

[BenLurkin]

A moose bit my sister once.

8^)

[B4Ranch]

Aircraft Registration (N906TM)
Aircraft Summary
Summary Owner Airworthiness Serial Number
2010 CESSNA 182T
Fixed wing single engine
(4 seats / 1 engine) RKT PRODUCTIONS
BRISTOW, VA
(Corporation) Standard/Normal 18282269
Aircraft Details
Engine Weight Speed Mode S Code
LYCOMING IO-540-AB1A5
Horsepower: 230 (Reciprocating) Less than 12,500lbs Not defined 53103453
Registration Details
Status Certificate Issue Date Airworthiness Date Last Action Date Expiration
Assigned 2011-03-24 2010-12-02 2011-03-24 2014-03-31
Registration History
Date Owner Location Serial Number Mode S Code
26-Mar-2011 RKT PRODUCTIONS BRISTOW VA 18282269 53103453
29-Oct-2010 CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY WICHITA KS 18282269 53103453