Off Topic - aviation curiosity

I'm in Houston and I've noticed on and off over at least the last two
years what looks like a Cessna 182RG orbiting within sight of my house,
typically in the evenings. I'm guessing 3000 AGL, constant ~3 minute
turn rate over a fixed spot for several hours straight. It appears to
have a small teardrop shaped appendage on one side of the fuse between
the wing and the tail which stands off from the fuse a short distance.
It's made it's circles both clockwise and counter clockwise. Today I
first noticed it around 4pm and at 8pm I noticed it again although it
had moved the center of it's turn a few miles to the NE of where I first
spotted it. By 8pm, it's definitely dark out so visual observation of
something on the ground doesn't seem likely. I've always noticed it in
the late afternoons and into the early evening, but that doesn't mean it
hasn't been operating at other parts of the day.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but am curious if anyone might have any
thoughts as to what's going on.

What time do you start drinking?

What is under it?

COLIN LAMB wrote:
What time do you start drinking?

What is under it?



Tonight and several times in the past it looked like it was probably
orbiting a couple miles west of the Reliant Center which is where the
Texans play, but the Texans are playing in Dallas this week. I know for
sure that on at least one occaision the center of the orbit was well
west of the stadium and when I saw it at about 8pm it was easily 2-5
miles North of the stadium. Other times it's been North and Northwest
of the stadium by 10-15 miles.

I had a book here which documented a government study of underground
antennas. They constructed antennas underground, then used an aircraft to
take field strength measurements. The aircraft was the easiest way to do
that. However, the tests were in somewhere like South Dakota - which would
make much more sense than somewhere in the city. They probably flew patters
similar to what you describe, although I think they used a B-17 in this
study.

The conclusion of the study was that underground antennas work - but not
very well.

It very well could be some government funded research program. The problem
may be that the 182 does not burn up the money quick enough, so the study
has been going a few years.

I also recall a fellow taking regular air samples over a manufacturing
plant. He stopped when the turbine shut down because of the impurities in
the air over the smokestack.

You can get his N number and call him up and ask him (or her). But, then if
two people in suits knock on your door knock on your door, I would go out
the back.

Colin

Gary Emerson wrote:
I'm in Houston and I've noticed on and off over at least the last two
years what looks like a Cessna 182RG orbiting within sight of my house,
typically in the evenings. I'm guessing 3000 AGL, constant ~3 minute
turn rate over a fixed spot for several hours straight. It appears to
have a small teardrop shaped appendage on one side of the fuse between
the wing and the tail which stands off from the fuse a short distance.
It's made it's circles both clockwise and counter clockwise. Today I
first noticed it around 4pm and at 8pm I noticed it again although it
had moved the center of it's turn a few miles to the NE of where I first
spotted it. By 8pm, it's definitely dark out so visual observation of
something on the ground doesn't seem likely. I've always noticed it in
the late afternoons and into the early evening, but that doesn't mean it
hasn't been operating at other parts of the day.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but am curious if anyone might have any
thoughts as to what's going on.

Gary Emerson wrote:
I'm in Houston and I've noticed on and off over at least the last two
years what looks like a Cessna 182RG orbiting within sight of my house,
typically in the evenings.
By 8pm, it's definitely dark out so visual observation of
something on the ground doesn't seem likely. I've always noticed it in
the late afternoons and into the early evening, but that doesn't mean it
hasn't been operating at other parts of the day.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but am curious if anyone might have any
thoughts as to what's going on.

Gary, this story reminds me of a situation I encountered many years
ago.I dont make any claim that these two stories are related but they
do seem similar.
Years ago I was working for a small (At the time) commuter airline.One
of my regular layovers was in Kingman Arizona.At that time Kingman was
not much more than a truckstop/ small retirement community.Tim Mcvie's
(SP?) bombing of the federal building in Ok city changed all that.As
you can recall, he lived in Kingman while he was planning the bombing.
For the next several months the only people we hauled in and out of
Kingman were Feds and reporters.What was interesting was that the feds
kept a surveillance plane up all night long for several months after
the bombing.
With Kingman being such a small quiet town in the middle of the desert,
you could see and hear the plane from anywhere in the city.I heard it
from my hotel room all night long and I could ussually spot it with a
quick glance out the window.It leads one to wonder who would be
conducting any kind of criminal activity when they KNOW they are being
watched.
So in conclusion, I think there is a posibility this could be
surveillance.
Fly Safe,
K Urban

Gary, I also have seen and heard the orbiting plane going on several
years in west Houston near Gessner at Memorial.
I finally called IAH tower and was told it was most likely law
enforcement.
It was a Cessna, maybe 172, running constant speed, same orbit, 2-3
hours in early to late evening hours. It was quite noticable because you
anticipated it coming around to your point in the circle
every 2-3 minutes. I could never get a N
registration number. He seemed to be about 2,000. Email me if you would
like and we can keep a log.

Glenn

Gary Emerson wrote:
...Cessna 182RG orbiting ... constant ~3 minute
turn rate over a fixed spot for several hours straight...

When that was happening over Lodi CA, it was Northwest Aircraft Leasing
Corp. of Delaware doing surveillance for some government agency:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/..._over_lodi.htm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1433330/posts

They were based out of Hayward, CA, about 100 mi distant. Word is they
were collecting satellite phone traffic, but that's probably just
rumor.

Bob K.

After the big (for washington state) Duvall Earthquake, there was a
airplane flying back and forth along the foothills of the Cascades,
which was where the quake was centered for a couple of weeks. The
aircraft looked like a Pilatus turbine with a really long stinger in
the back, maybe some kind of magnetic imaging device?

(tinfoil_hat=on)

This happened about 5 miles as the crow flies from my house.

Also, for those of us that are fond of tin foil hats; about 6 years ago
the trail head and access points for one of the taller foothills was
blocked off. The men and vehicles were from every alphabet soup agency
you could think of. The had auto weapons and they were keeping folks
way back from the dead end road, that led to the trails.

To top that off, there was a big helicopter gunship, that was fully
loaded, orbiting the hilltop, with a smaller spotter copter, the kind
with the ball on top of the rotors, scouting for it. This went on for
about 3 days!

The rumor, because there never was an official explanation was there
was a meth lab in them thar hills and they were out to git 'em.

A word of interest he the mountain was right under the descent point
for a major airway as the aircraft would start their approach into
Sea-Tac...............this was all prior 9-11
(tinfoil_hat=off)

Brad

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Gary Emerson wrote:
...Cessna 182RG orbiting ... constant ~3 minute
turn rate over a fixed spot for several hours straight...

When that was happening over Lodi CA, it was Northwest Aircraft Leasing
Corp. of Delaware doing surveillance for some government agency:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/..._over_lodi.htm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1433330/posts

They were based out of Hayward, CA, about 100 mi distant. Word is they
were collecting satellite phone traffic, but that's probably just
rumor.

Bob K.