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A pilot is awaiting punishment from the U.S. government after he knowingly flew his plane over Area 51 out of curiosity. The private pilot allegedly flew his Mooney over the highly classified military zone to test frequencies in a restricted air space.
The 70-year-old pilot left a series of voice messages with The Daily Caller about the experience and his current expectations over a punishment. He flew over the Nevada Test and Training Range inside the Nellis Air Force Base, known commonly as Area 51, without interception. Flying over this restricted airspace typically requires special permission from air traffic control because of the highly sensitive military contents within the area. The pilot told The Daily Caller he was curious and made the flight to test frequencies in the restricted air space, reportedly seeing mostly desert and mountains rather than UFOs or aliens. Despite the notoriously top-secret reputation Area 51 holds, his plane was not intercepted by military aircraft.
The curious and daring pilot told The Daily Caller that he is expecting the military or Department of Defense to get in contact with him over the incident. He shared that he expects his pilot's license will be suspended. While some may believe that the only aircraft in the vicinity of Area 51 are UFOs, the site has its own covert airline, JANET Airlines, which operates a small fleet of Boeing 737-600s with its own terminal at McCarran, according to SOFREP. JANET also operates two Beechcraft 1900s and three Beechcraft 200Cs. SOFREP shared that the popular rumor is that JANET stands for Jist Another Non-Existent-Terminal but it may also be an acronym for Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation. The mysterious airline employees personnel with Top Secret security clearance and likely additional scrutiny and thorough vetting for the role, even just to bring around drinks for passengers.
The mysterious region does not have buildings visible from State Highway 375, otherwise known as Extraterrestrial Highway, but an unmarked dirt road leads to Groom Lake, or as it is known on civilian aviation maps, Homey Airport. The dirt road leads to a military base with various unofficial names, which has been shrouded in conspiracy for decades, but has a long history that does not involve flying saucers of mysterious green men. Before WWII, the area was used for silver and lead mining and once the war started, it was taken over for research, like nuclear and weapons testing.
The CIA began development for spy reconnaissance planes during the Cold War and Area 51 was selected as the secluded base and airfield to perform testing. According to National Geographic, in 1955 then-CIA Director Richard Bissell Jr. and Lockheed aircraft designer Kelly Johnson chose the airfield at Groom Lake as their headquarters and then the Atomic Energy Commission added a base to the existing map of the test site, labeling the area as Area 51. Just eight months later and the U-2 plane had been developed, soaring at an altitude of 70,000 feet, well above Soviet radar, missiles and enemy aircraft. The area was used to test other reconnaissance planes until rumors about alien involvement began to circulate in the 1980s.
According to National Geographic, in 1989 a man claiming to be a former employee named Robert Lazar, gave an interview with a Las Vegas news station, claiming Area 51 housed and studied alien spacecraft and his job was to recreate it for military use. His credentials were soon discredited, but the military zone would forever be linked with aliens and UFOs. Reports of UFOs in the area began to takeoff. In 2013 the government acknowledged the existence of Area 51 when it declassified documents on the development of aircraft like the U-2.
The base is still active and still covered in a cloak of mystery. Most of the UFO sightings over the years have been found to be some of the mysterious aircraft tested on-site by the government. While the government finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51 in the last 10 years, it is not likely they will open up for tours anytime soon. Tourists can visit sites around Area 51, but even tours that bring visitors on generally off-limit tours will not bring civilians into the mysterious military zone.
While many people are curious about what goes on inside Area 51, some mysteries are better left unsolved.