Mena, Arkansas 727 | FerrariChat

Mena, Arkansas 727

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by FarmerDave, Jun 24, 2014.

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  1. FarmerDave

    FarmerDave F1 World Champ
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    #1 FarmerDave, Jun 24, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I was driving in the middle of Nowhere, Squared this weekend and stumbled upon a 727 parked in a field near the airport at Mena, Arkansas. I was headed to a vacation cabin in with a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins and they all passed the same plane, so it was a topic of conversation as we talked about our trips to the cabin.

    When I got back to civilization, Googled "Mena Arkansas 727" and was flooded with returns about Clinton scandals, Iran Contra Affair, Drug Trafficking, CIA Covert Operations, most of it seems generated by kooks and conspiracy theorists. But no real info on why this plane is parked in that particular field.

    Which makes me wonder even more, what is the "real deal" with this 727 parked in a field. Sorry, didn't get a tail number. But below, two pictures from google depicting where it is and what I saw from the road.

    I'm curious if anyone (MarkPDX?) has ever heard the tale of this plane?
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/34%C2%B032'42.8%22N+94%C2%B011'18.9%22W/@34.5464,-94.188693,3a,75y,168.04h,87.91t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1st3c_EV21r8Nwfc_3T-KlTQ!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
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  2. GuyIncognito

    GuyIncognito Nine Time F1 World Champ
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    how do you move a 727 in Arkansas?

    drag it behind your bulldozer, of course!

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5melYu8EDO0]Moving 727 in mena arkansas - YouTube[/ame]
     
  3. FarmerDave

    FarmerDave F1 World Champ
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    Yeah I saw that too but not many clues there, huh?
     
  4. David_S

    David_S F1 World Champ
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    Wrong paint scheme for a "Janet" flight, so you can probably rule that one out. ;)
     
  5. BMW.SauberF1Team

    BMW.SauberF1Team F1 World Champ

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    Probably someone that wanted to convert it to a living space/house and never got around to it.
     
  6. FarmerDave

    FarmerDave F1 World Champ
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    Didn't know what that was until I googled it... fun! By coincidence I'm due to land at McCarran in the morning so I'll be on the lookout for the red striped planes :D
     
  7. MarkPDX

    MarkPDX F1 World Champ
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    I have heard the stories/conspiracy theories about Mena but really don't know anything more than you do. What I will tell you is that Arkansas is a state with a LOT of junk spread everywhere. Just today I was flying out in a remote area and there was a school bus just out in this ravine looking like it had been parked there 20 years ago. Who knows how it got there unless somebody put it there with a helicopter.
     
  8. FarmerDave

    FarmerDave F1 World Champ
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    Could have been washed off the road in a flood... and pushed down the ravine quite a ways. I watched a local car get pushed about half a mile down a drainage ditch during a recent gullywasher of a storm.
     
  9. KKSBA

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  10. GTHill

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    That's exactly how I moved the containers. :)

    GT
     
  11. PureEuroM3

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  12. PureEuroM3

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  13. Tcar

    Tcar F1 Rookie

    Looks like Kuwait Airlines.
     
  14. PureEuroM3

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    #14 PureEuroM3, Jun 25, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  15. joker57676

    joker57676 Two Time F1 World Champ

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    #15 joker57676, Jun 25, 2014
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    Janet a/c are 737's! :)

    They're not really hidden, you just have to know where to look. The Janet terminal is on the NW side of the airport. The terminal is visible from certain hotels.

    (I lived in Vegas for a while and I'm a pilot, this stuff always interested me)

    Mark
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  16. Ryan S.

    Ryan S. Two Time F1 World Champ
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    From Wiki:

    Being that its an Afghani airline my first thoughts are that possibly came to the states in or around the time that the Russians invaded Afghanistan and was possibly carrying Afghani govt officials who were trying to get out of the place......


    "A number of allegations have been made about the use of Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport as a CIA drop point in large scale cocaine trafficking, beginning in the latter part of the 1980s. Several local, state, and federal investigations have taken place in relation to these allegations. The topic has received some press coverage that has included allegations of awareness, participation and/or coverup involving prominent figures such as Bill Clinton,[6][7][8][9] George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Governor Jeb Bush and Saline County prosecutor Dan Harmon (who was convicted of numerous felonies including drug and racketeering charges in 1997[10]). The Mena airport was also associated with Adler Berriman (Barry) Seal, an American drug smuggler and aircraft pilot who flew covert flights for the CIA and the Medellín Cartel.[11]

    A criminal investigator from the Arkansas State Police, Russell Welch, who was assigned to investigate Mena airport[12][13] claimed that he opened a letter which released electrostatically charged Anthrax spores in his face, and that he had his life saved after a prompt diagnosis by a doctor.[who?] He also claimed that later, his doctor's office was vandalized, robbed, and test results and correspondence with the CDC in Atlanta were stolen.[11][14]

    An investigation by the CIA's inspector general concluded that the CIA had no involvement in or knowledge of any illegal activities that may have occurred in Mena. The report said that the agency had conducted a training exercise at the airport in partnership with another Federal agency and that companies located at the airport had performed "routine aviation-related services on equipment owned by the CIA".[15]"
     
  17. ilconservatore

    ilconservatore F1 Veteran

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    Well, now I know what to put in the woods behind our house!

    And the kids have been asking for a treehouse...
     
  18. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #18 Rifledriver, Jun 26, 2014
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2014
    Yea well they used to say the same things about the old days when Air America, Evergreen, Corporate Air Services and Southern Air Transport planes were serviced together at Hanger 4 in old Oakland airport. Then a guy named Eugene Hassenfus got shot out of the sky in a sterilized CAS C123 in El Salvador. It all kinda blew up in Washingtons face and made a guy named Oliver North a household name. The whole operation at hanger 4 just kind of evaporated and all kinds of familiar faces were just gone.

    I knew a guy who flew for SAT. Ex Navy pilot lived in a bottle for a few years. We all used to laugh at the stories. Right up until it all hit the front pages.

    I finally figured out how a washed up Navy pilot with more time in a bottle than a cockpit lived such a good lifestyle.

    A few years later reading a book about Air America and related government escapades sounded like sitting in the bar hearing him tell stories.

    Yea, the stories of Mena had a familiar ring.
     
  19. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

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    Funny. I had a friend at EG&G and spent some time there. Never knew what those planes were for. Their place had a great view of the runway. I used to just stand out there and watch them land when I was waiting around.
     
  20. norcal2

    norcal2 F1 Veteran

    I had a co worker that flew as an FE for SAT, mostly CONUS, some out ..we used to get equipment in for rework out of south america shot full of holes and half missing way before the C123 incident....and the commuter Janet aircraft, very familiar..

     
  21. Christian Sasfai

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    My friends, this is Mena, Arkansas. Living not far south of there for many, many years, I can tell you that any one of those stories is completely possible in this part of the country.
     
  22. FarmerDave

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  23. Rifledriver

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  24. duskybird

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  25. KKSBA

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