Janet (airline)

Janet (operated by EG&G)
IATA
-		 ICAO
WWW		 Callsign
JANET
Founded 1972
Fleet size 11
Destinations 5
Parent company EG&G
Headquarters

Janet is the de facto name for a small fleet of passenger aircraft operated by defense contractor EG&G. Their aircraft currently serve mostly the Nevada Test Site (most notably Area 51) from their terminal at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.[1] The origin of the word "Janet" is obscure and, while it is used as a radio callsign[2][3], it is not known whether the name is an official name, code word, or acronym.

Contents

Fleet

The Janet fleet consists of six Boeing 737-600s painted white with a prominent red cheatline. There are also five smaller executive turboprops (two Beechcraft 1900s and three Beechcraft 200Cs) painted white with less prominent blue trim stripes. The fleet is registered to the Department of the Air Force, while some earlier members were registered to several civil aircraft leasing corporations.[4] A number of the recently retired 737-200s were modified from a military T-43A aircraft. One of the 737-200s with registration N5177C in the 1980s was briefly based in Germany at Frankfurt International Airport (which was at the time also home to a USAF base, Rhein-Main Air Base), and was operated by Keyway Air Transport, which also appears to have been a US government operation with Keyway Air Transport merely being a front company. It was retired on March 6, 2009.[4]

The 737-200 fleet was recently phased out with the arrival of the 737-600s. All the new aircraft are ex-Air China and with the exception of N273RH and N365SR were previously operated by the now defunct China Southwest Airlines before being acquired for US Air Force operations starting in 2008. Most of the Beechcraft airplanes were sold directly to the Air Force, except for two, which had civilian owners first.[5][6]

The following table lists information about the Janet fleet.[4]

Model Registration MSN C/N
Boeing 737-66N N319BD 28649 887
Boeing 737-66N N869HH 28650 932
Boeing 737-66N N859WP 28652 938
Boeing 737-66N N273RH 29890 1276
Boeing 737-66N N365SR 29891 1294
Boeing 737-66N N288DP 29892 1305
Beech 1900C N20RA UB-42 Unknown
Beech 1900C N623RA UC-163 Unknown
Beech King Air B200C N654BA BL-54 Unknown
Beech King Air B200C N661BA BL-61 Unknown
Beech King Air B200C N662BA BL-62 Unknown

Destinations

The following locations are some of the most common Janet destinations[7]:

Popular culture

In Microsoft Flight Simulator X free flight mode, one can fly a Janet Boeing 737, labeled as "Unmarked Airliner". There is also a mission, called "Secret Shuttle", in which one is a new Janet captain, making his/her first shuttle flight to "Area 51" from Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport. Although a 737-800W is used for the flight, it is painted in a similar style to the 737s operated by Janet.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Janet Airline / EG&G". http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/janet.html. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 
  2. ^ "Audio Clips of Janet Radio Traffic". http://dreamlandresort.com/info/janet_audio.html. Retrieved 1 November 2010. 
  3. ^ "Area 51 Revealed". Presenters: Bill Birnes, Kevin Cook and Pat Uskert. UFO Hunters. 25 February 2009.
  4. ^ a b c "The Janet Fleet". http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/janet_fleet.html. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 
  5. ^ Airfleets.net, aircraft data and history obtained from search results based on known aircraft registrations. Information retrieved August 2, 2009.
  6. ^ Trevor Paglen (2006), Unmarked Planes & Hidden Geographies, website retrieved December 28, 2008.
  7. ^ "Janet Schedule & Destinations". http://www.dreamlandresort.com/info/janet_schedule.html. Retrieved 03 October 2010. 
  8. ^ "Secret Shuttle". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/Products/Games/FSInsider/product/features/Pages/SecretShuttle.aspx. Retrieved 21 September 2010. 

External links