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Theories take off with low-flying plane

Residents share ideas about military operations, aircraft

Unusual airplane activity over Durango has residents speculating about military operations.

Low-flying airplanes heard over the city around midnight and into the early morning and an aircraft seen high over the valley during the day this week have persuaded some that La Plata County has been targeted as part of Operation Jade Helm.

Jade Helm is a two-month exercise by elite military commands, including the Green Berets and Navy SEALS, to simulate operations in a hostile environment. It is scheduled from July 15 to Sept. 15 in California and Western states, including Colorado.

In the eyes of some, it’s an insidious dry run for a military takeover of civilian government. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor Jade Helm activities.

The concern has fallen on fertile soil in La Plata County.

A Florida Road resident, who asked that her name not be published, said she knows only what she has read and heard on talk radio about Jade Helm, but it’s not comforting.

“I’m scared,” she said.

At 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, a plane flew over so low that it shook her house, the woman said. Then about 2 p.m. Thursday she heard an airplane and ran outside to catch a glimpse of a plane headed north.

“It’s just an educated guess that it’s all part of Jade Helm,” the woman said. “The planes could be dropping supplies.”

A resident of Durango Hills said he observed a twin-engine, propeller-driven plane circle Missionary Ridge in a counterclockwise direction for 45 minutes Friday. He said that even with a telescopic lens on his camera, he couldn’t make out details.

Three La Plata County residents told The Durango Herald by email that the C-130 transport plane used at Durango-La Plata County Airport for a disaster drill appeared not to be a standard C-130.

“I am fairly certain that it is a MC-130H,” said Jonathan Byrne. “Those are used exclusively by special-operations units and are specially designed to do low-altitude, terrain-following flight at night. It seems likely that the plane in the picture was the one observed by the residents.”

James Cole agreed, saying: “The C-130 parked at the airport is not your ordinary C-130 military transport. It’s a MC-130 variant specifically used by special forces for combat missions.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all that there is denial about what the aircraft is up to. Any claims that it was being used for a mock disaster drill are dubious based on the fact that this particular aircraft is not equipped for such missions.”

Jim Farrar said the plane at the airport is either one of two C-130 transports – the MC-130H Combat Talon II or an MC-130P Combat Shadow. The special lines and the two-tone, gray-paint scheme and black wheels are typical for special operations, Farrar said.

Researchers have been flying a Twin Otter plane this month around the Four Corners in an effort to detect methane leaks. It was not immediately known if the researchers were flying at night, but a NASA website indicates flight operations ended April 26, before several of the low-flying reports were made.

Luther Baker, who lives just west of Pueblo, said he was on his deck Wednesday night watching planes overhead when one of them caught his eye. At first, it looked like a bright star or a planet, he said, but as it approached, the light grew brighter – so much so that it gave him a headache.

“My wife gave me some aspirin,” Baker said. “It was just like a giant headlight on a plane. I’ve never seen that.”

Baker, who grew up in Oklahoma under a common flight pattern, said he decided to share his story with the Herald after reading about Durango’s night flier via the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website.

In a statement in March, the USA Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina said armed forces units would conduct a collective exercise in several states called Jade Helm 15. The periodic exercises practice “core special warfare tasks,” the release said. The goal is to stay ahead of environmental challenges found in foreign countries.

Exercises will occur in seven states – Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, California and Arizona – on public land with approval of state and local authorities and on private land with property owners’ permission.

Residents in the training areas can expect to go about daily activities with little out of the ordinary, the release said. The most noticeable difference in routine will be increased vehicle and airplane traffic and their accompanying noises.

daler@durangoherald.com



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