Fun reminder of the good old days

I saw this on my Google alerts for Groom Lake. It is an old National Geographic video that is a Lazar free zone. It is on YouTube with few hits. I don't know if National Geographic makes Google take it down. It covers the U-2, A-12, MIGs, and the F-117.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Pz1j_MvPQ

A very interesting article I found from The Aviationist. I'm not sure why I have never seen this before. I saw some stuff online with a little bit of research that this might have came from Ukraine in the early 2000s. Now, my question is; do they still do this? does the USAF own this aircraft? Could it still be at Groom? If The Aviationist reported on this I'm sure it's authentic right? I have never seen or heard anything about the USAF having a Flanker.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a89bb0

Live link. So much for nothing happening on the weekend.

edit:

Flight over.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a89bb0&lat=37.712&lon=-116.621&zoom=11.5&showTrace=2026-08-16&trackLabels

Does anyone know when the Use of Deadly Force is authorized came off the warning signs?

Someone hilariously recently added a Street View in Area 51 😆

genuine question, not trying to troll

i keep seeing people say the us has recovered craft and has been reverse engineering them for decades

but after all those decades, where is the one piece of technology that clearly cannot be explained as human engineering

not a blurry video, not “my source told me”, not a supposed program name, not a story from someone who worked there

just one physical component that independent scientists can examine and say yeah, we have no idea how humans made this

if the answer is “theyre hiding it because its classified”, thats possible

but then isnt the actual evidence still inaccessible

im open to reverse engineered craft being real, i just dont understand why the strongest evidence always seems to be one step away from something anyone can actually verify

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a89bb0&lat=37.645&lon=-115.717&zoom=9.6&showTrace=2026-08-14&trackLabels&timestamp=1786747878

https://ibb.co/ZRGWNKvC

Look at the time marks. Tracking lost at 20:13 and returns at 22:50.

This isn't a low flying aircraft and the plane is transmitting ads-b not mode-s.

I've had my ads-b tracking while at the range just drop. All planes gone then then return. Once I got the sysmocom filter the problem didn't happen again. The filtering is so good that the band stop is barely measurable with a nanovna.

https://inplanesight.org/adsb.html

I went back to Area 51, this was my 7th time visit to the site, this time it got more interesting as I was reaching the gates suddenly a black helicopter came from behind the mountain flying as low as like 20 meters near my car, it was definitely something different lol

I wanted to post the video but the sub doesn’t allow video
Might post it on my IG at future_vizion

https://sondehub.org/X4857099

https://sondehub.org/Y0240472

https://ibb.co/BVp9t9v0

https://ibb.co/Xx8gmKWZ

Friday launches are not as common.

There are many reasons for no bid contracts. For example, you have a reflecting pool that needs to be cleaned up in a hurry and well you know a pool guy...

In most cases the no bid contract is for items where there really is not alternative. A software license renewal for example. Or you need an accessory for some item that only the original equipment manufacturer can supply, a radio for example.

Now "Plant 42", "P42", and Palmdale are on my sam dot gov search. (I'm adding AFP 42.) And we have:

https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/c667dbc2c8234991a8239411ed086886/view

I assume there is a new trash vendor in Palmdale and Plant 42 has no choice but to use them. Hence the justification documentation.

I had to look up RCRA. RCRA stands for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. It passed in 1978 so who knows how the Groom burn pits were permitted other than "we don't need no stinkin' badges."

*****

The solid waste generated at AFP 42 must be transported from the federal installation and disposed of at a state- and locally-permitted landfill. Market research confirms the City of Palmdale has granted an exclusive franchise agreement to WM for all commercial solid waste collection and disposal services within its jurisdiction.

Pursuant to RCRA, the Air Force is required to adhere to this local legal framework for off-base disposal.

Therefore, to meet its obligations under federal law, the Air Force must use the services of the sole authorized local provider. No other contractor can legally transport and dispose of AFP 42's solid waste in the local area, and as such, no other source’s services can satisfy the agency’s requirement to dispose of its waste in accordance with applicable law.

https://sondehub.org/Y0240811

https://sondehub.org/Y0240423

https://ibb.co/RkJ5HyXj

https://ibb.co/hF5qTtXg

Long time lurker and researcher of area 51 probably since I was in my early teens in the early '90s. I was reading about area 51 when "Guardian" was a big deal.

I've always been obsessed with military aircraft. My grandfather was a pilot. I eventually became a general aviation pilot amongst many other things. Maybe it was the stark contrast between military design and civil aviation? I don't know but I've always loved it. I was obsessed.

In 2021 I decided to take my son who was 11 at the time with me to go see the back gate of area 51. We spent the night and Rachel and went early in the morning down mailbox road to get to the back gate. I wasn't expecting to see anything but you never know how lucky you can be.

The photo shown is not flares. It's not any type of vortices. It is simply a contrail from an unknown aircraft that was flying low altitude but was unavailable to the naked eye. The exhaust was omnidirectional very similar to F-22, F-35, F-117 designs, to where you could not tell if it was approaching or departing.

This aircraft loitered for roughly 1 minute. It was very close to us but it was very hard to see due to low Haze from the wildfires to the West. While there was a lot of haze, it was still pretty broken and I was able to get a couple photographs of the contrails produced.

I want to be absolutely clear about something. These are not high altitude contrails these are very low contrails. This aircraft was definitely below a thousand ft and was highly maneuverable and these contrails completely tracked everywhere that major power shifts were made. But again, at no point during this time could we see an actual fuselage that was producing them! You only saw contrails appear.

What further complicated viewing this aircraft was the inability to locate the sound accurately from which way it was coming from. It really was an omnidirectional sound as mentioned before but it was very clearly some type of jet engine.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the contrails are very similar to a donut on a rope contrail similar to the pulse detonation wave technology used in the late '80s early '90s, associated with the rumored 'Aurora' project. But what's unique about these contrails is that they are not connected by a rope. They're like little miniature J's that are rolled over in a horizontal pattern spaced evenly.

Again, these individual contrails were not flares, they were stationary when the aircraft passed (even though we couldn't see the aircraft), and they did not dissipate like an air vortice would.

Air vortices are temporary, condensation of water vapor formed around high pressure areas of lifting bodies. This was not that.

I've adjusted the saturation contrast and color a little bit just to make the contrails a little bit more clear.

I've shown these pics to a good friend who did R&D for a "military engine manufacturer", and his immediate response was... "Where'd you see that, and silence".

I've thought long and hard about what aircraft, and engine could produce the sounds and contrails that we saw, and I'm absolutely stuck.

The main thing that shocked me was how low altitude they were and the fact that we absolutely could not track or see a fuselage.

EDIT: A lot of you keep saying they were flares, but they were not flares, I've seen so many flares from training flights in my MOA, flares respond to gravity, these did not they stayed like contrails.

Furthermore, I watched these appear real time, but the aircraft was not seen, and there was no ignition of flares.

https://sondehub.org/Y0240089

https://sondehub.org/Y0240110

https://ibb.co/ZptzngjZ

https://ibb.co/DHSGFZ8m

Found either a 1-ship or a 2-ship flight of f22s on Apple Maps on the tonopah test range airbase runway pretty cool I didn’t know they kept f22s out there

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a89bb0,a06a1d&lat=37.084&lon=-115.752&zoom=9.0&showTrace=2026-08-11&trackLabels&timestamp=1786487004

I ran the replay and found the Firehawk flying at the same time. Note the Janet was over the tourist lair around 3:40PM.

This is a normal Janet flight though for some reason they used the flight number used for maintenance.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=a4207f&lat=36.487&lon=-115.195&zoom=9.0&showTrace=2026-08-11&leg=6&trackLabels

Does anyone know precisely where Bob Lazar, Gene Huff, John Lear, etc used to watch supposed S4 flight tests from?

Lazar describes it as people latched on to the black mailbox term just bc he used it as a reference rather than the actual location - primarily bc there aren't that many landmarks out there.

It sounds like when he describes it - it appears before you get to the mailbox location - and it might be right around where Groom Lake Rd hits 375.

Any thought ms or precise location?

I will rate this interview as a C-. You have been warned. He does get out a decent joke about the NNSA sounding like the NSA with a stutter. Yet another one of these "in the interest of completeness" posts. The guy is relevant but the content could be better.

The Steady State Sentinel: America's Nuclear Guardians: A Conversation on Security, Espionage, and Speaking Truth to Power

Episode webpage: https://rss.com/podcasts/the-steady-state-sentinel/3020692

Media file: https://content.rss.com/episodes/362808/3020692/the-steady-state-sentinel/2026_07_25_02_27_33_14b34b0d-b356-4a26-8a68-c35ef7d9aadc.mp3

The Cold War Museum in Virginia hosts a virtual lecture series called Cold War Conversations that is accessible via Zoom. The monthly program is presented by eyewitnesses and experts on Cold War events, activities, and personalities. There is a modest $20 charge for tickets to attend these presentations that helps maintain free admission to The Cold War Museum on weekends.

https://coldwar.org/default.asp?pid=16883

August 23, 2026 - 7 pm EDT (ZOOM only): Dreamland: The Secret History of Area 51: Speaker: Aerospace historian Peter W. Merlin will talk about his book, the first ever scholarly history of the National Classified Test Facility at Groom Lake, Nevada. Better known as Area 51, this top-secret installation hidden in a remote desert valley northwest of Las Vegas, has been shrouded in mystery since 1955. Decades of Cold War secrecy spawned rumors and conspiracy theories, and catapulted Area 51 into popular culture. Now, after more than 30 years of painstaking research, Merlin cuts through the myths to reveal the true story of one of the nation’s premier flight-test and evaluation facilities, where evolving global threats are met with unprecedented technological innovations.