AURORA - The calls, emails and social media posts came into 9NEWS by the dozens Thursday night. All reported at least one mysterious, low-flying plane circling several times over Aurora. Just after 11:00 p.m., a spokesperson for Buckley Air Force Base finally cleared up the the mystery.
It all began with reports of people seeing and hearing a jet with four engines circling the same area multiple times. Many saw it near I-225. Some thought they saw multiple planes. But they all said the sight of a jet flying so low and so far from DIA was unusual.
For a couple of hours, 9NEWS had a tough time confirming what type of plane it was and what it was doing. Officials from Denver International Airport, Buckley Air Force Base and Centennial Airport said there were no reports of unusual activity.
However, around 10:15 p.m., Aurora police told 9NEWS the craft was a Navy plane conducting touch-and-go exercises at Buckley. A spokesperson for the base initially said it was not their plane and it was not aware of any exercises in its airspace at the time.
But just after 11:00 p.m., Buckley spokesman Nicholas Rau said he had spoken to senior officials at the base who confirmed what people saw was a Navy 707 communications aircraft. The plane made several approaches to Buckley, then landed Tinker Air Force base.
The training exercise lasted for about 40 minutes over Aurora, Rau said. There were no immediate plans for more operations of this kind, but they could happen at any time, Rau said.
He went on to say the plane was flying at a normal altitude for such an operation but that it was understandable why members of the public might be alarmed.
Earlier, a spokesperson for DIA said they did receive multiple noise complaints from the area but were unable to link it to a specific plane. The FAA said its only report of unusual activity a Beech 400 aircraft with engine trouble that landed without incident.
(KUSA-TV © 2015 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
