As Benjamin Shayne settled into his back yard to listen to the Orioles game on the radio Saturday night, he noticed a small plane looping low and tight over West Baltimore — almost exactly above where rioting had erupted several days earlier, in the aftermath of the death of a black man, Freddie Gray, in police custody.
The plane appeared to be a small Cessna, but little else was clear. The sun had already set, making traditional visual surveillance difficult. So, perplexed, Shayne tweeted: “Anyone know who has been flying the light plane in circles above the city for the last few nights?”
That was 9:14 p.m. Seven minutes later came a startling reply. One of Shayne’s nearly 600 followers tweeted back a screen shot of the Cessna 182T’s exact flight path and also the registered owner of the plane: NG Research, based in Bristow, Va.
“The Internet,” Shayne, 39, told his wife, “is an amazing thing.”
What Shayne’s online rumination helped unveil was a previously secret, multi-day campaign of overhead surveillance by city and federal authorities during a period of historic political protest and unrest.
More...http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/surveillance-planes-spotted-in-the-sky-for-days-after-west-baltimore-rioting/2015/05/05/c57c53b6-f352-11e4-84a6-6d7c67c50db0_story.html
I have friends in Baltimore, and they had already seen an increase in police helicopters, but also a few large military planes, has been going on for about 3 weeks BEFORE the incident with Freddie Gray. Why, I don't know.....
There is also a large "blimp" that was put up by one of the military bases in the area that is supposedly used for radar. I'm not really buying that its only used for radar, but how would I ever find out any different?
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/12/18/military-new-surveillance-blimp-takes-to-maryland-skies/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-army-launch-2-missile-surveillance-blimps-md-article-1.2049862