Gillian Brockel
Appearances
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah. I mean, this is terrible news, but I'm also very excited to be in the Cool Zone universe. I love all of the shows.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Sure. Yes. So I've been a journalist for 15 years, but before that I was a flight attendant. And, you know, I'm an av geek, an aviation enthusiast, the shorthand, you know, the hashtag for that is av geek. And so, you know, I'm always looking at Flight Radar 24. It's an app where you can track different aircraft. And so when I heard that the flight might still be in the air, I
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I just thought, I wonder if I can find it. So I went first, I went on to Flight Radar 24. And first I looked at all of the departures out of San Antonio for like the previous 24 hours since the previous flight that was supposed to go to Libya that was stopped that departed from San Antonio. And so I was looking there.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And, you know, didn't see anything, just commercial flights, very obviously military flights. And I know they've used military aircraft sometimes, but I said, I'm not going to try and touch that right now. I want to see if it's one of these charter companies, you know, Global X, Avello, that have been doing these deportation flights.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
So these are commercial carriers, but they're contracting with DHS to deport people on their aircraft. So the A320 that you take across the country is sometimes used to deport people to other countries. And the main companies that are doing that right now are Avelo, Global X. I think Omni does some of them sometimes.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And I should say, there are a lot of people, especially on Blue Sky, a lot of avgeeks, who are tracking and cataloging all of these flights. I wasn't even aware of that community until I started looking for it. So I didn't see anything, you know, in San Antonio. And then I realized, oh, these people had been transferred to Port Isabel in the last few weeks.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
So they would have departed out of Harlingen Airport, which is nearby. It's, you know, deep, deep South Texas.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so I looked at departures out of Harlingen. It's a small airport. They have like 10 departures a day and it's generally puddle jumpers from one small Texas town to another small Texas town, you know?
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And there was one Global X flight to Miami the day before. The timeline wasn't exactly right, but I know that DHS, you know, has been slow to notify attorneys.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
So I thought, well, maybe this is the flight. And they just didn't tell the attorneys till the next day. So then I spent way too much time looking at all of the departures out of Miami to see if there were any Global X flights. I saw a few things, but nothing heading across the Atlantic. And so at that point, Flight Radar 24 will show you publicly available information on flights.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
It won't show you all flights. But there is another, you know, for like deep, deep avgeeks, there's another website called ADS-B Exchange. And this is a pool of all feeder data all over the world of all aircraft in the air that aviation enthusiasts maintain themselves. And they will have military flights that aren't going to be on Flightradar24.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
They also have a lot more information about planes that have a LAD designation, which stands for Limited Aviation Data Displayed. I don't know how much you want me to explain about that.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Sure. So a LAD designation is used most often for private jet owners like celebrities and the ultra-rich. And basically it means that they have an extra layer of privacy for their movements in their private jets. So if you try and find a specific private jet on Flightradar24, it won't come up. You know, so like the tail of this plane that did the Djibouti flight is N5AA88AT.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
If you search for that in Flightradar24, you won't see it. Nothing will come up. However, if you know what you're looking for, if you know, like, oh, I think the flight is heading to Djibouti right now, you can see on Flightradar24 that there's a Gulfstream 5 headed to Djibouti right now, but the registration information is obscured.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
You know, it's not like that on the ADS-B. You can see it. Yeah, your filters have a lot more power, basically. Okay. You know, your search terms. They're going to go around different designations.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so some people hate that. You know, Taylor Swift had beef with some guy a couple years ago. Right. Because she has a lad designation on her private jet. He was using ADS-B exchange to post her flights, you know, ostensibly to shame her for her carbon footprint. Yeah. But then she threatened to sue him, and she was like, I have stalkers. I don't want them to know when I'm landing in Nashville.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Not going to get into that. But that's basically the lad designation, and ADS-B doesn't care. And so I went on ADS-B and I said, well, since I've already seen all the publicly available flights, let me just look at LAD flights.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so I set that filter and that took it down to a couple hundred planes in the air. And I honestly just got lucky. I just started clicking on planes. Because I don't know how to search for all departures out of one airport on ADS-B exchange. I'm sure avgeeks who are better at it do. But I just started clicking on planes.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And I clicked, I think like the third plane that I clicked on had taken off out of Harlingen a couple hours earlier and was over the middle of the Atlantic.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so... You know, I posted on Blue Sky to the other avgeeks who were looking for it. I think this might be it. You know, it's a private jet with a LAAD designation that took off from this very obscure airport and is traveling internationally. Nothing else really fit the profile.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Another reporter named Jacqueline Sweet. You know, I looked up the registration. It's registered to a man named Igor Smirnov, which there are a lot of Igor Smirnovs.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
He's not the chess guy. He's not the Moldovan guy. He appears to have once owned an airline in Uzbekistan and has been in the U.S. for some time. So he has, you know, this private jet. And then Jacqueline Sweet looked up that, yes, he has DHS contracts.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Then the other thing was, I just Googled the tail number, M588AT. One of the first things that came up was that this was the private jet that carried Brittany Griner home from Russia when she had been released in a prisoner's swap.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so that, you know, was the thing where I was like, okay, this, this plane's been used for like weird government business before. Yeah. Like, I think, I think this might be it. Yeah. So that's when I posted, once I realized the Brittany Griner thing, then I posted it and other people, other avgeeks were saying, yeah, I think that might be it.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And then, you know, Jacqueline got more info on, on the contracts and, and, And so this is for about two hours. We watched it and JJ and DC said, I think it's about to land in Shannon. And, you know, soon enough it descended and landed at Shannon. Yep. So Shannon Airport in Ireland is a frequent refueling stop for the U.S. military.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And, you know, that's something that a lot of Irish people really fucking hate.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah, it's not a U.S. base. These are this is U.S. military that are just they're just refueling. But they're refueling to, you know, do a lot of things that the Irish are not OK with.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so there's there's an organization there called Shannon Watch who, you know, they're watching all these U.S. activities and, you know, pressuring the government to stop this. So, you know, I tried to email them before the plane even landed. And I don't know if it was user error on my end or, you know, if I don't know why it didn't work, but they didn't get the message.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
But so I messaged them, and then I, like, messaged a couple friends in Ireland, like, hey, wake up, wake up, you know, call somebody, you know. But it was 2.30 in the morning. I'm glad my friends were asleep. And, yeah, so...
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I don't know how much I wanted to get into my personal hedging or my journey, but, you know, I used to be like a neutral, objective journalist at the Washington Post for 10 years, and I left a year and a half ago, and I've been enjoying being an opinionated journalist.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I've been writing a book, but you know, there's a difference between being an opinionated journalist and actually interfering in a story.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And so I kind of hedged for a minute of like, should I, should I do anything else? Should I actively participate in trying to stop this flight? You know, am I not going to get a columnist job someday if I do that?
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
You know, I'm ashamed to say that, but I have to tell the truth. That's what I thought. And then I just decided, you know, screw it. I have to do the right thing. Nice. So I called the Shannon Airport Police. I called the Shannon Garda. They call the police the Garda in Ireland.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And I talked to, you know, whatever man answered for like a minute. And then he was like, let me, let me, you know, knock you up the chain. And I was forwarded to someone else, to a woman who, you know, she sounded smart, urgent, interested. It sounded like she was taking notes. It sounded like she was taking this seriously.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And I was saying, there is a plane with this tail number that landed 15 minutes ago that may have people on board who have been illegally removed from the United States, who have not consented to go to their destination, who are being sent to South Sudan when they are not from South Sudan. And I made clear that I don't know that this is the right plane, but I'm pretty sure that it is.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
This plane has been used before for U.S. government business. And I said, I know that our judges' orders don't matter in your sovereign country, but a judge has said this is not allowed and it might be happening. And I don't know what your human trafficking laws are like.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
But you should know that if there are human trafficking or kidnapping laws in Ireland that might apply to this, like maybe check the plane.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And, you know, I didn't record the call and I didn't take notes, but I do recall her saying that she was trying to send someone to check the plane and she was, you know, taking detailed notes. What are their nationalities? How many are there? Yeah. You know, and, uh, yeah, so, you know, the call lasted 13 minutes and then I waited and
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
you know was talking with the other av geeks on blue sky who were at this point you know this is around 10 p.m it's getting a little late and then yeah i don't know what happened but the plane taxied to a parking stamp near the terminal for a while and i thought oh it's been it's been turned off it's parked for the night i don't think they're gonna let him leave yeah And then the plane took off.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
That, you know, is moonlighting as a prisoner vessel for kidnappers. Right. And I just, I'm so struck by the dichotomy of the luxury of this vessel, transporting them to hell, to a country where they do not speak the language. They have no family or friends. to a prison where people are being tortured that is about to descend into civil war, may already be in civil war.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I mean, the dichotomy of that is so striking to me. And so perverse.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Right. That's why the US hasn't done it. Right. It's like, you know, it's a diplomatic pickle, but like the solution isn't, we'll just, you know, dump them somewhere else.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I have no idea. I mean, that is something that other reporters, I think, are going to be better sources of that information. I've really just begun tracking these flights. Right. I like to track flights all the time just because I have ADHD. It's a wonderful activity if you're neurodivergent to spend some time on ADS-B exchange. But like I said, I was just like, I wonder if I can find this plane.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And that has opened up a whole world to me of, you know, really dedicated people. Tom Cartwright is one and then JJNDC is another. He wants to remain anonymous.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Who have been tracking these planes for some time. And I'm really inspired by them and, you know, want to join them and help them.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I mean, the first thing I would do is that I would follow Tom Cartwright and JJNDC on Blue Sky. Then, you know, get the Flightradar24 app. You can see a lot of the charter planes on that app. ADS-B exchange is pretty buggy and hard to use if you don't have any aviation experience at all. But, you know, you can learn.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
And... Yeah. I mean, like I said, if you're neurodivergent, this is a terrific activity to just kind of like massage your brain and hyper-focus and, you know, putting it to good purpose to maybe witness or maybe even stop some of these activities from happening, you know, would be great.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah, and I mean, now that Ireland knows this is happening, you know, I don't know what happened with the Garda on Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning. I don't know if they were able to board the plane, if they tried to stop it and couldn't. I have no idea.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Now that they know this is happening, maybe they can look a little bit deeper into their laws and regulations and find a justification so that if this happens again, they can be prepared to respond. I know that the Irish are exemplars in human rights. And so if anybody is going to do something, it might be them.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah, I know. I wish they had checked with the avgeeks first because the plane's not on the way. It's not in the air.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I mean, I just, I want the Irish people to realize, because none of their lawmakers have said it yet, that Irish authorities knew when the plane was on the ground at Shannon, that there were people who were possibly being illegally detained on this specific airplane. I just want them to know that.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
You know, and I hear that their public information laws are also not great, but the police there recorded the call. So there's a recording somewhere if they can find it.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah. I mean, and it really depends, too. Like, was the plane parked in the international transit area? Was it in a place where, you know, the guard didn't even have authority? I have no idea.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Yeah, I'm writing a book, so I post extremely sporadically. But I do have a ghost newsletter. It's Hard G History, because it's Hard G Gillian. Hardghistory.ghost.io. And then I'm on Blue Sky at G Brock Hill.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
I mean, there's not like a, you know, pre-order link. I'm very much still writing it. But, you know, my agent will be mad at me for saying this. The working title is People Didn't Know What Was Wrong Back Then. The Lie at the Heart of American History.
Behind the Bastards
It Could Happen Here Weekly 184
Thank you. Thanks for having me, James. I really appreciate it.