A mysterious jet flying over the wilderness with its distinguishing marks blacked out has been spotted on Google Earth.
The aircraft was caught in satellite imagery flying above a vast state park in Alaska with black marks obscuring its identifying features.
The riddle sparked a lively online discussion among mystery enthusiasts intrigued by the black marks covering areas on the 747-400 where logos and registration numbers are usually placed.
A red shadow and light from one of the aircraft’s engines can also be seen in the imagery taken over the remote Chena River State Recreation Area, a 254,000-acre park in the US state.
The anonymous person who found the plane shared an image on Facebook and wrote: ‘I just found it intriguing how the blacked-out sections are placed on key locations that would aid in identifying said aircraft.’
The curious image led to speculation there may have been a secret military dimension to the jet and the obscured dimensions.
Another user suspecting some kind of tampering wrote: ‘It’s that guy on the other guy’s plane going to see that guy in Russia.’
However Wiktor Kolesiński found a more logical explanation after taking the anonymously posted data and locating the aircraft to about 80km east of the city of Fairbanks.
Wiktor, 19, a medical student in Poland who enjoys solving open source mysteries, concluded that the plane is a Boeing 747-400 headed west at about 272 degrees.
Explaining why the black marks are most likely an imaging error, he said: ‘First, the black rectangles are not positioned in significant identification areas of the plane.
‘Second, if the goal were to prevent identification, why wouldn’t they just blur or cover the entire aircraft so it wouldn’t be visible at all?
‘Third, and most importantly, these black rectangles are visible across the entire area where images from this satellite on that day are available.
‘This becomes apparent when you locate this spot on Google Earth and zoom out.
‘Identical black rectangles, just like those on the plane, are spread over a radius of several kilometers—hundreds or even thousands of them.
‘Thus, this is a Google Earth error rather than an intentional attempt to block identification of the aircraft.’
Wiktor also identified the most likely specific plane shown flying at 64°45’38″N 146°0’13″W on September 27, 2018.
He said: ‘This aircraft likely belongs to the airline Kalitta Air. It’s a cargo airline from the USA.
‘Initially, I thought the resolution of the satellite images was too low to determine the airline.
‘However, I later saw that another user pointed out Kalitta Air, specifically the large inscription in the middle of the fuselage of the airline’s aircraft.
‘After looking again at the images on Google Earth, you can indeed make out the outline of the same “Kalitta Air” inscription with two black marks on either side, so it’s likely that this aircraft belongs to that airline.’
After Wiktor’s analysis earnt him plaudits on the Google Earth, Structures and Anomolies Facebook group, he told Metro how he enjoys cracking such mysteries.
‘I’m interested in aviation, geography, and astronomy, and knowledge in these fields enables me to solve mysteries like this, which I absolutely love doing,’ he said
Armchair explorers have found numerous strange objects on Google Earth, ranging from an object resembling an alien craft to a meteor crater.
In October, an image was published on Reddit appearing to show a door partially covered by snow in Antarctica.
The screenshot led to theories that it may have been an entrance to an underground camp or a storage facilities for seeds.
Metro has approached Google Earth for comment about the Alaska jet.
