http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/04/blackwater-bulk.htmlBlackwater Bulks Up Air Power Using Little Known Company
By Sharon Weinberger EmailApril 07, 2008 | 1:55:00 PMCategories: Mercs, Planes,
Planes, Copters, Blimps
Private security contractor
Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a
light attack counterinsurgency aircraft, and over two dozen other aircraft,
under the name of a little known aviation company.
An Embraer Super Tucano was placed on the U.S. civil aircraft registry
on
February 21, 2008 under the name of EP Aviation LLC. Additionally,
28 other
aircraft have been registered to this obscure company, most over the past few
months. The list includes 14 Bell 412 helicopters, as well as a number of fixed
wing aircraft.
While Blackwater hasn't advertised this news, neither is it keeping it a state
secret (EP Aviation isn't the sneakiest way to hide connections to Blackwater
owner Erik Prince). A spokesperson for Blackwater, in fact, confirmed to DANGER
ROOM that EP Aviation is an affiliate of Blackwater.
Jane's Defence Weekly first reported last year that Blackwater was trying to
get an import license for the Super Tucano (The Super Tucano's recent
registration was first reported as a small item in
the April issue of Air
Forces Monthly). But what isn't clear is why the company would register these
aircraft under the name EP Aviation LLC. After all, Blackwater has another,
better known, affiliate,
Presidential Airways, which also has
a number of
registered aircraft.So what is EP Aviation LLC? The company, located in McClean, VA is
described as
providing "nonscheduled air transportation." The company's phone number is the
same number in McLean (and physical address) as that of the Prince Group, whose
holdings include Blackwater, among a number of other related companies. (By the
way, Erik Prince is billionaire; can't he afford a few extra phone lines?)
What are all these aircraft for? Well, the Super Tucano makes sense; it could
be used to provide counter-insurgency aircraft training to the U.S. government.
As for the other aircraft, one blog, which doesn't note the Blackwater
connection, says the
aircraft are part of the FBI's contractor fleet.Anyhow, I'm going to rely on the plane spotters out there to use the N numbers
in the FAA registry to
track these aircraft.
