Welcome to Mystery Flights

Welcome to Mystery Flights, a new feature of Whale Hunting where we track the planes and jets of the world’s most powerful every week in collaboration with Dictator Alert.

The flights raise many questions about where dictators and their governments are going. Please feel free to reach out with context that could further unravel these journeys.

Here are some flights that have piqued our interest:

✈️  A plane registered to the Government of Turkmenistan has been in London. The plane flew from London, after spending a day in the city, and stopped in Iceland on September 26.

Context: Russia is currently “love-bombing” Turkmenistan, showering the President with birthday wishes, according to reports. Meanwhile, Turkmenistan — one of the most repressed countries in the world — has been “flirtatious” on the diplomatic front, attending a summit in New York earlier this month.

✈️  The government of Gabon has been flying around. A plane flew into JFK on September 24. It had previously flown from Gabon, via Fortaleza in Brazil, to Cuba on September 14.

Context: The Prime Minister of Gabon was at the G77 Summit in Cuba on September 15, according to this Facebook post. On September 26, U.S. suspended aid to Gabon after a military takeover in the country last month. The military only opened the country’s borders on September 2, following the coup.

✈️  The Qataris have been flying around Asia. Between September 22-24, planes departed from South Korea and Hong Kong. The following day, the flight from South Korea had flew via Malaysia.

Context: The Qatari Minister of State for Interior Affairs met the Minister of Home Affairs in Malaysia on September 18 to discuss cooperation “between the two countries in security fields.”

If you have ideas on what's going on, please get in touch: hello@projectbrazen.com or projectbrazen@protonmail.com.