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In July, Venezuelan General Hugo “Pollo” Carvajal arrived in Aruba by plane to assume his new role as a diplomat in the Caribbean island nation. Instead of working in a fancy office and processing visas, he was arrested for potential extradition to the USA under a recently unsealed indictment related to drug charges. In the following days, Venezuela reportedly took several measures to secure Carvajal’s return, including escalating the threat of military action. Ultimately, Carvajal was released, declared persona non grata in Aruba, and sent back home.
As previously mentioned, an intriguing aspect of the incident was the rumor that the plane which transported Carvajal to Aruba carried the tail number N9GY. This aircraft is registered under a Delaware company named Global Air Services Corp. According to records filed with the Texas Secretary of State, Global Air Services Corp. is ultimately linked to the expansive corporate empire of Venezuelan-American oilfield supply mogul Roberto Rincón.
César Batiz published a detailed and captivating profile of Rincón recently in Armando.Info, a relatively new Venezuelan investigative journalism outlet. I assisted with the story, largely focusing on gathering data regarding Rincón’s companies and aircraft based in Texas. There’s one very peculiar element of this situation that you, esteemed reader, might be able to shed light on.
Aircraft owners can keep their real-time flight data private on platforms like FlightAware.com by submitting a confidentiality request to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Nevertheless, flight records are still public documents. We submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FAA for the flight records pertaining to N9GY. Here’s what we obtained for the relevant dates:
According to the records, the aircraft arrived in Orlando on July 18 and was not recorded to leave again until August 5. However, there are reports from individuals around the Caribbean who claim to have seen that aircraft during this timeframe. On August 6, the plane showed up in Merritt Island, but it never appeared to register a departure flight to reach there.
So what actually happened? Can someone from the aviation field help clarify this mystery to me?