# The Plane Theories > **The claim:** An aircraft was involved — a foreign (Egyptian) plane, a jet that "turned off its transponder" and fled, or a military "spy plane" loitering over the scene — pointing to a foreign or state-backed operation. **Verdict: FALSE / UNSUPPORTED.** Three real aircraft anchor these theories; **every "connection to the shooting" inference is debunked**, and the **FBI and the FAA affirmatively ruled out** the central one. ## What fuels it One structural fact dressed up as evidence: UVU sits **~5 miles from Provo's general-aviation airport**, so routine private, government, and military traffic overhead is constant — and **ADS-B gaps over mountainous terrain are normal**. Screenshots of flight-tracking data get retrofitted into a plot. ## The FBI ruled out the central "transponder" plane ![[post-patel-plane.svg|520]] *[FBI Director Kash Patel, Sept 21, 2025](https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1969809385418555404) (verified) — the official rebuttal (excerpt). See [[Official Statements and the FBI Case File]].* ## The N888KG "transponder / fled by plane" jet — **FALSE** - **Kernel (real):** **N888KG** (a Bombardier Challenger 300, owned by Utah businessman Derek Maxfield) genuinely flew **Provo → Page, AZ → Provo** on Sept 10, and ADS-B shows a signal gap ~30 min in. - **Debunked:** the gap is an innocuous **reception dead zone** (few ground receivers + terrain near Page); the transponder was **never off**. The owner stated the outbound leg carried **two pilots and no passengers** and called any connection "inaccurate, false and without any credible basis." **FBI Director Patel** (above) and **DOT Secretary Sean Duffy / the FAA** confirmed the FAA's radar tracked it and the flight matched its plan. ## The "Egyptian plane" (SU-BTT / SU-BND) — **FALSE** Pushed almost entirely by **Candace Owens** ("an Egyptian Air Force plane flew out of Provo… tail SU-BTT"), later expanded to two planes "shadowing" Erika Kirk "73 times." - **Kernel:** those Egyptian tail numbers exist in public flight data. That's the only verifiable piece. - **Debunked, fast and across the spectrum:** the Egyptian plane departed Provo **~7 a.m. — hours *before* the 12:23 p.m. shooting**; Owens **misread UTC as "Utah time."** The "73 overlaps" surveillance claim was dismantled (an analysis found ~66% of the plane-location claims wrong, many placing the aircraft **on a different continent**) — even **Alex Jones / Infowars** published a debunk. **Erika Kirk publicly told Owens to stop.** See [[Erika Kirk and the Security Team]] and [[Kirk Was Leaving the Pro-Israel Cause]]. ## The "HADES spy plane" N1098L — **MISLEADING / UNSUPPORTED** The claim: an Army ISR jet (**N1098L**, callsign "AXLE10") flew "204 feet over the murder scene, twice." - **Kernel:** N1098L is a real **Leidos-operated Bombardier Global 6500** — a **near-daily training jet** for the Army's HADES program. Its presence over the interior West is routine. - **Debunked:** flight data has it on a **routine El Paso → Kalispell, MT** training run that morning (arriving ~10:38 a.m. MDT — not over Utah at 12:23). Aviation-OSINT analysts found **"no credible evidence"** and called it an "information attack"; its own promoters contradict each other on who even owns the plane. ## The "open airspace / no TFR" angle — kernel **PARTLY TRUE**, inference **UNSUPPORTED** It's true **no temporary flight restriction was placed over Provo** and the airport stayed open — but TFRs are **not automatic** for a ground shooting, and there is **no evidence anyone escaped by air** (Robinson fled on the ground and [[The Surrender|surrendered]] ~33 hours later). ## Bottom line Real aircraft, ubiquitous innocuous aviation phenomena, **zero** verified link to the shooting — and the flagship version was **ruled out by the FBI and the FAA by name**. This is the cleanest example on the site of normal background noise (a nearby GA airport, reception dead zones, daily military ISR) being reshaped into a conspiracy. --- **Related:** [[The Investigation Was Limited]] · [[A Second Shooter from a Lower Angle]] · [[Robinson Is a Patsy]] · [[Erika Kirk and the Security Team]] · [[Official Statements and the FBI Case File]] **Sources (primary/official):** [FBI Dir. Patel — transponder plane ruled out](https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1969809385418555404) · [DOT Sec. Duffy — FAA radar/transponder](https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/1972439646849356018) · [Lead Stories — N888KG not part of the inquiry](https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/09/fact-check-private-jet-n888kg-is-not-part-of-investigative-inquiry-into-assassination-of-charlie-kirk.html) · [CBC — flight-tracking claims debunked](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/charlie-kirk-shooting-conspiracy-theories-debunked-1.7631489) · [[Sources]] **Image credit:** the post card is an **original rendering** of FBI Director Patel's verified Sept 21, 2025 post (excerpt), linked to the original.