DOJ Plane Left Lafayette, Landed in Ft Lauderdale on Day of FBI Raid

Photo Courtesy of FlightAware.com

According to online records, a United States Department of Justice aircraft left Lafayette, Louisiana, and landed in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on the day the FBI raided former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago.

The online flight tracking website Flight Aware lists the flight history of N874TW and it shows that the aircraft left Lafayette at 3:30 pm and landed in Fort Lauderdale at 6:15 pm, while the raid was still underway.

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According to New York Magazine's Intelligencer, the FBI first arrived and entered former President Trump's Florida residence at around 9 am. The report also states that federal agents left Mar-a-Lago around 6:30 pm.

Some people are trying to find the connection between Mar-a-Lago, the Department of Justice, and the Lafayette Regional Airport.

It's not unusual to see military planes at Lafayette Regional Airport. Sometimes they do "touch-and-goes" for practice. Some of them stop in to refuel and then are on their way. Others, I'm certain, stop in to refuel, grab some good Cajun food, and then take to the skies once again.

But did this Department of Justice Boeing 757 in Lafayette not once, but twice, within 3 days?

Photo Courtesy of FlightAware.com

I do not know the answer to this question. That's why I am putting it out there. Do you know why this aircraft was in Lafayette?

The aircraft seems to stay in the Washington DC area most of the time recently, according to the Flight Aware flight log.

On Friday, July 29th, the aircraft left Richmond, Virginia bound for Tampa, Florida. The aircraft, according to the Flight Aware log, spent one hour on the ground in Tamps and then flew right back to Richmond, Virginia.

The aircraft apparently stayed moored in Virginia all of last week.

Then, on Monday, the day the FBI raided former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago, the aircraft left Richmond International at 1:20 pm and landed in Lafayette at 2:20 pm (all times local to airport). Less than one hour later, at 3:30 pm, the DOJ 757 left Lafayette and headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the closest major airport to Mar-a-Lago, and landed at 6:15 pm.

On Tuesday morning, the aircraft left Fort Lauderdale and landed at Reagan National near Washington, DC. It was only on the ground for 54 minutes when it took off for Richmond.

On Wednesday, the flight log shows something interesting: it shows that the aircraft left Richmond International at 9:17 am, flew around for just over 2 hours, then landed back at Richmond International Airport at 11:22 am.

So the airplane, a huge Boeing 757, just flew around for a few hours? Was it some sort of Maintenance Check Flight? Why would an aircraft do that?

Just three hours later, at 2:06 pm, the aircraft leaves Richmond, Virginia, and lands in Lafayette, Louisiana again.

This time, it was on the ground in Lafayette for just over 3 hours before leaving again for Richmond.

So, what gives? Why was this aircraft in Lafayette?

The Unofficial: Lafayette City Government Facebook page is who brought this to my attention and, knowing the page's tongue-in-cheek style, I thought it was just a joke. Then I saw the link to Flight Aware and realized that it was the real thing.

Did they just stop to run to Nunu's for some boudin? Are they originally from here and their kid forgot his backpack on the first day of school so they had to drop it off? Were they here to have a word with Congressman Clay Higgins?

See what I mean about the page's tongue-in-cheek style?

Anyway, can anyone give some insight as to why the Department of Justice Boeing 757 was in Lafayette?