The 486th Flight Test Squadron is a secretive unit, with a somewhat misleading designation, assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and which is associated with United States Department of State Foreign Emergency Support Team activities. The squadron motto is "Non semper ea sunt quae videntur" which translates as "Not always what they seem". It was apparently assigned to the 227th Special Operations Flight, later redesignated the 150th Special Operations Squadron, McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, but is currently assigned to the 46th Test Wing at Eglin, and operates a pair of Boeing C-32B or Boeing 757-23A aircraft, on stand-by alert for special operations and intelligence missions world-wide. Official documents make it clear that operations fall under the aegis of Air Force Special Operations Command.
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Operations
The 486th Flight Test Squadron was activated by 1995. One former employee describes it as a "classified unit" and "a selectively manned, one-of-a-kind unit." Very little is officially acknowledged about the classified missions of the 486th FLTS, which is, in fact, not a test unit at all, but a quick-reaction transportation operation utilized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Domestic Emergency Support Team, and the Foreign Emergency Support Team to respond to terrorist incidents worldwide. The aircraft may also be utilized in conjunction with the Special Activities Division of the Central Intelligence Agency. The P-1 Line Item Nomenclature on page 4-24 of the unclassified USAF Aircraft Procurement FY 2001 Amended Budget Request, Volume 1, dated February 2000, identifies these airframes as C-32B FEST/DEST Aircraft, and cites total procurement cost for one in FY 2000 as $73.000 million and $71.963 million for the second in FY 2002 for a total procurement cost $144.963 million.
The test unit designation was probably selected to blend in with the type of operations that are conducted regularly at Eglin AFB by Air Force Material Command whose mission is the development, acquisition, testing, deployment and sustainment of all air-delivered non-nuclear weapons. The vast Eglin complex is also home to the headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, as well as the United States Army's 7th Special Forces Group, which relocated from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 2011.
Equipment
Two aircraft have been identified as being operated by the 486th FLTS, both of them either C-32B or 757 former-airliners. Both wear non-descript all-white paint schemes. Boeing 757-23A, serial number 02-4452, marked 24452, is apparently c/n 25493/523, ex-N84WA, originally delivered to Ansett Worldwide as N59AW on 26 February 1993, and which passed through six different owner / operators, with seven different registration numbers, the most recent of which was the enigmatically named Kodiak Associates LLC. Boeing 757-23A, serial number 02-5001, marked 25001, c/n 25494/611, is ex-N987AN, originally delivered to Avianca on 22 April 1994, and which passed through the hands of Raytheon E-Systems, but which has also been reported carrying 98–6006, 99–6143, 00–9001, but, most usually, 02-5001. The C-32B aircraft are reported to use the callsigns TERRA, DACTYL and FUME. The callsign JENNA, used by non-FBI aircraft engaged in Federal Bureau of Investigation operations, has also been recorded.
Accidents
On 1 May 2003, a Boeing C-32B, marked as 00-9001, assigned to the 486th Flight Test Squadron suffered a ~0300 hrs. landing accident at North Auxiliary Airfield, South Carolina, when the nose gear collapsed in a heavy landing. Air Force spokeswoman Major Linda Pepin said that there were no serious injuries, "There was a crew of 10 on board. Two sustained minor injuries and were treated and released." The nose gear on the plane collapsed and the plane's position on the ground is not parallel to the runway. Major Pepin stated that the incident will be investigated in days to come by an Air Force safety board, "In any case where there's an incident that involves aircraft safety to ensure that whatever happened in this incident we can avoid next time." Pepin said that they don't know how long the aircraft will stay on the runway, "It's really too early to know when it will get it up and moving." North Auxiliary Airfield is used for C-17 Globemaster III training by the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base. Extra security was put in place at North Auxiliary Airfield while the C-32 was being repaired.