Doomsday plane spotted over Fresno

The secretive, yet famed, “Doomsday Plane,” was been spotted in this area last week.

The plane, designed as an emergency operations hub for the president, was spotted for a couple of hours over Fresno where officials said it was practicing landings.

It’s the second time this year the plane has been flying over California, the last time around the Los Angeles area in January.

Officials at the airport in Fresno said the pilots were conducting approaches at the airport and spent two hours doing mock landings. The sightings happened during the middle of last week.

Social media lit up when the famed plane was spotted over the skies of Fresno.

The plane is a Boeing E-6B Mercury, specifically designed for the “doomsday” scenario of a nuclear war. It serves as a nuclear control platform and strategic command post.

Personnel inside the plane can control bombers, missiles and ballistic submarines, according to military officials. It can remain airborne for up to 12 hours without refueling but can also be refueled in mid-flight to extend missions.

The purpose of the plane is to maintain global communications and operate even if ground command centers are not working. In other words, it functions as a mobile Pentagon in the sky.

Military officials told Fresno media outlets the plane’s command and control “is all combined into one” in order to handle missiles, bombers and subs.

Sightings of the plane are rare but not uncommon as the military continually operates the plane and personnel use it for drills and other scenarios. But with a war raging in Iran, some people were more panicked than others when the plane was spotted in Fresno.

Military flights are nothing new in Fresno and many times, some of the fighter jets can be spotted over Mariposa and Eastern Madera counties.

The Fresno Air National Guard Base, located at Fresno Yosemite International Airport, hosts the 144th Fighter Wing of the California Air National Guard, responsible for air defense and homeland security using F-15C Eagles.

Photos of the airplane flooded social media, which was not surprising.

Some people felt the practice sessions were a prelude for what could come during the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Others, however, said the pilots likely do practice landings and takeoffs on a regular basis to hone their skills.

The plane is basically a flying command post that can hold up to 112 crew members and has a range of 6,200 nautical miles. The plane can also be refueled in flight to extends its time in the air.