We interested in finding out about a US Air Force Gulfstream Aerospace C-37B that landed at Shannon last Tuesday (13th April), stayed overnight, and left the following day.

Its flight history shows that it came from Dubai, and had a Special Air Mission [SAM] call sign. That means that it was probably carrying high ranking government or Department of Defense officials. What is also of note is that before Dubai it was recorded flying over Pakistan. No record of where it landed, but it was in the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.

The crew and passengers that stayed overnight in Limerick or Clare may well have been exempted from Covid regulations. But it's important to note that according to the US Embassy (from their website) "from 4:00 am Thursday, April 15, passengers arriving into Ireland from the United States must complete a 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine, even if they arrive to Ireland with a negative or ‘not detected’ PCR test and even if they have been fully vaccinated.” Are these regulations being set aside for US military or diplomatic personnel?

After staying overnight at Shannon, the plane flew on to the Andrews Air Force Base at Camp Springs, Maryland (USA).

The same plane was also refuelled at Shannon last month, on 19th March, so the airport is evidently a regular staging post for these flights. 

On Wed we also had an Omni Air US troop carrier N846AX. It has recently been in Jordan and Al Udeid air base in Qatar, and arrived at Shannon from Bardufoss air base in northern Norway. It landed at 01.18am this morning and took off again at 03.53 heading for Cherry Point air base in North Carolina.