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The N1098L Low Pass at 12:24 (Claims)

:::caution Attributed claims only This page covers only the timing of one maneuver inside the ten-minute window. The aircraft's broader flight profile, the HADES program, and the drone allegations are treated at N1098L and the HADES low passes and are not duplicated here. The timing argument fails on its own terms, and this page leads with why. Nobody named below is accused of a crime. :::

Claim snapshot

Field	Value
The claim	N1098L, an aircraft associated with the HADES program, reportedly made a 335-foot AGL low pass near the UVU campus at 12:24 PM MDT — roughly thirty seconds after the shot and within about two miles of campus
Exact time in window	12:24 PM MT — approximately 30 seconds after the 12:23:30 shot
Raised by	The investigation file's N1098L section, quoting a stated "drone retrieval training" justification. Disputed by @TJPHager, who argues the airframe was not built out to launch drones
First surfaced	Undated in source; the referenced Defense Post article is dated 2025-09-10
Rests on	Secondhand hearsay — a quoted justification with no named speaker, plus flight-tracking figures the file cannot state consistently
Evidence rating	EMERGING

What is alleged

The investigation file records a claimed explanation for the aircraft's behavior over Orem: "drone retrieval training occurred on Sep 10. It was the primary purpose of N1098L's Orem, Utah low passes. The two maneuvers (600 ft AGL at 11:47 AM MDT; 335 ft AGL at 12:24 PM MDT) were textbook drone drop/recovery simulations." The file identifies N1098L as flying under the HADES program (High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System), with ICAO A0299E and callsign AXEL10, tracked via ADS-B Exchange and Flightradar24, having departed Biggs Army Airfield, with crew reportedly employed by Leidos Aviation Services.

The second of those two maneuvers is what falls inside this window: a pass at 335 feet above ground level at 12:24 p.m., roughly thirty seconds after the shot, within about two miles of campus. The suggestion drawn from it is proximity in time — that a surveillance-program aircraft descended to a few hundred feet over the area at the moment of the killing.

Two things must be excluded. The file's separate claim of a drone pickup at 12:48 is twenty-four minutes outside the charter of this section and is not covered here. And @TJPHager disputes the drone premise entirely, arguing the airframe was not built out to launch drones at all — which, if right, removes the framework both sides are arguing inside.

The ordinary explanation

The timing only means anything if the flight was reactive, and it cannot have been. An aircraft cannot receive news of a shooting, descend from altitude, set up an approach, and execute a 335-foot pass within thirty seconds. That is not a close call; it is not physically possible for any fixed-wing aircraft. Whatever N1098L was doing at 12:24, it had been doing it since well before 12:23:30 — the maneuver was already underway when the shot was fired. A pre-planned profile that happens to bracket an event is the null hypothesis, and the file's own source supplies it: the quoted justification frames both maneuvers as scheduled training, and describes an 11:47 a.m. pass thirty-six minutes before anything happened. A scheduled pair of passes at 11:47 and 12:24 is a training sortie. The event landed between them.

The file also cannot hold its own numbers steady, which is disqualifying for a claim built entirely on numbers. One section gives the 12:24 maneuver at 335 ft AGL; another describes the low passes at 203 feet and 116 knots. One section names the crew as Michael R. Harlan, J. "Jax" E. Donovan, and Elena Vasquez; @TJPHager gives an entirely different three-person crew — Cooper Brown, Michael Reynolds, and Sarah Kline. Three named humans, twice, with no overlap. At least one list is wrong, and possibly both. An argument that depends on altitude and timing being precise cannot be run from a source that reports altitude two ways and the crew two ways.

What would settle it

1. Pull the raw ADS-B track for N1098L (ICAO A0299E) for 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. MDT and establish the actual altitude and position at 12:24, rather than choosing between 335 and 203 feet.
2. Obtain the flight plan filed before takeoff from Biggs Army Airfield. A pre-filed plan settles whether the profile was scheduled.
3. Identify who actually stated the "drone retrieval training" justification and in what forum. The file quotes it without a speaker.
4. Establish the actual crew roster from Leidos Aviation Services records. Two irreconcilable lists are circulating.

Interesting In This Area

• The same airframe's HADES role and counter-drone tests at Provo sit in another section.
• A Fort Huachuca meeting reportedly preceded September 10 by one day.
• Drone claims reach back to Butler, and SAM 702 flew the same corridor.
• N560TW reportedly turned around mid-route, another aircraft anomaly logged that week.

Interesting In Other Areas

• N1098L flies under the Army's HADES program, tracked by ADS-B hobbyists.
• Researchers argue the airframe could air-launch drones; others dispute the build-out.
• The ten minutes after the shot are reconstructed from video, not flight logs.
• Provo Airport sat two miles from the low pass, hosting other flagged aircraft.

Images

This is a digital screenshot of an iPhone text message conversation between two unidentified individuals, displaying incoming messages in gray speech bubbles against a light gray background. Full write-up →

This low-resolution, slightly blurry image captures a group of onlookers gathered on a lower-level balcony or open gallery of a modern building, looking outward towards the left. Full write-up →

This low-resolution digital image shows a group of people standing on a balcony or behind a railing of a modern building, viewed from a distance. Full write-up →

This low-resolution, slightly blurry image shows a close-up crop of a man's face positioned on the right side of the frame, looking downward and slightly toward the camera. Full write-up →

This is a low-resolution, slightly blurry still from a video shot outdoors on a bright, sunny day. Full write-up →

This is a low-resolution, horizontally oriented image captured outdoors, looking slightly upward at a modern, low-rise commercial building complex under a hazy blue sky. Full write-up →

This image is a low-resolution screenshot of a video editing interface on an Apple iPad, displaying a frame of video footage captured at an outdoor event. Full write-up →

This is a low-angle outdoor photograph of a large crowd gathered outside a multi-level concrete building on a bright, sunny day. Full write-up →

This low-resolution, vertically-oriented outdoor image captures a modern multi-story concrete building, likely on a university campus or civic center, under a bright, clear blue sky. Full write-up →

This low-resolution video still depicts an outdoor political or promotional event, likely a campaign stop or rally, featuring a crowd of spectators gathered before an elevated stage under a white canopy tent. Full write-up →

This low-resolution, slightly blurry outdoor photograph captures a large, modern, multi-story commercial building under a pale, clear blue sky, with a dense crowd of people visible along the bottom edge of the frame. Full write-up →

This vertical, full-color photograph captures a chaotic scene at an outdoor event, shot from a low angle behind a man kneeling on a grassy lawn. Full write-up →

Other Pages In This Section

Suspicious Within Five Minutes

Everything citizen investigators flag inside the ten minutes from 12:18:30 to 12:28:30 on September 10 — five minutes either side of the shot. Second by second is where the strongest and the flimsiest claims sit next to each other.

Read this

The Donor Texts, 48 Hours Before (Claims)

Candace Owens released September 8, 2025 messages in which Charlie Kirk reportedly wrote that donor pressure was leaving him no choice. TPUSA reportedly confirmed the texts, which makes this one of the few items here with an organization's own confirmation behind it.

Read this

Sixteen Israeli-Registered Phones at UVU (Claims)

An analyst reportedly claims raw GPS data put 44 foreign-registered phones near Charlie Kirk on September 10, sixteen of them Israeli. The dataset has never been published, so nobody outside the claim can test it.

Read this

No Autopsy and the Death-Certificate Questions (Claims)

The claim is that no autopsy was performed. Utah seals medical examiner records during an active capital case, so "no public report" and "no report" are being treated as the same statement when they are not. A question with a published answer the questioner did not look for.

Read this

Elsewhere In The Investigation

N1098L Spy Plane

A Bombardier Global 6500 flown by an Army ISR contractor, callsign AXLE10, ran an unusual low and slow profile near Orem on September 10. No track, tasking order, or sensor product from it has appeared in the prosecution.

Read this

US Army HADES (Drone Launching Planes)

HADES is a real, publicly contracted Army ISR program built on the same Global 6500 airframe as N1098L. Defense-trade reporting separately describes Army interest in launching drones from that airframe.

Read this

N1098L Air-Launched Drones

An Army HADES jet made low passes over Orem at 9:16 AM and again at 12:48 PM — about twenty-five minutes after the shooting. Analysts read drop and recovery; no mission order has been released.

Read this

Immediate Aftermath: 10 Minutes After the Shot (12:23–12:33 PM MDT)

The ten minutes from the shot to the hospital doors, second by second, where nearly every enduring dispute in this case is seeded. Every source in the window disagrees with the others.

Read this

Sources

• Investigation file, "N1098L" section, quoting the "drone retrieval training" justification and giving the two maneuvers as 600 ft AGL at 11:47 AM MDT and 335 ft AGL at 12:24 PM MDT — no speaker is named for the quotation.
• Investigation file, same section, elsewhere giving 203 feet and 116 knots for the low passes — an unreconciled internal conflict.
• The Defense Post, "US HADES spy plane," 2025-09-10 — https://thedefensepost.com/2025/09/10/us-hades-spy-plane/amp/
• @TJPHager, disputing that the airframe was built out to launch drones and giving a different crew roster — no URL is cited in the investigation file.

This website's author is @HolonCitizen on X and YouTube/@HolonCitizen. Follow me there.

Interesting

• Researchers claim a policy was taken out on Kirk after he questioned October 7.
• A gag order followed the reportedly halted NCTC foreign-nexus inquiry and a timing conflict.
• The three-ring roster names the halted foreign lead as an unresolved knot.

Related Areas

• Aircraft and flight-tracking analysis
• Drone sightings and drone claims
• Detailed event timeline of September 10

• Campus surveillance and camera coverage
• Cover-up indicators across the case
• Proposed legal reforms and disclosure laws