Huge Plane Spotted Over Joliet Area

JOLIET, IL - A large plane was spotted circling the skies of Joliet and Plainfield area late Friday afternoon and flying at incredibly low heights. This went on for at least 30 to 45 minutes. One Patch reader familiar with planes said it was flying barely 1,000 feet above the ground as it flew over thousands of rooftops between Shorewood, Plainfield and Joliet. One local fire department confirmed the suspicions of several Patch readers.

The aircraft was a military cargo plane, a fire official indicated.

It's believed the plane was conducting a training exercise. The plane appeared to be gone from the area by around 5:30 p.m.

Here's what residents had to say about the aircraft online:

• It was huge! Grabbed binoculars and it had Travis written on tail. Could this have been from Travis AFB?
• "C-5 Galaxy Military cargo plane. Probably doing some flight training," one reader commented.
• Another reader wrote: "A Boeing c17 globemaster has been circling the far west side of Joliet near Plainfield for about an hour now. Not sure if its a planned exercise. It's an enormous plane and quite startling to see it flying so low ..."
• Another reader: "What is going with the cargo plane circling the Joliet Shorewood area?"

Patch will update this story if we learn additional information but as of 6 p.m. Friday, it appeared the large aircraft has left the area.

Perhaps it was a mission accomplished.

Main photo taken by Patch reader Kristin Logan, other images and video via John Ferak, Joliet Patch Editor