Saw Mystery B744 over my house Memorial Day

[Speedbird1]

On Memorial Day Monday, I heard an engine roaring at 1240, and looked at what seemed to be a B744 pass over my house at about 3000' alt. just north of Sheepshead Bay. The aircraft appeared to be lost as it was heading towards JFK in an easterly direction. I have seen this before when the VOR 13L approach is in use and the aircraft get confused, especially since the CRI VOR is out-of-service. JFK was departing from 31L. This aircraft is NOT shown on Passur nor Flight Aware, was it a military aircraft?

[megatop412]

Did you see any markings on it, was it all white, etc

[gonzalu]

Other than AF1 there are no official military B747s and AF1 are a pair -200B series. Sounds like JFK may have been on ILS 13L which is highly likely given the track could put the planes over Manhattan and straight across Brooklyn into Queens. Was it bad wx?

[moose135]

Other than AF1 there are no official military B747s and AF1 are a pair -200B series.

Except for the E-4B...

[Speedbird1]

No sir, JFK was not using the ILS 13L on Memorial Day but was on the 31's. Maybe it was a miss from EWR? It definitely looked off-course. Strange this happened on Memorial Day. As a spotter for 35 years, I never saw this before. Strangest part the aircraft is not shown on Passur. Sometimes a LGA arrival has gotten off-course but no 4-engine planes go to LGA. I could not see any markings as the aircraft was backlit by the sun. It definitely was heading towards JFK but they were departing off of 31L. Only tapes from 119.10 would reveal the answer at 1240 local.

[Speedbird1]

I am always learning new things from you guys. If I did see an E-4B on the approach to JFK, it would not appear on Passur or Flight Aware but why was it maneuvering around opposite to departure traffic ? Aviation is so unpredictable.

[727C47]

the E4B is a -200 airframe.