Rare Visitor: Phoenix Air Gulfstream III N163PA "Ebola Plane" ABCS Aircraft Stops at Curaçao
A Gulfstream III in a grey livery more usually found on military aircraft made for an unusual visitor to Curaçao on July 9th: N163PA, operated by Georgia-based Phoenix Air, arriving from Cartersville (QQV/KVPC).
N163PA is particularly noteworthy, being one of two able to employ the Aeromedical Biological Containment System (ABCS), a system certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Defence (DoD) and the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
Similarly-equipped Gulfstream III N173PA was famously used with ABCS in 2014 to evacuate 2 US citizens from Liberia who had contracted Ebola while working in Africa. In total, the 2 Gulfstreams flew more than 40 Ebola evacuation flights from Africa to the US and Europe between August 2014 and March 2015, earning the moniker “Ebola plane” or “Ebola Gray”.
In 2018-2020 Phoenix Air deployed both aircraft to East Africa, supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) and CDC for the Kivu Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The two jets would subsequently be employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with N163PA deploying in March 2020 to Bhutan in order to evacuate that country’s first confirmed case of the disease, a 76-year old American citizen.
N163PA and N173PA were in Africa once again in May 2026, flying to Entebbe, Uganda to evacuate an American medical missionary who had tested positive for Ebola and several high-risk contacts from the DRC.
When not in use for their high-profile medical mission, both aircraft remain configured and available for more benign private charter flights.
N163PA departed Curaçao for Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia (NGU/KNGU) at 4:25pm. The aircraft’s destination suggests the possible medical evacuation of a US service member.
Built in 1979, it began life as a Gulfstream company test and demonstration aircraft. Purchased by the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) in 1982 and given the serial F-249, it was modified into a special mission aircraft tasked with maritime patrol In Greenland and over the North Sea. It was sold to Phoenix Air group in 2005.
© 2026 Patrick Lalande. All rights reserved.
