Plane Spotters / Flight Radar Thread

[Chris Wilson]

Thats clear Thanks....



Sleap's close to RAF Shawbury which is great for helicopter fans....

One thing I've found is there are a few of these little jet planes mostly in USA (East Coast).... Don't recognise the silhouette. Would upload a pic (from screenshot) but can't seem to do it here ?

Thanks

I must see or hear 20 helicopters a day go over here, some are obviously military (I mean, are there any of those two rotor heterodyning things in private ownership?), but a few are private like the JCB one. I am not really into aerpolanes, having spenst years directly under Ringway's (Manchester International Airoprt's) main flight path, they became unoticed and like the pigeons and sparrows, merely "there". But I would like to ID some of propellor driven wonders that screw through the air with a thunderous resonating beat.

 

[Penfold101]

I must see or hear 20 helicopters a day go over here, some are obviously military (I mean, are there any of those two rotor heterodyning things in private ownership?), but a few are private like the JCB one. I am not really into aerpolanes, having spenst years directly under Ringway's (Manchester International Airoprt's) main flight path, they became unoticed and like the pigeons and sparrows, merely "there". But I would like to ID some of propellor driven wonders that screw through the air with a thunderous resonating beat.

If you mean the mighty sound of the Chinook, then no - there aren't any privately owned in this country. British Airways used to use them to fly people out to oil rigs many years ago, but the only ones non-military that I know of now are some fire-fighting ones in America.

British Airways Helicopters - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Rroff]

One thing I've found is there are a few of these little jet planes mostly in USA (East Coast).... Don't recognise the silhouette. Would upload a pic (from screenshot) but can't seem to do it here ?

How little? there seems to be a plethora of smaller private jets like the Bombardier Challenger 300 and 600 series and so on and an increase in private ownership of smaller fighter and civilian jets like various older training models Northrop T-38, Hawker Hunters, L39 Albatross, etc.

 

[Rroff]

If you mean the mighty sound of the Chinook, then no - there aren't any privately owned in this country.

There is one I see flying in and out of Henstridge Airfield from time to time which definitely isn't military - I don't know much about it though may be owned by someone like Draken Europe - but it isn't marked up like RAF or Army Air normally is.

Unfortunately never caught it on FR24, etc. to see what it is.

 

[Penfold101]

There is one I see flying in and out of Henstridge Airfield from time to time which definitely isn't military - I don't know much about it though may be owned by someone like Draken Europe - but it isn't marked up like RAF or Army Air normally is.

Unfortunately never caught it on FR24, etc. to see what it is.

I stand to be corrected, but I've never known any to be flown by private company in the UK. There are squadrons in the RAF and USAF who operate 'unmarked' ones as it were, the American ones in particular are painted black and have so much extra kit dripping off them you'd struggle to see the Chinook outline. They'd also be a ridiculously expensive way to transport people around with maintenance costs etc

 

[Rroff]

I stand to be corrected, but I've never known any to be flown by private company in the UK. There are squadrons in the RAF and USAF who operate 'unmarked' ones as it were, the American ones in particular are painted black and have so much extra kit dripping off them you'd struggle to see the Chinook outline. They'd also be a ridiculously expensive way to transport people around with maintenance costs etc

Unfortunately I don't know much about it - but it has no military markings and no military gear externally - has that "decommissioned" look and isn't operated by people who look like military - however beyond that I really couldn't say - there are several companies who use the airfield from time to time who provide services to the military and defence industry so might be one of those.

 

[Penfold101]

Unfortunately I don't know much about it - but it has no military markings and no military gear externally - has that "decommissioned" look and isn't operated by people who look like military - however beyond that I really couldn't say - there are several companies who use the airfield from time to time who provide services to the military and defence industry so might be one of those.

Unless they were popping in for a refuel during a post-maintenance test flight after paint strip as the depth facility isn't too far away from there - I could easily be wrong but in the 5 years I spent on them as an engineer I never heard of any civilian ones in the UK. Could easily be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time!

 

[Rroff]

Unless they were popping in for a refuel during a post-maintenance test flight after paint strip as the depth facility isn't too far away from there - I could easily be wrong but in the 5 years I spent on them as an engineer I never heard of any civilian ones in the UK. Could easily be wrong though, wouldn't be the first time!

Actually that would make sense if it was maintenance related - I don't know where they are from or going to but they do the same flight coming in low parallel with the A357 every 3-4 months and are stripped down decommissioned looking and there is a bunch of that stuff in the area around Blandford, etc. plus Yeovilton.

 

[Penfold101]

Actually that would make sense if it was maintenance related - I don't know where they are from or going to but they do the same flight coming in low parallel with the A357 every 3-4 months and are stripped down decommissioned looking and there is a bunch of that stuff in the area around Blandford, etc. plus Yeovilton.

Sounds plausible then - they're maintained near Gosport and the test flights will be done by Boeing crews who wear blue flying suits so don't look military in the slightest...

 

[Viper10]

How little? there seems to be a plethora of smaller private jets like the Bombardier Challenger 300 and 600 series and so on and an increase in private ownership of smaller fighter and civilian jets like various older training models Northrop T-38, Hawker Hunters, L39 Albatross, etc.

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

Looks almost like a Harrier not sure ?

 

[Rroff]

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live

ADS-B Exchange - track aircraft live - aircraft flight history

globe.adsbexchange.com

Looks almost like a Harrier not sure ?

Second one is almost certainly P8-Poseidon. Not sure on the first.

EDIT: On a related note been a huge amount of maritime patrol activity off the east and west US coasts, North Sea, Baltics, etc. over the last 24 hours or so - I suspect concerning Russian submarine movements.

 

[Penfold101]

Second one is almost certainly P8-Poseidon. Not sure on the first.

It's a Naval drone - 44,000ft is a little high for a Poseidon...

Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24

The world’s most popular flight tracker. Track planes in real-time on our flight tracker map and get up-to-date flight status & airport information.

www.flightradar24.com

 

[Rroff]

It's a Naval drone - 44,000ft is a little high for a Poseidon...

Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map | Flightradar24

The world’s most popular flight tracker. Track planes in real-time on our flight tracker map and get up-to-date flight status & airport information.

www.flightradar24.com

Google says Triton UAV - AE6 is usually Poseidons - didn't look at the altitude.

EDIT: Flight Radar 24 does identify it as Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton.

 

[Penfold101]

Google says Triton UAV - AE6 is usually Poseidons - didn't look at the altitude.

EDIT: Flight Radar 24 does identify it as Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton.

I spent 8 years as an engineer on Nimrods - occasionally they'd do some mission stuff with us on board when we were going somewhere and that was usually about 200ft or so. Much more fun than 40,000!

 

[Viper10]

Second one is almost certainly P8-Poseidon. Not sure on the first.

EDIT: On a related note been a huge amount of maritime patrol activity off the east and west US coasts, North Sea, Baltics, etc. over the last 24 hours or so - I suspect concerning Russian submarine movements.

Aah ok that's where they seem to be....

Google says Triton UAV - AE6 is usually Poseidons - didn't look at the altitude.

EDIT: Flight Radar 24 does identify it as Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton.

Some seem to have 'tight search' patterns that might make sense if they're drones

 

[Blueball]

I spent 8 years as an engineer on Nimrods - occasionally they'd do some mission stuff with us on board when we were going somewhere and that was usually about 200ft or so. Much more fun than 40,000!

I was on Buccaneers, we used to fly underneath you

PS Cheers for the SURPIC/VASTAC.

 

[Penfold101]

I was on Buccaneers, we used to fly underneath you

PS Cheers for the SURPIC/VASTAC.

It's not my fault you didn't have enough lift to get any higher...

 

[Blueball]

It's not my fault you didn't have enough lift to get any higher...

Quality response

Were you at Mawgan or Kinloss?

 

[Rroff]

Aah ok that's where they seem to be....





Some seem to have 'tight search' patterns that might make sense if they're drones

ADS-B exchange has some aircraft which Flight Radar 24 doesn't - but often FR24 has more information about what something is or you can Google the hex code (ICAO) and it will often show historic flights with the aircraft identified for instance "AE625D ICAO".

 

[Penfold101]

Quality response

Were you at Mawgan or Kinloss?

Kinloss - 2002 - 2009. Epic first posting for an airframes bloke!