Flight Tracking Services - Interesting Observations

[DustyBin]

As we have quite a few members who use flight tracking services I thought this could be an interesting thread. If you've seen something interesting or unusual post it here!

(Mods - I presume we're OK to post screenshots?)

I'll start with this Italian Air Force G550 which is an AEW-BM & C (Airborne Early Warning-Battlefield Management & Communication) aircraft which appears to have got lost on it's way to Eastern Europe and is currently flying circuits over the North Sea. Presumably it's training with NATO allies, but I've never seen it over here before.

 

[roversfan2001]

Saw a Jet2 training flight out of Manchester suffer some sort of pressurisation issue (or imitated one, given it was a training flight) over the England/Scotland border this morning - it descended rapidly from cruising altitude to <10,000ft and kept that up until descending again for landing.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If it didn't squawk 7700, it was a very likely planned part of the training.

 

[blackfive460]

Presumably it's training with NATO allies, but I've never seen it over here before.

The Italians along with lots of other air forces are currently in the UK in connection with exercise Cobra Warrior.

 

[DustyBin]

The Italians along with lots of other air forces are currently in the UK in connection with exercise Cobra Warrior.

That explains it, thanks. There was quite a lot of activity this afternoon with F-16s and Typhoons out in force, as well as several aircraft from Draken Europe and even an A-4 from Top Aces.

 

[roversfan2001]

If it didn't squawk 7700, it was a very likely planned part of the training.

It did, that's how I found it - I've got the 7700 squawk alert set up on FlightRadar24.

 

[Huntergreed]

It did, that's how I found it - I've got the 7700 squawk alert set up on FlightRadar24.

Must admit I’m annoyed - I have the Squawk 7700 alert set up yet I missed this one, despite having a very clear view of it from my house!

 

[Domh245]

Ooh, finally a chance for me to ask about this:



Quite why a PA-31 (which I managed to screenshot without the reg, bravo me) was tracing a giant circle centered around North Weald (?) at a constantish 2700ft above London and the home counties at gone 11pm in early January, I don't know. But if anyone could explain, I'd love to hear it!!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ooh, finally a chance for me to ask about this:

View attachment 120475

Quite why a PA-31 (which I managed to screenshot without the reg, bravo me) was tracing a giant circle centered around North Weald (?) at a constantish 2700ft above London and the home counties at gone 11pm in early January, I don't know. But if anyone could explain, I'd love to hear it!!

Calibration of navigational equipment on the ground.

This happens quite regularly at various locations.

It did, that's how I found it - I've got the 7700 squawk alert set up on FlightRadar24.

Hmm... in that case something genuinely did go wrong with it!

 

[Ediswan]

Quite why a PA-31 (which I managed to screenshot without the reg, bravo me) was tracing a giant circle centered around North Weald (?) at a constantish 2700ft above London and the home counties at gone 11pm in early January, I don't know. But if anyone could explain, I'd love to hear it!!

Squawk is 0024, which is listed as "Radar Flight Evaluation/Calibration" http://www.flightradars.eu/squawkcodes.html

The centre could well be Lambourne VOR-DME.

G-FCSL is a PA-31 operated by 'Flight Calibration Services'.

 

[tomuk]

The Italians along with lots of other air forces are currently in the UK in connection with exercise Cobra Warrior.

Also don't forget that the RAF don't have any AEW aircraft at the moment. The E3s have been scrapped or sold to Chile and the 3x replacement E7s are currently in pieces in the big hangar at Birmingham Airport.

 

[Domh245]

Calibration of navigational equipment on the ground.

This happens quite regularly at various locations.

Squawk is 0024, which is listed as "Radar Flight Evaluation/Calibration" http://www.flightradars.eu/squawkcodes.html

The centre could well be Lambourne VOR-DME.

G-FCSL is a PA-31 operated by 'Flight Calibration Services'.

Ah, that makes sense, thanks both.

Not something I'd ever seen before (nor been distracted by whilst trying to fall asleep!) but sure enough flicking through that aircrafts historic data on ADS-B exchange, shows a few more large circles traced out over the UK - including another pass by me a couple of weeks later!!

 

[DarloRich]

as well as several aircraft from Draken Europe and even an A-4 from Top Aces.

that will be aggressor training I assume - you can often see Cobham Aviation Services ( aka Draken) Dassualt Falcon 20's operating out of Teesside into the north sea to do what i assume is electronic countermeasure training/ simulation for air forces. There is one off Scarborough at the moment.

 

[ainsworth74]

that will be aggressor training I assume - you can often see Cobham Aviation Services ( aka Draken) Dassualt Falcon 20's operating out of Teesside into the north sea to do what i assume is electronic countermeasure training/ simulation for air forces.

If the weather conditions are right to produce significant contrails you can sometime see them running their loops. Which can be quite amusing as you an see the track on Flightradar24 matching up exactly with their contrails in the sky in real time.

The E3s have been scrapped or sold to Chile and the 3x replacement E7s are currently in pieces in the big hangar at Birmingham Airport.

Which itself is a shocking state of affairs. No AWACS capability for the RAF and even when we get it back only three airframes rather than the five that were originally ordered. Something that should be reviewed by any sane government in light of the sudden realisation that conventional wars are a still a thing despite the best efforts of the bean counters to try and pretend otherwise. Anyway, I'll step away from the soapbox before dragging us widely off-topic. Sorry

 

[Lost property]

Also don't forget that the RAF don't have any AEW aircraft at the moment. The E3s have been scrapped or sold to Chile and the 3x replacement E7s are currently in pieces in the big hangar at Birmingham Airport.

For which we should be grateful because at least they will be in service relatively soon...in comparison to say the many "extended stays" at a certain airfield in Cambs.

I can understand why people like and enjoy the site in question, but, given the significance of squawk 7700 I find this a bit ghoulish to be waiting for its activation.

 

[Huntergreed]

This private Cessna jet from Brize Norton to Aberdeen almost certainly has a Royal onboard headed up to see the Queen on what sounds like what sadly may be borrowed time:

 

[DaleCooper]

Last week I heard what I at first thought was thunder but when I looked on flightradar24 it was a pair of B52s which had flown from Fairford to Estonia and back. The odd thing is that on the return journey they did a complete circuit of Peterborough. I hope there are no potential targets there.

 

[Loppylugs]

Last week I heard what I at first thought was thunder but when I looked on flightradar24 it was a pair of B52s which had flown from Fairford to Estonia and back. The odd thing is that on the return journey they did a complete circuit of Peterborough. I hope there are no potential targets there.

Flew straight over the top of our house, which is not far from Fairford. Obviously fairly low and very noisy, great sight though.

 

[flymo]

Japan Airlines from Tokyo to London yesterday 10th Sept, JL43, had to hold over NW Scotland at FL370 for about 20 minutes, must have been very early as after holding it still arrived 1 hour early. Interesting following these flights now since they do not fly over Russia but over Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and UK, a much longer flight than it would have been over Russia.
JL43 10 Sept

 

[DarloRich]

Any idea why the King flew on a Luxavaiton plane from Northholt to Edinburgh today rather than an RAF flight?

Also assume the Globemaster circling over the Firth of Forth is a coincidence. There also seems to be a second globemaster en route from Brize Norton to Edinburgh

@ainsworth74 any ideas?

 

[ainsworth74]

Also assume the Globemaster circling over the Firth of Forth is a coincidence. There also seems to be a second globemaster en route from Brize Norton to Edinburgh

@ainsworth74 any ideas?

Dunno the C-17s often get around the UK doing training (they've done touch and goes at Teesside before now!) so it may well be a coincidence. I'm not sure if it's been announced what aircraft the RAF are going to use to bring the Queen back to London but certainly couldn't rule out it being a C-17 but that's a lot of aircraft for a small load unless they're bringing other stuff with them (for instance you could fly the hearse back south if you wanted to for some reason). Then again if you want an impressive conveyance for her final flight the C-17 is probably what you'd choose.

Both do now appear to be on final approach to Edinburgh as the one that was flying loops over the Firth of Forth is heading towards Edinburgh. They are also the number 1 and 2 most watched flights on Flightradar at the moment!

 

[DarloRich]

Dunno the C-17s often get around the UK doing training (they've done touch and goes at Teesside before now!) so it may well be a coincidence. I'm not sure if it's been announced what aircraft the RAF are going to use to bring the Queen back to London but certainly couldn't rule out it being a C-17 but that's a lot of aircraft for a small load unless they're bringing other stuff with them (for instance you could fly the hearse back south if you wanted to for some reason). Then again if you want an impressive conveyance for her final flight the C-17 is probably what you'd choose.

Both do now appear to be on final approach to Edinburgh as the one that was flying loops over the Firth of Forth is heading towards Edinburgh. They are also the number 1 and 2 most watched flights on Flightradar at the moment!

I knew they did training runs into most UK airports but the fact 2 were going into Edinburgh suggested a main and a back up airborne hearse.

I found the hire jet for the king interesting to. Surely we can do better than a jet pop stars use?

 

[ainsworth74]

I found the hire jet for the king interesting to. Surely we can do better than a jet pop stars use?

Possibly a price thing. I believe the Royals have to reimburse the RAF when they use them for transport so possibly the private option was cheaper? Could be that the RAF VIP aircraft were busy as well. There's not many RAF aircraft in VIP config and they're supposed to be prioritised to military use with their VIP stuff being only when not needed doing the day job so possibly there wasn't one available anyway!

 

[DarloRich]

Possibly a price thing. I believe the Royals have to reimburse the RAF when they use them for transport so possibly the private option was cheaper? Could be that the RAF VIP aircraft were busy as well. There's not many RAF aircraft in VIP config and they're supposed to be prioritised to military use with their VIP stuff being only when not needed doing the day job so possibly there wasn't one available anyway!

Noted - although you don't get much more VIP than the King!

 

[Ediswan]

Dunno the C-17s often get around the UK doing training (they've done touch and goes at Teesside before now!) so it may well be a coincidence. I'm not sure if it's been announced what aircraft the RAF are going to use to bring the Queen back to London but certainly couldn't rule out it being a C-17 but that's a lot of aircraft for a small load unless they're bringing other stuff with them (for instance you could fly the hearse back south if you wanted to for some reason). Then again if you want an impressive conveyance for her final flight the C-17 is probably what you'd choose.

WalesOnline reported that 'Operation Overstudy' would have used a C-17 should the Queen have died overseas.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/coded-operations-triggered-queens-death-24970297

Operation Overstudy​

The contingency plan should the Queen have died overseas, when she would have been flown on a C17 RAF plane for repatriation into RAF Brize Norton or Northolt.

 

[ainsworth74]

WalesOnline reported that 'Operation Overstudy' would have used a C-17 should the Queen have died overseas.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/coded-operations-triggered-queens-death-24970297

Interesting! Logical really. The C-17 has got very long legs and you can land and take off with one basically anywhere in the world. Doesn't even need to be a paved runway you can put them down on grass or dirt if you really need to. C-130 is similar capability but shorter legs.

That being said I suspect that pair of C-17s up there that @DarloRich spotted probably are going to be used to fly the Queen back to London. I'm struggling to think of another reason why two would land in Edinburgh right now. I imagine the one that was doing loops over the Firth of Forth was probably on a test flight to make sure all was well and the second is up there as a spare.

 

[DarloRich]

WalesOnline reported that 'Operation Overstudy' would have used a C-17 should the Queen have died overseas.

Interesting! Logical really. The C-17 has got very long legs and you can land and take off with one basically anywhere in the world. Doesn't even need to be a paved runway you can put them down on grass or dirt if you really need to. C-130 is similar capability but shorter legs.

plus you can easily carry the security/ceremonial parties needed to attend to thier various duties as part of the plan.

@ainsworth74 : An RAF Dassault Falcon 900LX ( the shame of using a FRENCH plane!) is ready to leave Edinburgh for Northholt.

seems like all my tracking apps crashed this afternoon. Any idea why?

 

[swt_passenger]

I noticed the recent Edinburgh to Northolt flight completely overwhelmed flightradar’s servers.

 

[Darandio]

I noticed the recent Edinburgh to Northolt flight completely overwhelmed flightradar’s servers.

Thankfully the alternatives out there were working fine!

 

[AlterEgo]

Apparently 5 million people watched the Queen’s final flight yesterday on FR24.