Plane-spotting in comfort

[StonyB]

Great thread!
Have you seen this article about flights that suddenly disappear from tracker sites?

Did this airliner land in the North Sea? No. So what happened? El Reg probes flight tracker site oddity

All is well. Unless you trust everything you see on the internet

www.theregister.com

A very interesting article, thank you - particularly the explanation of IRS/INS drift.

 

[tomorton]

Unusual flight path - and slow.

GJRER is G-JRER, a Tecnam P2006T currently heading SW at 2,000ft at 75 knots just near Banbury. This flight originated just north of Norwich and has wandered SW with a bit of a loop near Corby.

These are surveillance and maritime patrol aircraft despite their limited size. They have a flight endurance of up to 7 hours and can carry an array of sophisticated cameras etc. The high wing configuration gives excellent downward visibility.

The aircraft type, mission capabilities, low altitude, slow speed and lazy course suggest to me this aircraft is tailing a ground vehicle.........

 

[tomorton]

Long time with no updates from me. Apologies, Must be something to do with the end of the clear skies and sunny weather.

Thanks due again to StonyB for the ADS link which has revealed some very interesting flights - more posts on these coming up for sure.

And - breaking news - perhaps I'll post up a new thread on live ships. There's been a lot (too much?) of press coverage recently on strange and alien vessels entering UK waters - could be a fine time for a new thread -
"Ship-spotting from dry land".

Focussing on the Straits of Dover as its only the busiest shipping lane in the world and it belongs to us - well it does, its not the Straits of Calais is it? Should be lots of interesting vessels going to and fro - could be more interesting than you think
(but not as interesting as you hoped......

Stay tuned....

 

[StonyB]

The Goodyear Airship - currently heading westwards:

https://twitter.com/SussexTW

 

[BigDeal]

Cool sight - came almost directly over my house today!

 

[BigDeal]

Meant to say thanks to @StonyB for pointing this out, otherwise would have missed it ! So thanks StonyB !

 

[kevinberry]

I didn’t know there was something like air traffic too. interesting!

 

[StonyB]

This Spitfire LF XVIe RW382( G-PBIX) flying over north Kent and probably heading for Biggin Hill a few minutes ago, was new to me - (by which I mean that it isn't one of the ones that I see flying along the south coast regularly.)

According to Wikipedia it was built in 1945 and delivered to 604 Squadron in 1947, after WWII, so it's ironic that it then flew in the 1969 'Battle of Britain' film. It languished for a few years as a 'Gate Guardian' on various RAF bases before being exported to the US in 1995 and lost in a fatal crash in 1998. The wreckage was returned to the UK to be rebuilt and registered as G-PBIX, flying again in 2013 with Dutch 322 Squadron markings. It was repainted in 2020 with WZ-RR markings from the 309th Fighter Squadron USAAF, as flown by Lieutenant Robert Conner in Italy in 1944.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Supermarine_Spitfires

~

 

[counter_violent]

Pilot praises RAF Lakenheath plane spotter for saving his life

Ian Simpson alerts an airbase after seeing sparks and flames coming from the rear of a jet.

www.bbc.co.uk