Plane Spotters Corner

[Halcyon]

There have been a few diverts in to East Midlands due to this.

Good that there are no injuries.

[RB2004]

Glad nobody was hurt but none the less probably should not have happened in first place so maintenance is questionable

A shiny new BA world cargo 747-800 flew overhead today at low altitude, was bound for Hong Kong via Dubai.

Could see all 4 engines clearly on it, noticed a few 747 flying low over here recently... Never used to.

[Halcyon]

Where abouts are you?
There were a few last week taking Formula1 gear out overseas from EMA.

[Hom3r]

I would have loved seeing this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19678455

The final ever flight of a Nasa space shuttle is taking place over California, as Endeavour takes a piggy-back tour of 20 of the state's landmarks.
A modified Boeing 747 has flown the shuttle, the youngest of the fleet, past San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the Nasa Ames facility in Palo Alto.

[RB2004]

I'm in Essex, near tilbury docks.
So not far from the Thames estuary.

First 747 I saw low flying round here was a Qantas 747 one night, then other week a Cathay Pacific, and today a BA world Cargo 747-800. So flight routes must of been changed by ATC.

Lol I have the plane finder app on my phone so whenever a plane flies over I see what it is.

Normally Ryanair mainly who fly over here.



Bit dull as it was taken on my phone and a grey day out there today lol but you can get an idea how low it was.

[Uncle Peter]

Originally Posted by RB2004

I'm in Essex, near tilbury docks.
So not far from the Thames estuary.

Sounds like a Lambourne SID (Standard Instrument Departure) out of Gatwick. That's a departure to the North. What direction are the aircraft flying in?

[RB2004]

They fly down towards here in a south eastern direction then shortly after here they seem to turn easterly almost following the Thames out to the channel and across to Europe.

All reasonably low altitude about 5000-8000ft.

Only seen them directing 747s so far along that route.

Ryanair come over here regularly but they just head south east and continue on that route... But they are always at higher altitudes.

Shame they don't send A380 down here lol they direct them along past clacton over Chelmsford more.

[Uncle Peter]

Originally Posted by RB2004

They fly down towards here in a south eastern direction then shortly after here they seem to turn easterly almost following the Thames out to the channel and across to Europe.

All reasonably low altitude about 5000-8000ft.

Only seen them directing 747s so far along that route.

Ryanair come over here regularly but they just head south east and continue on that route... But they are always at higher altitudes.

Shame they don't send A380 down here lol they direct them along past clacton over Chelmsford more.

Those Ryanairs are probably out of Luton and since you have a few upper airspace routes around your manor that diverge over the Lambourne VOR you would expect to see a fair bit of traffic.

The jumbos are probably non-standard departures out of Heathrow if they are routing South East and they probably turn towards a waypoint called KOPUL (a GPS fix just NE of the Isle of Sheppey). Departures to the SE from Heathrow usually route via Detling and Dover on a track well South of your location.

BTW you might see the A380 at high altitude over your place. Have you thought about getting a Radarbox or SBS to keep a track in realtime?

[RB2004]

Yep I think they are from Luton, interestingly though most over here are mainly Ryanair rather than other airlines.

Haven't seen an A380 over here yet, possible I've missed them but like you say departing they go further south and arriving they come in further north over Chelmsford way.

The Qantas and Cathay pacific were probably Heathrow, BA one though I just checked the flight tracker ad it said
Stansted.

Hadn't thought about getting one, may well do one day though as that kinda thing interests me lol also like to get a radio receiver.

At the moment just using a few phone apps,





A bit empty compared to daytime lol because Heathrow runway is closed for a few hours this time of night.

Really dead around 2-3am barely anything up there.

[Kymmy]

A microADSB is cheap (the usb version with case and mobile antenna I got for only €75 and the newer ethernet verion is only €120 depending on if you want a case or not)

Couple that with planeplotter and it's a great tool for civil and military (a lot of the other apps that gets their data online only do not do military)

[RB2004]

Another one just flew over, BA 747-800

Lol strange flight plan.. Quite long







---------- Post added at 07:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Kymmy

A microADSB is cheap (the usb version with case and mobile antenna I got for only €75 and the newer ethernet verion is only €120 depending on if you want a case or not)

Couple that with planeplotter and it's a great tool for civil and military (a lot of the other apps that gets their data online only do not do military)

Thanks will take a look.

As you say most don't do military.

Surprised you can pick them up for security reasons.

[Hom3r]

what is the phone app?

[Uncle Peter]

Anyone thinking of visiting Bhutan?

You best take some spare pantaloons for the landing

http://youtu.be/YsZqN-uEgQU

[RB2004]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

what is the phone app?

It's just called plane finder

http://planefinder.net/mobile.php

Great little app lol

There's another one I use as well, great for tracking current aircraft position and flight history. Currently I'm tracking entire Singapore airlines a380 fleet.. Tells me which are in flight which are landed.

"FlightAware"

But flight aware isn't so great for real time traffic movements in current location. I prefer plane finder for that.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by RB2004

As you say most don't do military.

Surprised you can pick them up for security reasons.

Most also don;t do in real time and have anywhere from a 10 secend to 2 minute delay in them..

If you have a ADSB receiver then Planeplotter (only available on a PC) is the best as it offers a lot of feautures the others do not, like using ground stations and/or radar pings to map positionless aircraft, Sky view which shows the aircraft in relation to your eyes and it's cockpit view is great for seeing through Google earth from the planes position/course (followed an friends aircraft from Gatwick to Malta using this view once )

As for Military they just about all carry ADSB but don't always use it or have it transmitting positionless as in the EU only passenger aircraft have to have ADSB (US is even more lax atm but I believe they are playing catchup with the rules)