A thread for plane spotters and Flightradar24 fans!

[Boeing747ILOVEYOU]

Hello fellow plane spotters!

So I thought Trump had stopped flights to and from Europe but there still seem to be quite a few?

Second point.... anyone know why BA Airbus 319 GEUPD flew Heathrow to Bournemouth yesterday?

✈️😍✈️😍✈️

Repatriation flight perhaps?

from twitter: This week 9 Canadians have been repatriated safely
from #Hungary thanks to the great cooperation with #WizzAir,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our small and mighty consular team

Aer Lingus have got another flight en route to Beijing - EI9024 - presumably another one which will be bringing back medical supplies?

I thought Gatwick was closed

No it's not, one of the Terminals is mothballed but they are trying to continue to run things at a fairy low level..

There was a big announcement a few days back about BA closing it's Gatwick operation and I think that got misconstrued by some (including some in the media) as meaning the whole airport was closing.

That makes sense - thanks @notimagain

Is there anyone else who can't see the MN abbreviation STBXH without thinking of BA's B777 with registration G- STBH?

Loving the circling screenshots!

Oops name change cock up

You people... are my family!!!

Whenever I see anything h interesting on FR24 and I tell DH all I get is "yeah, it's a plane darling "

I thought I saw a BA flight going to Lima (presumably a repat flight) earlier. Then I got distracted and now I can't find it. There are some very interesting routes being flown right now and these are repatriation flights.

www.forbes.com/sites/jamesasquith/2020/04/05/airlines-operate-longest-ever-flights-to-repatriate-citizens-melbourne-to-tel-aviv-direct/#6e23bc605cb4

I thought I saw a BA flight going to Lima (presumably a repat flight) earlier.

Quite possibly..BA are have been running /will be certainly running a handful of repat flights between the UK and Peru over the next few weeks.

Big fat RAF plane just went over my street

Nothing on FlighRadar!

Why?

Ooh

Ooh

??

Looks like it's another example of a airborne tanker on one of the published towlines over the North Sea...

PaulHSG..just spotted your previous about something not showing on FR...just to answer that.

The aircraft might have been below flight radar coverage but there are occasions when the military will not be keen on all and sundry knowing what their aircraft are doing, what they are up to.

The tanker you spotted is a case in point - chances are whilst it is sat on it's towline it is being visited by fighters who need to take on fuel, but they may well not show on FR or other tracker apps because the RAF and others don't want the whole world knowing the flight profiles, tactics etc the fighters/fast jets use. For example they may not want the whole world to know how often a Typhoon needs to refuel during an average sortie.

Oh yes! I spotted that one @PaulHollywoodsSexGut@. Took off from Brize Norton so I assumed something military?

oh my god @BIWI and @notimagain love you guys

It was so ace seeing it RIGHT above the house, the kids were in the buggy at the time (socially distanced walk time) and lost their shit, it was magnificent

Something I find quite shocking is the amount of planes flying over the US. It's no wonder they're seeing so many Coronavirus cases! Surely it's time that they stopped internal flying?

Something I find quite shocking is the amount of planes flying over the US. It's no wonder they're seeing so many Coronavirus cases! Surely it's time that they stopped internal flying?

Well it's Trumps trainset, but in any event how many of the aircraft you are seeing them are freighters carrying essential goods.?

To give you some idea of the scale of their freight operations in the US take a look for the likes of FDX going into Memphis, most especially especially overnight - that's a Fedex "superhub".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express

In addition there will also be UPS and DHL flights in large numbers into their hubs...

I love this! One just landing from New York at LHR.

That's a very good point @notimagain! And yes, a lot of those flights clearly are freight.

Reference the US Flights - and I may be speaking out of turn, and this is a subject for our American friends, in the States the whole domestic airline system is regarded a strategic asset, something those in Europe who only think in terms of Easyjet, Ryanair, and all flights being full of holiday makers making frivolous trips are possibly not aware of.

Due to the size of the States and the topography a massive amount of business travel, travel for sales purposes (Shower curtain rings anybody) and commuting is done by air. Watch what goes on around and on the "ramp" at most American airports and in addition to the big stuff flying between the major cities you'll see umpteen little twin props/twin jets heading off on a 100 or 200 mile hop to Ducksbill, Montana or Feeling Good California.

IMHO shutting down the domestic air network in the US would be on a par with closing the Motorways and Rail networks in the UK.

Any idea what this plane is doing? Land survey or something?

It's our friends Ravenair again..

ravenair.co.uk/aerial-survey/