Anyone looking at FlightRadar?

[pussycatinfluffyslippers]

There's an A380 supposed to be Heathrow to Dubai (UAE30) currently just north of Wakefield.

Thoughts?

the flight bringing the body of the Queen to London from Edinburgh, when it flew towards its destination there was hardly a plane on the sky over the South of England.

That's because ATC cleared the airspace. They'd been practising it for days. They also had rolling airspace closure over the cortege coming by road from Balmoral to Edinburgh.

What a bizarre and speculative post. There are a huge number of reasons for it to be there.

We regularly watch flight radar on clear days and when we see a plane near us we look for it. We are 20 minutes from Leeds Bradford so planes that are landing/taking off from there are still quite low but we also see planes at 36,000 feet and can tell the difference between them.

US airforce 747 is on its way to Frankfurt, call sign Titan25, which means the US secretary of defence is on board, its a 50 year old plane according to the info, which seems reallly old for such an important aircraft.

God I love the A380.

I live under one of the flight paths and I adore going to bed and waiting for it to fly over en route to Dubai.

It's like a giant, fat moth bumbling overhead ♥️

Perhaps said Sec is going to see how the Air Defender 23 exercise is going and/or to do some schmoozing and PR

Yes, but @Rapunzzel did you cover the mirrors during a storm?
My nan did - not sure it would have saved your lightbulbs, but you never know.

@Chersfrozenface he's going to lose his no claims discount, isn't he?

At least he could swim.🤿

From the accounts in the local media he just waded ashore. If the plane did stall or lose power, it was nicely put down - avoiding buildings and beach but not too far out into the sea.

The main thing that kills old airliners is when the ticket price you can charge won't support the increasing cost of maintaining an old airframe, rather them being clapped out.

The military do things differently, especially if the airframe has some bespoke or special capability that is difficult to replace, so you tend to see some larger military types soldier on for years (e.g. B-52, KC-135).

TBH there's nothing inherently wrong or unsafe with a 50 year old airframe as long as you have the money to maintain them properly, and the US military make sure their 747 variants are very well looked after. They also generally haven't flown a lot of hours compared with the civil 747's that earned their crust with the airlines over the decades.

That said economics does take it's toll eventually and there are a pair of new Air Force Ones on the way (modified 747-8s).......

Flight Rader and Big Jet TV with their live Heathrow landings are fun during high winds. You can see the attempted landings, the turn arounds, the planes stuck in the hold and the diverts, as well as seeing them live on You Tube.

It is interesting watching the holding patterns and how planes join and leave them.

We live near to where the Red Arrows are temporarily based. Have I ever seen them, either practising or going to or from an air show? Course not! We did once spend an enthralling morning on an empty Cyprus beach watching them practise - based at Akrotiri. Best day of young DS’s holiday!

Bad in Barcelona are

Area

I look at it all the time - I am under luton’s (24 hour) flight path

Stupid question maybe but do they put the red arrows on there? Would love to see their pattern when they do a display!!

Yes they do, but they only appear as one aircraft symbol on the screen, not individually.

Oh big jet tv is fun! I spent a whole afternoon once watching the planes trying to land at Heathrow during high winds, the commentator is great!

I live on the Heathrow flight path, I see them circling and turning round as they come into land, I see them take off too. I love it, Flightradar is interesting too see them lining up on the runway.

There are some big planes (A380s with their 4 engines are like the lumbering cousin) and some really interesting livery on some planes. Emirates has an Expo design one, Air Lingus have an Irish rugby team one.

A380s with their 4 engines are like the lumbering cousin

Fun fact about the 380 is that despite appearances it flies down the approach at the same speed as every other medium/large airliner, and at high altitude in the cruise it's actually one of the fastest airliners out there....

Were I used to work we used to have a 777 and 380 departing within maybe an hour of each other on one of our ultra long haul routes. On a typical day the 380 would cover the route in maybe 15-20 minutes less than the 777.

Used to the same for the 747 (well, still is for the few operating)...many people thought that it crawled along but it was as quick as anything else down the approach and it would go like greased weasel do dah once up at altitude.

Anyone spot this one earlier? I'm so addicted!

On holiday recently and was sat on the balcony when this humongous yacht pulled up in front of me. Obviously had to try and work out who it belonged to (would have had my MN stripes removed if I didn't! 😂) and discovered the delight that is Yachtfinder & Vesselfinder. Basically any billionaire worth their salt was hopping around the western med before heading to Monaco for the Grand Prix! Oh, how the other 0.000001% live 🤣

Nobody watching the C-130 farewell tour of the UK that's in progress ATM?

It's operating as Omen1, currently traffic most tracked...

No, forgot about it until I heard the planes, sounded almost overhead. Dashed out into the back garden but missed them although I could still hear them.
End of an era.

I did see some pics of it!