Anyone know what that plane is doing?
Discussion
Dr Jekyll said:
If it's a BN Islander it could be the so called 'Station Flight' from Northolt.
If so, it will be keeping an eye on someone on behalf of Special Branch etc, so discussing it's current activities on the net may not be a good idea.
It was smaller than an Islander and frankly if that's covert then it's crap. It seemed to be about 2000 ft (not that I'm an expert) and was under the normal airport bound traffic.If so, it will be keeping an eye on someone on behalf of Special Branch etc, so discussing it's current activities on the net may not be a good idea.
Eric Mc said:
The Hampshire Police Islander is busy circling Farnborough at the moment. These planes are fitted with infra-red cameras so they may be searching for a missing person. The infra-red camera can pick up the heat signature of a person who may be hidden in undergrowth.
Thanks for that mate but this was definitely NOT an Islander, I've seen them fly tight circles very slowly. This thing was smaller and was very low and fast. It has been sweeping over a large area so it's almost certainly not looking for a missing person. It's gone now, was around for about an hour. This is one of the main routes into Manchester Airport and there is obviously a lot of traffic. I'm far from an expert in aviation but can't imagine it would have got away with larking about for so long. All I know is it was a twin-engined prop and it was black.
It'll have to be a mystery then.
Sounds like it was a private light aircraft of some sort and, as long as he had air traffic permission to do what he was doing, I am sure he was doing nothing too "conspiratorial".
The Islander is still circling overhead here.
Sounds like it was a private light aircraft of some sort and, as long as he had air traffic permission to do what he was doing, I am sure he was doing nothing too "conspiratorial".
The Islander is still circling overhead here.
Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 16th September 17:19
mattviatura said:
It's gone now, was around for about an hour. This is one of the main routes into Manchester Airport and there is obviously a lot of traffic. I'm far from an expert in aviation but can't imagine it would have got away with larking about for so long. All I know is it was a twin-engined prop and it was black.
Yup, it was Cessna sized, twin prop and dark with no livery I could see.We don't have Police planes here as far as I know, or Ambulance so it's a very odd sight indeed, i don't think it was escorting anyone because it kept flitting around.
Hmmmm, weird...
Sounds like the calibrator. They use King-Airs, in a very dark blue scheme. Might have been flight-checking approach aids at Manchester, which can involve snotting down the ILS to 50ft then breaking off at high bank angles and tooling away at low-level to reposition for something else.
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