Civilian Hercules?
Discussion
Was out walking in the Peak District today, spotted a 4 engined turboprop flying over. By the time I found my binoculars it was a long way off, but it looked like a Hercules (for some reason I thought it was a Belfast at first, but doubt there are any left) in the old white/grey/blue flash livery. Unlikely, so are there any civilian C-130’s around with a similar light coloured finish?
A particularly knowledgable friend of mine had this to say to this (he's not on PH!):
There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
mikeiow said:
A particularly knowledgable friend of mine had this to say to this (he's not on PH!):
There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
Looking at the playback on Flightradar the AN-12 above was heading North West skirting the edge of the Peak District and went over Chesterfield and then turned East at Hathersage at approx 12.40pm. Not sure if that ties in with when you saw the plane.There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
A Belfast flew my helicopter over to Mexico from the UK and lost an engine on the way!
They use Speys (I seem to recall) so had to fly a specialist over from the UK to fix it.
I watched it land, well technically a crash, and these 2 old boys got out who had been flying them for years and I just hoped I would be as cool as them at that age!
Great to look around them but this was back in 2002 so the aircraft is probably long since retired!
They use Speys (I seem to recall) so had to fly a specialist over from the UK to fix it.
I watched it land, well technically a crash, and these 2 old boys got out who had been flying them for years and I just hoped I would be as cool as them at that age!
Great to look around them but this was back in 2002 so the aircraft is probably long since retired!
towser44 said:
mikeiow said:
A particularly knowledgable friend of mine had this to say to this (he's not on PH!):
There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
Looking at the playback on Flightradar the AN-12 above was heading North West skirting the edge of the Peak District and went over Chesterfield and then turned East at Hathersage at approx 12.40pm. Not sure if that ties in with when you saw the plane.There are no Belfasts left, only ever built 12 and they're long retired.
Antonov An-12 is a good shout as there have been a couple flying into Doncaster lately carting freight about.
One is orange, but the other is white and grey, much like the old RAF transport command livery.
Key giveaway is that they smoke like mad.
RAF and USAF Hercules are fairly common but usually dark grey or green.
Apparantly this one went over Chesterfield into Donny this afternoon: https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8770960
No smoke from the engines, but maybe little throttle if it was descending?
Thanks - that’s sorted that out.
Dr Jekyll said:
There is a civilian variant of the Hercules (the L100) but they are rarely seen in the UK. I think the CAA won't let them on the UK register.
They used to be quite common here. You are correct, they won't let them be registered in the UK (due to fire bottle issues and emergency exit issues), but many have been based here with foreign registrations.Lyndon air cargo (out of Anchorage) used to do a lot a mail work for the US forces around Europe, and were in and out of Stansted several times a day.
Air contractors were based at Stansted using leased SAFAIR L100's with Irish registrations (head office in Dublin) to do anti pollution work after Air Atlantique stopped doing it. These aircraft used to support the Dakar rally as well.
eccles said:
They used to be quite common here. You are correct, they won't let them be registered in the UK (due to fire bottle issues and emergency exit issues), but many have been based here with foreign registrations.
Indeed there are a number of civilian operators of the C-130 worldwide.The primary issue with UK registration (or lack of) lies with the fire bottles (engine fire extinguishant). On C-130 there are 2 fire bottles containing BCF; UK regulations for commercial aircraft on the civil register require one fire bottle per engine.
eccles said:
Air contractors were based at Stansted using leased SAFAIR L100's with Irish registrations (head office in Dublin) to do anti pollution work after Air Atlantique stopped doing it. These aircraft used to support the Dakar rally as well.
One used to be based permanently at East Midlands Airport, I think, for anti-pollution work, until about 2 years ago.
andy97 said:
eccles said:
Air contractors were based at Stansted using leased SAFAIR L100's with Irish registrations (head office in Dublin) to do anti pollution work after Air Atlantique stopped doing it. These aircraft used to support the Dakar rally as well.
One used to be based permanently at East Midlands Airport, I think, for anti-pollution work, until about 2 years ago.Fluffsri said:
andy97 said:
eccles said:
Air contractors were based at Stansted using leased SAFAIR L100's with Irish registrations (head office in Dublin) to do anti pollution work after Air Atlantique stopped doing it. These aircraft used to support the Dakar rally as well.
One used to be based permanently at East Midlands Airport, I think, for anti-pollution work, until about 2 years ago.Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff