Flight Tracking Services - Interesting Observations

[DustyBin]

Apparently 5 million people watched the Queen’s final flight yesterday on FR24.

That rather eclipses anything I've ever seen!

 

[DarloRich]

I did notice yesterday there was a large NATO exercise over the North sea, Northern England and Scotland. I noticed Italian radar planes, UK & US tankers, American and UK fighters, electronic warfare simulators and aggressor fighters.

Thankfully the alternatives out there were working fine!

Mine weren't!

 

[ainsworth74]

I did notice yesterday there was a large NATO exercise over the North sea, Northern England and Scotland. I noticed Italian radar planes, UK & US tankers, American and UK fighters, electronic warfare simulators and aggressor fighters.

That will be Exercise Cobra Warrior:

Exercise Cobra Warrior, the RAF’s capstone tactical training event is now fully underway.​

_____________________________________________________________

This years iteration includes UK, Italian, German, United States of America and NATO involvement which allows development of interoperability between the NATO members and fine tuning of tactics, techniques and procedures.

The 7th of September saw Mission 2 of the 3-week exercise undertaken which also coincided with a media day being held at RAF Waddington. RAF Waddington delivers the Cobra Warrior training package via the Air Space Warfare Centre and is also hosting the Italian detachment of Eurofighter Typhoons and the German ECR Tornados.

This exercise brings lots of different capabilities together, in turn ensuring that by working together we can be more than the sum of our parts. Things in the Military never happen by accident and we train as we may need to fight in the future.

Group Captain Burton
Deputy Commandant of the Air Space Warfare Centre

The exercise is routinely undertaken twice a year but due to COVID-19 restrictions this month’s event is the first in several years and will pave the way for larger exercises in future.

This is one of the best exercises, not just in Europe, but in the world. It’s an opportunity to integrate with partner nations just to be ready and so we know each other in the best way possible. It’s a very challenging exercise and we are maximising the potential of our jets.

Major Setini
Eurofighter Detachment Lead

The German detachment of six ECR Tornados, which notably bring Suppression of Enemy Air Defence capability to the exercise, is led by Detachment Commander Lieutenant Colonel Köllner.

This is a very important exercise for our crews, we want to prepare with our allies and be able to stand together with the same procedures and thinking. The exercise is very realistic for us, planning together, working together, flying together. It also gives our people a focus, they know what they’re working for and we want to be ready for any situation that may come up.

Lieutenant Colonel Köllner
Detachment Commander

The exercise is also complemented by United States Air Force F-16s, F-15s, F35As and HH-60Gs (combat search and rescue) along with a NATO E-3A Sentry and Italian G550 providing command and control along with UK and Italian refuelling aircraft.

The RAF's capstone tactical training event now fully underway

Exercise Cobra Warrior, the RAF’s capstone tactical training event is now fully underway.

raf.mod.uk

 

[DarloRich]

Assume we will start to see Air Force One type arrivals soon.

That will be Exercise Cobra Warrior:

thanks!

 

[DustyBin]

It's not often you see anything over Ukraine with it's transponder on....

 

[BananaRepublic]

It's not often you see anything over Ukraine with it's transponder on....

Civilian transponder that is….

Note also that….

…most, older a/c types, particularly of Soviet era, will not have a modern civilian transponder type, that FR24 will be able to receive and display.

…there will be very few enthusiasts operating FR24 hobbyists receivers in the war zone.

 

[DaleCooper]

I've just had a look a Flightradar24 and there's a long line of about a dozen Turkish Airlines planes on route from Antalya to Moscow. Is that normal? Perhaps they're picking up people fleeing the draft.

 

[BananaRepublic]

I've just had a look a Flightradar24 and there's a long line of about a dozen Turkish Airlines planes on route from Antalya to Moscow. Is that normal? Perhaps they're picking up people fleeing the draft.

Yes it’s been normal since earlier this year, but not just to and from Antalya.
There has been, what could be called an air bridge, between Moscow and Turkish cities, since the war in Ukraine began and flights between European cities and Russia were suspended.
Turkish airlines have been running loads of these flights daily since then, so it’s not a new thing since the draft began, although additional flights may have been put on.
They tend to route via Eastern Europe, skirting to the west of Ukraine and accessing Russian airspace via Belarus.
Russian airlines have also been routing loads of flights to and from Turkey, via the eastern Black Sea.

Along with flights to and from Gulf cities, these have provided Russia with access to Europe and the rest of the world, while the sanctions and flight bans have been in place.
Notwithstanding that Antalya is a popular holiday gateway destination for the Russians in any case.

.

 

[DustyBin]

An RAF RC-135W is going for a look around over the Black Sea which isn't unusual, but it's taken along a couple of friends. I would imagine it always has company but I've never seen them show up on FR24 myself.



Edit: As if by magic they've now disappeared.... It was a pair of Typhoons, unsurprisingly.

Further Edit: There were rumours that an incident had occurred between an RC-135W recently whereby a missile was fired by an SU-27 "in the vicinity" of the RAF aircraft. This has just been officially confirmed by Ben Wallace in Parliament. This probably explains the very visible Typhoon presence.

 

[ainsworth74]

Further Edit: There were rumours that an incident had occurred between an RC-135W recently whereby a missile was fired by an SU-27 "in the vicinity" of the RAF aircraft. This has just been officially confirmed by Ben Wallace in Parliament. This probably explains the very visible Typhoon presence.

I think we should probably keep further discussion of this, now that it's clear something has actually happened, to the main Russia invades Ukraine thread which can be found here.

 

[DustyBin]

I think we should probably keep further discussion of this, now that it's clear something has actually happened, to the main Russia invades Ukraine thread which can be found here.

Yes I agree it's more pertinent to that discussion (I did post there as well).

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes I agree it's more pertinent to that discussion (I did post there as well).

Indeed, unfortunately some members (not yourself!) cannot contain their enthusiasm to comment on certain subjects so occasionally post without thinking in the wrong place

 

[DustyBin]

I presume this is some kind of glitch, but I've never seen it happen before (not like this anyway). It was rather startling to be honest!



Edit: The whole thing has now gone completely bonkers!

 

[Ted633]

Looks like fr24 has lost the real time position data for the moment, with all the aircraft now showing as going to their destination as the crow flies

 

[DustyBin]

Looks like fr24 has lost the real time position data for the moment, with all the aircraft now showing as going to their destination as the crow flies

Yes, it appears so.

I'd been watching that group of aircraft for a good ten minutes or so by the time I took a screen shot; initially they looked to suddenly peel off and head for Crimea which certainly got my attention (and that of a few thousand other users!). There was an Atlas Air 747 with them at one point too which suddenly disappeared, just to add to the interest....

 

[flymo]

An unusual visitor to Newcastle today was a Saudia 787 bringing the Newcastle United team back from training in Saudi Arabia during the World Cup break. This was also the no.1 tracked flight at the time of landing. Emirates is the usual Middle East visitor to NCL with their flights to Dubai.



SVA3223 track on FR24.

(Image shows the screenshot of a Saudia 787 approaching Newcastle from Riyadh)

 

[DustyBin]

I'm impressed!

 

[jmh59]

Nothing particularly unusual about this one that flew past my window on the 9th except it buzzed around Leeds Bradford and over the house several times, then a path which took it over Durham, then buzzed Newcastle. This path took it directly over where all of our immediate family either lives or works! I reckon they know something I didn't tell them...

 

[DustyBin]

More artistry, with a lot of people tracking the flight for some reason!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

...and right now, one of the kids' Lapland treats charters is just approaching Heathrow.

Neat flight number from BA...

 

[gabrielhj07]

An interesting sight on FR24’s Facebook. This flight will land the year before it left!

 

[DustyBin]

C-17s.... Lots of them!

 

[flymo]

https://www.flightradar24.com/GTI747/2f0b1162

The last B747-800 is on delivery and the pilots have written a special message with their routeing today.

On delivery to Atlas Air.

 

[Strathclyder]

https://www.flightradar24.com/GTI747/2f0b1162

The last B747-800 is on delivery and the pilots have written a special message with their routeing today.View attachment 128117

On delivery to Atlas Air.

Nice touch.

Presumably this was one of the most watched flights that day.

 

[Bald Rick]

I suspect the SVR (Russian foreign intelligence) were watching a certain flight into Stansted this morning, and watching closely for any further unusual movements!

 

[DustyBin]

I'm not sure what these lot are, but I strongly suspect the leader isn't actually a Swiss 777! (For info their callsigns are LX41-LX44, they were travelling at circa 500kts @ circa 12,000ft).

 

[Bigchris]

I'm not sure what these lot are, but I strongly suspect the leader isn't actually a Swiss 777! (For info their callsigns are LX41-LX44, they were travelling at circa 500kts @ circa 12,000ft).

View attachment 130611

They were 4x Finnish F18s out of RAF Waddington on Exercise Cobra Warrior. Callsigns were Lynx 41-44, they flew over our house in North Lincs very low on their way back, still flying as a lead pair and then 2 individuals very close behind

 

[DustyBin]

They were 4x Finnish F18s out of RAF Waddington on Exercise Cobra Warrior. Callsigns were Lynx 41-44, they flew over our house in North Lincs very low on their way back, still flying as a lead pair and then 2 individuals very close behind

Thanks for the info. I presumed they were non-RAF (or USAF) fighter jets but had no idea what exactly!

 

[Bigchris]

Thanks for the info. I presumed they were non-RAF (or USAF) fighter jets but had no idea what exactly!

No worries, I'll see if I can find the rest of the callsigns for the other participants this week.

 

[Cloud Strife]

This is a bit of a strange one. Why are Antalya-Moscow flights taking this odd routing? They could enter Belarusian air space much earlier, and the entire routing seems to be quite strange.