Interesting Aircraft

[Terry]

Hi again,
             Just found the answer to my question,the craft has been sending the wrong mode-s signal,wether or not on purpose is another matter.


                                        Regards Terry.
                                      

[CAM]

Picked up ZE432 Today A BAC 111, the photo in RB shows the 111 with ETPS written on the side anyone any idea what this aircraft is used for ?

[Terry]

Hi there,
             yes it stands for Empire Test Pilots School.

                              regards Terry.

[Terry]

Here`s one i picked up yesterday,
                                                  Its a lovely old bird,A179EC-N1944A,Douglas Dakota DC3,the U.S.model with BBMF stripes on it,Superb............

[testmonkey]

Here`s one i picked up yesterday,
                                                  Its a lovely old bird,A179EC-N1944A,Douglas Dakota DC3,the U.S.model with BBMF stripes on it,Superb............

Ahh, the Dakota. My wife booked me a seat on G-AMPY on it's last day of passenger operations in July. Living only a few miles from Coventry I regularly get to see it (and G-AMRA) flying overhead and Atlantique's DC6. The Elektra's are in and out almost every night performing freight operations as well.

I breifly saw an old Polish Air Force MiG on the network flying over Greece last night but it timed out before I could get any details. Did anyone else notice it?

[Terry]

How lucky you are,
                            I`m not too far away from you to the south about 20 miles and i do see them coming over now and again.I caught G-AMRA on the 30-9th,and caught g-ampy on the 27-8th,beautiful birds.Ihave a very soft spot for all DC3s because my father was in the 1st.Airbourne Division during the war and used to jump from them so hence if i see one i stop dead and look in awe.

                               Regards Terry.

[Terry]

Hi Again,
             I have a Greek Mil Mig in My Log but it conflicts as it states East German Air Force-4681E4-484,This may be the one,but i`m not sure,maybe someone else caught it and can confirm the details.

                                       Regards Terry.

[DaveReid]

I have a Greek Mil Mig in My Log but it conflicts as it states East German Air Force-4681E4-484,This may be the one,but i`m not sure,maybe someone else caught it and can confirm the details.

That code belongs to a Greek Air Force Embraer ERJ-135.

[Terry]

Hi Dave,
             Thanks for the correction,maybe GAS has tried to match the nearest aircraft in its database,but never mind,appologies Testmonkey.

                        Regards Terry.

[testmonkey]

Don't think that's the one Terry.

I saw it on the network and double clicked on it to find it's location and it was definitely over central Greece and showing as Polish Air Force. I've just done a quick check on the web and looked through my Photo folder and can confirm it was a MiG-17, registration 418. Almost as soon as I'd clicked on it it timed out though and I wasn't able to capture the ModeS code.

[DaveReid]

Don't think that's the one Terry.

I saw it on the network and double clicked on it to find it's location and it was definitely over central Greece and showing as Polish Air Force. I've just done a quick check on the web and looked through my Photo folder and can confirm it was a MiG-17, registration 418. Almost as soon as I'd clicked on it it timed out though and I wasn't able to capture the ModeS code.

The Polish Air Force must be in a bad way if it's still flying 50-year-old fighters ...

[testmonkey]

Must admit it did take me by surprise a little when I first saw it!

Anyway, done another search for info and it's a Poland Air Force PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (MiG-17F). The photo was taken on June 24th 2007 at Florennes (EBFS) Belgium when the plane was there taking part in celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the base.

I can only assume it was on its way to a display somewhere in Greece or the surrounding area. Either that or it really is tough times for the Polish Air Force and I spotted it just before the missile hit :)
 

[DaveReid]

Must admit it did take me by surprise a little when I first saw it!

Anyway, done another search for info and it's a Poland Air Force PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (MiG-17F). The photo was taken on June 24th 2007 at Florennes (EBFS) Belgium when the plane was there taking part in celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the base.

I can only assume it was on its way to a display somewhere in Greece or the surrounding area. Either that or it really is tough times for the Polish Air Force and I spotted it just before the missile hit :)
 

I think you will find that this is a preserved, non-airworthy Lim-5.  It usually lives in the Armed Forces Museum in Brussels:

http://milair.info/Picbase/v/Dbase/Europe/Poland/AirForce/Mig-17/418.jpg.html

[testmonkey]

I think you will find that this is a preserved, non-airworthy Lim-5.  It usually lives in the Armed Forces Museum in Brussels:

http://milair.info/Picbase/v/Dbase/Europe/Poland/AirForce/Mig-17/418.jpg.html

Well that photo was taken in December 2006 Dave and the one on airliners.net was June 2007. It looks airworthy in the 2007 photo although it could have been on static display. Either it's been returned to the air, another aircraft also has the serial 418 on it, the database is wrong or the aircraft that appeared on the network was sending an incorrect ModeS. The last 2 scenarios being the most probable explanation.

As I said it did seem a little out of place at the time.

[DaveReid]

Either it's been returned to the air, another aircraft also has the serial 418 on it, the database is wrong or the aircraft that appeared on the network was sending an incorrect ModeS. The last 2 scenarios being the most probable explanation.

Yes, I think you're right, it sounds like a database mis-match.

Looking at the photo on airliners.net, I would expect it was roaded to Florennes for temporary display at the TLP.  There are a few clues in the photo to indicate that it hasn't joined the very few remaining flyable Mig-17s (lots of corroded fasteners, for example).

It's a shame you didn't get a Mode S code so we could positively ID what you saw on the screen.