Well It was nice while it lasted

[Big Frank]

I SURVIVED THE NIGHT.

Shortly after I posted the copter went back to Dobbins.  If I had to guess some brass, or maybe just a pilot type, was doing flybys of their house, or perspective house.

HOWEVER, shortly after that a SIKORSKY UH-60 Black Hawk took off from Dobbins and practice touch and goes for an hour.  ?   Really?  Is that a thing?  Touch and Goes for a helicopter? 

What's really fascinating to watch are when the USNavy Drones are on-station at 55,000' over the eastern Med.  I wonder a) Why they turn on the ADS transponder at all, except as a warning to the bad guys who undoubtly are monitoring ADS-B,  b) How many are out there without their transponder on?

FYI, most all the fighters & bombers are tagged by USAF as T-38s so you don't know what they really are.  (Cargo and refueling planes have their real model numbers, usually.)  However by watching their flight patterns you can sometimes discern what they are.   A guy noticed a "T-38" light up on his nearby Air Base and he monitor the tower saying, "xxxx, hold for runway sweep" (That's involves 1 or 2 vehicles going down the runway and pick up any debris less it be sucked into the engines.)  About the only plane still flying these days requiring a runway sweep is a B1-B.   He quickly grabbed a camera and went to his favorite plane watching site.  Sure enough about 20 minutes later he got a picture of a B1-B on takeoff.

Yep. As others have stated. That's a thing. When I was stationed in Germany there were Hueys and Cobras doing touch and go landings down the block from me at the current Illesheim Army Heliport. I walked past the airstrip every day to get to the mess hall. I still remember the tanker trucks painted with the warning, no smoking within 16 meters, 50 feet. The copters would fly in just like fixed-wing craft, let the skids hit the runway rocking them forward, and take off again. It reminds me of videos of planes missing the arrestor cable on aircraft carriers. I think they did that several times before they practiced landing by autorotation to simulate an engine failure. The army had to be prepared for anything. They got a bunch of AH-64 Apaches there in 2019. No Cobras in the army since 2001, but the marines still use the AH-1Z Viper, based on the AH-1W SuperCobra, a twin-engined version of the single-engined AH-1 Cobra the army had since the '60s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illesheim_Army_Heliport



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-Dz4eV-RU

[alfsauve]

I checked with the Elf’s Area Director and Santa’s sleigh does has an ADS-B beacon.  So come Christmas Eve we can track the jolly man directly.

 As ADS becomes more tried and tested NORAD’s mission may focus on looking for a/c without ADS and to watch for a/c whose ADS GPS doesn’t match their observational data.

A/C and commercial ships are now tracked.  Golf Carts on some courses. Some truck lines are as well.  How long before ADS or AIS systems will be mandatory on all vehicles?  Cars?  yachts?  Bass boats? ATVs?

I was a classmate of Bob Bruninga who invented APRS, Auto Position Reporting, oh what have you wrought Bob?

[Big Frank]

Speaking of tracking, I saw this from Strike Industries last week, Strike AirTag Holder (Picatinny) -- $11.95.

The Strike AirTag Holder keeps your Apple AirTag safely inside and securely. Using the AirTag, track the location of your weapon if lost, even if it’s just buried in the back of your safe. While traveling with your weapon or on your next hunt, use this AirTag holder to know where you stuff is at. Fully enclosed in the Strike Holder and securely locked in with the SI unique anti-theft set screw. Included is the security tool required for installation and removal of the set screw. This holder mounts directly to just about every 1913 Picatinny rail as long as there is enough space. Made from high-strength and lightweight polymer, The Strike AirTag Holder helps you keep track of your precious stuff.

I thought about getting one and sticking a AirTag somewhere within the body and frame of my ATV. It's been awhile since I've had one stolen, but had a total or 4 Polaris ATVs stolen from my driveway. Only one was recovered, on the east side of town and I live on the west, and it was stolen again. Now I have a Sportsman 570 with power steering and it's better than any ATV I had before. They were all stolen after a bunch of black people from the north end of Flint started going to the church by my house. Since nothing has been stolen lately, one of my friends asked me just the other day if the church across the street was still open. Well, I don't know where they all went, but I assume they found somewhere to go in the north end. I was tempted to say where they belong, but that would sound racist. I have black neighbors, but they come over here and steal everything like the evil churchgoers.

https://www.strikeindustries.com/si-iholder.html

[Rastus]

<snip>... It's been awhile since I've had one stolen, but had a total or 4 Polaris ATVs stolen from my driveway. <snip>

Somebody did you a favor...

[alfsauve]

I didn't get do too much plane spotting over Christmas but I did catch this humorous call sign today.

It's a C5 with the call sign UHAUL.

[Sponsor]

[Rastus]

A sense of humor....I bet it won't go unpunished very long.

[alfsauve]

A sense of humor....I bet it won't go unpunished very long.

I was part of the Category II test team for the C5A at Edwards AFB back in the day.  We all called the C5, when it was new, Fat Albert.  Cosby had just introduced the character on his Kids TV show at the time (1969).  Some one even had a cassette tape of the TV shows music, which would occasionally out over the office or hanger PA system <looking up and whistling>.   While we couldn't get FA stickers we did get some Arkansas Razorback ones and we put a big one on our two test planes as nose art.  They lasted all of about 5 days when the top brass brought some VIPs out to the ramp for a tour of the plane.  The Crew Chiefs got their behinds busted.  A while after that airmen started using the term FRED for the C5.  I mean who could object to Fred? 



F'king Ridiculous Economic Diaster.


The name has stuck and is still in use. 
 

Side Note:  It wasn't too long after the we got chewed out for the razorback and for using the moniker Fat Albert that the Navy Blue Angles started using a C-130 for their support aircraft.  Wanna guess what they call it?  I still hold a grudge against the Blue Angles for stealing the name.

[Rastus]

I remember there were many issues with the Galaxy.  Some quite critical.  Is it still in the inventory?

[alfsauve]

There are about 50 C5M models flying see screen shot from ADS-B tracking.

The main problem is USAF/DOD/Congress wanted EVERYTHING NEW.   Well that takes a while to design and assemble so by the time the first a/c rolled out it was already out dated.  The other problem is with so many untried, untested NEW systems the problem multiply exponentially. 

One good example on was the Inertial Nav system on the early models.  All brand new design.  Somewhere north of $100k.  Only one gyro.  Very fragile. Placed in the nose cone (why nobody knows).  Very heavy, ~100 pounds, with all the black boxes.  AND voluminous.  I think somewhere around 18cuft all told.  At the same time Boing was shipping there 747 with 3 (THREE) Honeywell, off the shelf INS systems.  Three system that I think ran a total of 20#ea, cost $10kea and only occupied about 4 rack units in a STANDARD 19" rack. 

[Rastus]

Sounds like they gave that one to a new college grad engineer.