Wednesday, October 21, 2020

FRED 52

 These Covid times are interesting to be sure.  While 'stuck at home', the mind often drifts.  What to do next?
I thought of getting a drone pilot license.  I did a lot of research on the web.  I signed up for a drone pilot course and complete the classes.  It is a lot like a fixed wing pilot ground school.  While in the class, I found a lot of interesting web sites that would be of use to pilots.  Lots of weather information and flight planning resources.
One of the sites I found tracks aircraft in flight.  There are a lot of these sites around, nothing special.  But I did start watching.  And watching.  And watching.
Watching today - found what I was looking for.  A C5 in flight.  It is the small things that make me happy.


Fred 52.  Just awesome.  After a little research, cuz most C5 missions are not top secret, I found the flight started at Travis (KSUU) at 11:00 AM Pacific time.  Must be nice to fly from the west coast, I don't remember too many daylight flights.  Different time, different coast.  So I was loosely following this flight before I realized - it's going to overfly mid-Michigan.  Seriously, what are the chances.


When the flight showed it was over Flint, I grabbed the camera.  I went to the driveway and looked to the west.  Big white contrails, coming just south of me.  Less than a mile.


There it is.  87-0034.  This is at FL 39.0.  Travis to Westover.  If it wasn't empty, it was close to it.  Probably taking on cargo at Westover, then heading east.  Memories.
Nice breakup for the day.  Wonder if I can get the Dragon Lady at ...  Probably easier to get the space station.

2 comments:

  1. Pretty cool! What's with the wacky flight pattern over the Plains?

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  2. I think the source of the information loses contact. It is tough to follow some aircraft all the way to the ground, they 'get lost' between 400 and 800 feet. I was following an AWACs flight today, and I saw it start an orbit close to the Canadian border and the same thing happened.

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