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By: 7th June 2010 at 11:41 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Probably one of the Islanders from RAF Northolt Station Flight.
Best not to enquire too closely as to what it is up to ;)
By: 7th June 2010 at 11:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-it could possibly be something like greater manchester polices britten norman ( on loan for a search or survielance )
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/small/3/6/8/1686863.jpg
or maybe even an aircraft updating for google earth as google earth is photographed from aircraft ( not sattelites ) as sattelite rendition is too poor !!
By: 7th June 2010 at 11:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-the behaviour you describe is regular in our area by g.m.p's britten norman
sometimes it operates high sometimes low
see it operating regular here
By: 7th June 2010 at 11:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-I am located not a million miles away from STN and noticed that aircraft also. I am fortunate in having a very powerful set of 'binos' with a zoom to match. The aircraft looked like a Cessna 404 or similar and appeared to have a dark panel/aperture beneath the fuselage centre section. Did not look like an Islander. Hope this helps.
By: 7th June 2010 at 15:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Not an ash detector?:diablo:
By: 7th June 2010 at 15:49 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Judging by the flight pattern flown it sounds very much like one of the spooky Northolt Islanders on security patrol, possibly in connection with the London Olympic building projects.
Is that a knock on the door I hear...?
By: 7th June 2010 at 15:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-See following links.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1541388/Spy-plane-hunts-terror-suspects.html
http://www.spyflight.co.uk/defender.htm
http://www.secret-bases.co.uk/cia-rendition.htm
Nothing new about using surveillance aircraft over built up areas. See Spycatcher by former MI5 officer Peter Wright from the 1980s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_RAFTER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spycatcher
TJ
By: 7th June 2010 at 16:28 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Good work there TJ! :)
By: 7th June 2010 at 22:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-A few years ago, a colleague of mine was flying OS survey flights which involved flying several very accurate gps tracks moving across a few hundred metres each time, generally on clear cloudless days.
The so-called satellite views of Google maps etc are obtained in a similar fashion and updated periodically.
I think a Cessna 310 was used in the case I recall.
By: 7th June 2010 at 23:42 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-High wing twin engine with dark fuselage panel will be the American registered Aero Commander equipped with a large format digital camera, so large it will not fit in the Cessna twins.
By: 8th June 2010 at 00:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-I am located not a million miles away from STN and noticed that aircraft also. I am fortunate in having a very powerful set of 'binos' with a zoom to match. The aircraft looked like a Cessna 404 or similar and appeared to have a dark panel/aperture beneath the fuselage centre section. Did not look like an Islander. Hope this helps.
It wasnt G-TASK, was it? Mind you I dont know what the underside looks like on G-TASK.
She was flying around the Milton Keynes area on May 22nd.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/8/3/6/1591638.jpg
By: 8th June 2010 at 07:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-High wing twin engine with dark fuselage panel will be the American registered Aero Commander equipped with a large format digital camera, so large it will not fit in the Cessna twins.
Would that be N71VE?
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Aero-Commander-690/1700013/L/&sid=636375a101c4fedfc09e8ab6b9b4d7d0
By: 8th June 2010 at 13:59 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-Many thanks for all the responses. Much appreciated.
I've started lining the loft with tin foil....... :)
By: 10th June 2010 at 02:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
-One link that I failed to post. It was the story that posted the image showing the deceased MI5 officer, Steven Lanham, in front of the Islander/Defender.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-435355/Revealed-Britains-victim-war-terror.html
TJ
Posts: 82
By: Oppama - 7th June 2010 at 11:26
I wonder if anyone here can help me?
For the last three days I've been watching a high-flying aircraft continuously flying over the North London / Herts / Lea Valley area. Half the time I can only hear it as a far-off drone, but occasionally it comes into view - at which time I can see that it sometimes seems to fly for a while on a straight course, then makes 180 degree turns and flies back. Sometimes it makes wide circles, and sometimes seems even more random in its course. It's so high that it is initially quite hard to spot with the naked eye, but as it's probably not all that big I find it hard to estimate the altitude. Maybe 3000 metres or so? It was above some of the airliners coming out of the Lambourne stack into Heathrow approach on Saturday. It was intriguing to see how close they would get...
I'm not too good at type recognition, but it's a twin engined high-wing type. Looking at it through some fairly weedy birdspotting binoculars I can see that it appears to have a fixed undercarriage, and the wings are slim, untapered and squared-off at the ends. In a search for images on the 'net, I think it looks a bit like a Twin Otter....
Has anybody got any ideas what it is, and what it's doing up there? I'm getting a stiff neck from looking up at it!