Aussie Radarspotting

[Oblivian]

Has anyone spotted the 737 doing aerial fire fighting operations in Australia? It's currently in QLD but I cant seem to find it online.

MLAT only and bad coverage there.

But the 'other' big name feeder shows it via a bit of SAT + mlat better it seems

We were chatting about it last night https://forum.flightradar24.com/thre...eeders/page121

[Lancair70]

Has anyone spotted the 737 doing aerial fire fighting operations in Australia? It's currently in QLD but I cant seem to find it online.

[Stealth]

Something like that I expect. Lears do a lot of that sort of work for the military.

Hence my comment

[airnrail]

BLDK target aircraft up in Darwin for Pitchblack exercise perhaps?

Something like that I expect. Lears do a lot of that sort of work for the military.

[Stealth]

BLDK target aircraft up in Darwin for Pitchblack exercise perhaps?

[Oblivian]

Invasion. RUn, ,RUNNOW :P

[airnrail]

Six Lear Jets over central Australia

LearsX6_17AUG2018.jpg

[SoCalBrian]

N522AX Leaving Australia and heading back to United States.

[fungus]

N522AX DC-10 Fire Tanker heading for Australia soon!
It's flying to Honolulu, Hawaii today.

Brian,

Thanks for the heads up. Just noted this aircraft currently doing circuits along with 'Birddog275' (a Rockwell 695A) around RAAF Base Richmond (NSW) where it seems it will be based for our current fire season. If I can pick up its callsign I'll post it here for those who might be interested.

DC10 ATC callsign 'Bomber912'

RAAF Richmond ATC frequencies: Tower 135.50, Ground 128.250, Approach 135.90 for those who may want to listen.

Regards,
Gregg

[SoCalBrian]

N522AX DC-10 Fire Tanker heading for Australia soon!
It's flying to Honolulu, Hawaii today.

[Anmer]

It's quite possible FR24 is automatically blocking certain types (though my CL60 example is an exception) in order to derive additional revenue. It's a profit driven business and who can blame it for seeking new revenue streams.

But one might argue that it should be up front in explaining this to those who buy its (now) restricted flight tracking apps and subscription accounts.

"Blocking

For security and privacy reasons information about some aircraft is limited or blocked. This includes most military aircraft and certain high profile aircraft, like Air Force One."

As an early adopter, I now use Fr24 less and its competitors more simply because so many flights are blocked on not displayed. But I still run my own hardware to feed various services, including PiAware to get unrestricted MLAT and local flights.

[airnrail]

Qantas Jumbo returns to SYD

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-21/qantas-plane-returns-to-sydney-after-technical-issue/9073282

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/qf73#f473035

[airnrail]

The above implies that FR24 automatically blocks all corporate jets and unblocks them for a fee.

1. I may be wrong but I don't think FR24 automatically blocks all corporate jets (or other, civil registered types).
2. There is a fee to block an aircraft using the "Express 24hr service" (which supports my above understanding). Or free for the slower service.
3. Unblocking a blocked aircraft for the owner/operator's FR24 Business account is free. Additional aircraft incur a fee.

https://www.flightradar24.com/business/aircraft-unblocking

I may be reading this incorrectly but I don't thinks FR24 automatically blocks civil registered aircraft.

I've re-read the conditions for unblocking and you are right about the fee only applying to more than one aircraft. However to get a business account the owner either has to be an FR24 feeder (unlikely) or pay US $499 a year. My experience is that most corporate jets are not blocked by request of the operator (Flight Aware will often tell you if they are - they too charge fees but only for those that are owner blocked ) so unless you want it blocked why would you pay FR24 to track your plane when you can get it free on other trackers?

All corporate jets are blocked by type everywhere that I look on FR24 and it even extends to the likes of Boeing Business Jets (a 737 with a custom interior).

[Anmer]

I think that based on my observations you are wrong I find it hard to accept that every C.Jet owner wants their
aircraft blocked. Its also a pointless exercise since there are many sites available that do not filter any aircraft.
However this whole subject seem to be "the elephant in the room" that nobody talks about.

I was specifically responding to airnrail's post about charging fees and what FR24 says publicly about blocking and unblocking.

Even if FR24 automatically blocks all corporate jets, it doesn't automatically charge a fee to unblock them for the owner/operator's Business account. However that may change.

Just made a check and CL60 HB-JRA 4B197E isn't "blocked". But all other currently tracked CL60's are. Checking some other types, all are blocked.

As I said, on reading what's published, FR24 should not be blocking all corporate jets. But that doesn't mean it isn't.

[nomad77]

The above implies that FR24 automatically blocks all corporate jets and unblocks them for a fee.

1. I may be wrong but I don't think FR24 automatically blocks all corporate jets (or other, civil registered types).
2. There is a fee to block an aircraft using the "Express 24hr service" (which supports my above understanding). Or free for the slower service.
3. Unblocking a blocked aircraft for the owner/operator's FR24 Business account is free. Additional aircraft incur a fee.

https://www.flightradar24.com/business/aircraft-unblocking

I may be reading this incorrectly but I don't thinks FR24 automatically blocks civil registered aircraft.

I think that based on my observations you are wrong I find it hard to accept that every C.Jet owner wants their
aircraft blocked. Its also a pointless exercise since there are many sites available that do not filter any aircraft.
However this whole subject seem to be "the elephant in the room" that nobody talks about.