Aussie Feeders

[Oblivian]

Sorry Qld'ers - we used it 3 days ago at the Salt Ash fire ( adjacent to YWLM near Newcastle ). Plenty of media about the first 737 ever used as a water bomber - see cs=12

I believe there's three other fixed wing charter bombers here this summer - still trying to id all of them.

Can help out there

RJ85, T-165 (Aeroflite/Conair via FieldAir) based in Sydney (Richmond) – already in place;
B-737, T-137 (Coulson) based in Sydney (Richmond) – subject to regulatory approvals;
RJ85, T-166 (Aeroflite/Conair via FieldAir) based in Sydney (Richmond)/Dubbo;
C-130Q, T-134 (Coulson) based in Sydney (Richmond) – already in place. (This is an “extra” for the 2018-19 season only, considering the predicted above-normal potential of the fire season on the east coast of Australia);
RJ85, T-163 (Aeroflite/Conair via FieldAir) based in Melbourne (Avalon);
C-130Q, T-131 (Coulson) based in Melbourne (Avalon)

Translated
165 = C-GVFK
166 =
134 = N130CG
163 = N366AC
131 = N130FF

https://fireaviation.com/2018/10/02/aussies-set-the-summer-lineup-for-their-firefighting-aircraft/

[Oblivian]

Seems they have some though. May be based around fluid dynamics being the limiting factor

“With a full retardant load and 4.5 hours of fuel we are so far under max gross weight we are going to leave the full interior and galleys in even when just in airtanker mode.”

Be nice if we could use one now and then. The port hills fire we had went on way longer than it needed to. A 3hr trip and it could have been out in 2 days

[ylis]

Sorry Qld'ers - we used it 3 days ago at the Salt Ash fire ( adjacent to YWLM near Newcastle ). Plenty of media about the first 737 ever used as a water bomber - see cs=12

https://www.portstephensexaminer.com...tephens/?cs=12

I believe there's three other fixed wing charter bombers here this summer - still trying to id all of them.

[Stealth]

This aircraft seems a bit of an odd idea. Why have an aircraft with pax capability when apparently it could otherwise carry more retardant? Pax aircraft can be chartered to carry firefighters around if necessary. A B737 will need 6000'+ runways, so that limits it's airfield options.

[Oblivian]

Last link shows it's flight up.

N137CG

Unfortunately MLAT only. And patchy at best in that area so was tricky to locate

[Ressy]

There are multiple helos in action, as350 and several 412's
qfrs tweeted the nsw fire 737 was arriving today, they've not put it in use, no doubt it will be by first light tuesday

[Oblivian]

Guys see you have a nice new 737 water bomber delivered now Not seen it head out yet however.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-23/boeing-737-deployed-in-newcastle-to-fight-bushfire-world-first/10547636

Queensland has a bit of an issue already. And it's only predicted to get worse like us here

2x Fire air units working the Deepwater

https://www.flightradar24.com/BDOG275/1eac75d8

https://www.flightradar24.com/BDOG444/1eac18bd

/edit
actually it appears to be there on standby, or going to be. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/a...137cg#1eac11af

[Stealth]

Is anyone aware of why the Qld RSCU helo's are using the 5 prefix in their callsign ? instead of the traditional 4. Possibly historical because I recall RSCU500 and RSCU599 being around for many years but as Stealth mentioned some time ago, the other states and 'services' seem to be conforming to the usual callsign format.

I'm not sure if the Rescue aircraft were even considered at the time, if I recall correctly WA didn't even have a permanent rescue copter then. The WA ones now use RSCU651 and 652, but I wouldn't know if that is a coincidence or intentional use of the '6' state prefix.

[Ressy]

They were the VKR (Qld Police) issued "Delta" callsigns... They just carried on from then.
ie: Delta500 is Rescue 500.

[ylis]

Is anyone aware of why the Qld RSCU helo's are using the 5 prefix in their callsign ? instead of the traditional 4. Possibly historical because I recall RSCU500 and RSCU599 being around for many years but as Stealth mentioned some time ago, the other states and 'services' seem to be conforming to the usual callsign format.

[Oblivian]

. Interesting because this seems to be a clear cut example of a T feeder alone being used by FR24 to track planes. We have been told many times in the past that there has to also be a F feeder in view for "verification" before a T feeder will be used.[ATTACH=CONFIG]9804[/ATTACH]

Only in the sense of MLAT I believe. Where others are used as reference to increase accuracy. But not for primary adsb+GPS data.

Once upon a time my Beast + windows (even with its slow system clock) was flagged as primary for a good chunk of the south island. Now theres so many competing (use to only be 12 or so splattered around but many more F- boxes have been distributed despite the smaller size area) and the 'tweaks' the software seems to get its a rarity. Not terribly phased as long as its contributing at least something to make the community get coverage.
Primary role has shifted to alerting me when non commercial or mils are in the airspace for me to go photograph for other like mindeds

[airnrail]

Great to see Ayrtech has a T feeder station labelled YLHI .... thats one place I'd been pondering how to get some equipment onto Mt Gower and then how to feed the data back to FR24. Well done.

There has been some recent discussion in another thread regarding how feeders are chosen for attribution on FR24. For the most part I think it is a pointless exercise and not worth much mental anguish but nevertheless one can still deduce certain things by looking at feeder codes. I saw T-YLHI1 for the first time today. According to FR24 stats it is up most of the time but has a very limited range - 11km. The pair of Jetstar A320s in the screen shot were certainly further than that from LHI but were also at FL340 and FL350. I also tracked a QantasLink Q200 from Sydney into LHI earlier and after being lost to mainland feeders like F-YPMQ1 it was a dashed line nearly all the way up to LHI when T-YLHI1 picked it up at around FL110 for a few minutes but then reverted to tracked mode as it descended. Interesting because this seems to be a clear cut example of a T feeder alone being used by FR24 to track planes. We have been told many times in the past that there has to also be a F feeder in view for "verification" before a T feeder will be used.LHI_12Oct18.jpg

[Stealth]

Seems to be up and running OK now. I also see a HBAL to the NNW of Learmonth.

[Ressy]

Is anyone else in Oz not getting any traffic from FR24, all I'm seeing is a blank map on both desktop and Android?

yes, but its horrid in speed in loading, but eventually does. fr24 been rather slow here for some time, I just rely on my local maps to see whats about now days, with planefinder getting same feed off me, using open street map, so no local dark water marked maps on dump1090-mut*, therefor no need to give google my billing detail

[nomad77]

Is anyone else in Oz not getting any traffic from FR24, all I'm seeing is a blank map on both desktop and Android?

Same here for some time now