Tikaboo Tales

N404PA returns homw to Bedford, Mass from Nellis. I wonder if it actually operated from Nellis during it's week in the sun?

N20NY back to BED from Holloman On 20-May N20NY routed HMN - SGF (springfield, Missouri - BED

N404PA active too! Lincoln Labs seem to have the whole fleet in action this month. Here is N404PA the B707 which appears to have flown from China Lake ot Nellis today. The last B707 I've seen was N707AR 'Omega Tanker' at Point Mugu (the same day as N105TB) although this is just coincidence. N404PA has been at Point Mugu in the past; what with N20NY at Holloman and N105TB at either Bedford or Manchester, NH it's all go! There's some photos of N404PA at www.jetphotos.net which are well worth a look.

N105TB filed to fly BED-NHT (Manchester, NH) on 17-May

Some have asked about the recent activities at Point Mugu regarding the reasons for the 'Janet' Beech trips that go via Oxnard to San Nicolas Island. I can't profess to understand this but the CALP (Civil Aircraft Landing Program) states companies that are permitted to land at military facilities. This is also a rather good guide to the umbrella organisations for various nefarious activities undertaken by pseudo-civilian aircraft and a Google or two turns up the most interesting companies. I'll sort out the links properly later but CALP listing is a good start as it shows Lincoln Labs strangely the latest one that I can turn up (thanks for the tipoff G) CALP Jan-2004 listing doesn't include Lincoln Labs Anyhow there's hours of fun here....if you're just starting out as a Fox Mulder-type person, do a search on the companies listed as 'worldwide'. All sorts of interesting stuff; I'm just curious why it's all in the pub

N4505S is another of MIT's aircraft; it's a Beech F33 i.e. a 4? seater. Interestingly they seem to be using it as a crew ferry. Today (Fri 14-May) it went BED-ISP a 2042 then departed ISP 2056 back to BED. Shortly after this, N105TB departed back to BED.

N105TB is returning to home base at Bedford, Mass after 2 and a half weeks at Islip, NY. There is presumably some reason for this which we'll fathom later! Wed 21-Apr BED-ISP Fri 14-May ISP-BED

Aha - here's a job that I might like! from FBOdaily jobs at Eglin --------- COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF OCTOBER 30, 2001 PSA #2967 SOLICITATIONS UPGRADE AND MAINTENANCE OF THE AIRBORNE ELECTRO-OPTICAL/INFRARED/LASER (AEIL) II SYSTEMS Notice Date October 26, 2001 Description The Air Armament Center, 46th Test Wing, is seeking capable and qualified sources to provide Upgrade and Maintenance of the Airborne Electro-Optical/Infrared/Laser (AEIL) II Systems for the Seekers and Sensors Branch (46 TW/TSWI) and Flight Test Division (46 TW/TSI) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The AEIL II systems are four state-of-the-art airborne platforms that support a variety of multi-spectral instruments; Common Signature Measurement Pod (CSMP) (BASES II), Supersonic Airborne Tri-gimbaled Infrared System (SATIRS), Airborne Seeker Evaluation and Test System (ASETS), and Supersonic Telemetric Airborne Radiometer (STAR) Pod. These systems are used to provide truth and signature

This year's excursion to Tikaboo Peak may not have included the same level of activity over Groom Lake as last year but was memorable in that it was the first (and perhaps last) time that I was able to log a serial using the naked eye from Tikaboo. Most of the time one is fiddling with high-powered telescopes, cameras and the like carried up the 7900ft mountain and seeing aircraft at all due to the 26 miles distance from the base is all one expects. Below is HH-60G 91-26352 snooping around us during a security patrol; nice to meet you guys! Next time perhaps you could pick us up and take us for a ramp tour....or at least offer us a ride back to the 'parking lot' at the base of the mountain. If you have any photos of me waving I'd be most interested! To be honest I was a little surprised to be standing on top of a mountain in one of the remotest parts of the world being looked at very closely by the security people from the base. It didn't seem like

Here's N105TB landing at Point Mugu on 16-Apr-04 May01^33.avi

Reference to N105TB's synthetic aperture radar is made here Scalable C and VHDL image processors for SAR image processor - user guide The F-15's pod is here. Perhaps I should send these companies a copy of the photos as theirs aren't great! North Star Systems Southern Research MONSSTR from Calculex useful for seeing who else flies the pod e.g. DERA is a customer. MONSSTR presentation Pender Technology - see ADAPT Pender Technology

Before going flying N105TB and the F-15D were on the Hawkeye Country ramp at Pt Mugu; this image taken from a track on the western (Oxnard) side of the base Here's the NP-3 'Bloodhound 341' landing May01^09.avi Point Mugu really is a nice place for a picnic; shelter from the sun and an array of missiles to entertain you if there's not much going on. As an indication of what we saw flying on 16-Apr-2004: (rough n ready until I check serials, types, callsigns) in addition to the Gator party Numerous California ANG C-130Es (and several others parked close to the Pacific Coast Hwy) 57-0497 DC-130A flew morning and afternoon 164485 and 164487 E-2 together N26974 and N784C SW-4 of Berry Aviation (to San Nic, China Lake etc) 150521/341 NP-3 flew morning and afternoon N707AR N707 'Omega Tanker' landed and parked at the terminal 161322/7X C-12 /NK-316 C-2A Password 36 diverted in with HF aerial problems /254 F-14 pl

Can't remember if I put this up before but here's what N105TB was up to in 2002/3 according to the Director of Lincoln Labs in his report to MiT http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres03/05.00.html Airborne Seeker Test Bed The capabilities of modern air defense missile systems have been severely challenged by the advent of low-flying vehicles and modern electronic countermeasures. The Airborne Seeker Test Bed (ASTB) is an instrumentation platform developed by Lincoln Laboratory to investigate these challenges and to identify appropriate seeker architectures and signal processing algorithms. The ASTB, which operates in a Gulfstream II aircraft, provides high fidelity RF and IR reference instrumentation sensors. These sensors are used in parallel with special-purpose wing-pod payloads carrying seekers or sensors being tested. In 2003, ASTB activities include four test campaigns, sensor development, and infrastructure upgrades.