Tikaboo Tales

N20NY back home having routed ABQ-SPI-BED N404PA is at ABQ too

N20NY from Holloman to Williams-Gateway today. Interestingly this is where N932ML a DC9 known as Firebird 2 and festooned with aerials arrived the previous evening. for a photo: http://www.visitingphx.com/ip6n932ml.html

N20NY is still in the South West - today from Holloman to Kirtland AFB and back

N512AR and N94AR both playing in Danger Area 123 (Salisbury Plain) today seen here returning to Boscombe Down in the early afternoon Here's N94AR returning after getting a bit close to Tornado ZA326 'Tester 74' And here's N512AR which arrived an hour before

Here's a shot of the underbelly of N512AR

Here's a rather poorer shot of N94AR today showing its nice big windows courtesy of previous existence as Scenic Airlines N245SA.

N512AR and N94AR both active from Boscombe Down today, working in the adjacent Porton Down ranges between 1000 and 1500ft QFE. N512AR aka TO1 (twin Otter 1 I guess) and N94AR as TO2 when communicating with Porton Range on the same freq as Boscombe APC 135.75. N512AR was up for about 2.5 hours before returning for lunch and being asked to report to the Supervisor for causing some problems with the local traffic patterns such as Old Sarum and Middle Wallop. N94AR continued on task, with G-PASF AS.355 Twin Squirrel which descended from 5700ft to 3500ft then 2500ft. One back end callsign heard was 'Sea Bass' (or CBAS).

US acquisition of 21 MiG-29s in the news! US forced Moldova to sell MiG-29s Moscow: Moldova's former president on Monday said the US had pressed the former Soviet republic into selling its combat aircraft cheaply to Washington and dismissed charges that a former minister had defrauded the state. Petru Lucinschi said after testifying at the trial of former defence minister Valery Pasat that the $40-million sale of 21 fighter aircraft to the US in 1997 had been clinched to meet US concerns that the aircraft would have ended up in Iran. Pasat, now a senior manager at Russia's electricity giant Unified Energy Systems, is on trial on charges of abuse of power and fraud by selling the MiG-29s too cheaply, causing a loss of $55 million to the state. Lucinschi, in office when the deal was signed, said Moldova received an offer of $93 million for the aircraft, but came under pressure to sell to Washington. "We did receive an offer from a South Korean firm ready to pay $93 million,

Lincoln Labs' use of Twin Otter International's DHC-6s is reasonably well known (see docket somewhere below in this blog). But if you want to see what the planes are capable of..... http://www.vistaliner.com/ ....will fulfil your wishes.

N20NY heading West towards White Sands BED-SPI-DEC-AMA-HMN N404PA ditto BED-ABQ

All three of the main MIT fleet up at once today. Flying as Research5, Research 2 and Research 4PA all on local trips from BED. Yesterday (30-Jun) both N20NY and N105TB went off together.