Tikaboo Tales

Here's some of 'Bloodhound 122' that appeared to be part of the Gator party

More..... I'm not a pod expert but some googling and hints from friends has turned up the pod that the F-15 is carrying. It appears to be a SATIRS pod.

Here's some holiday photos and sounds from California Here's N105TB and 84-0045 at the holding point shortly after the QF-4 departed This is Gator 4 depating on the mission gator4_dep.wav On the first approach the F-15 did a go-around, presumably to give us a second oppotunity at getting some good shots! Here's Gator 4 the F-15D talking to Mugu Tower gator4_arr.wav And this is N105TB returning from the mission Here's Gator 3 aka N105TB talking to Mugu Approach and Tower gator3_arr.wav

Thanks Ed....here's an interesting picture

An aerial shot of Pt Mugu

Here's something from http://www.mrcday.com/prodFSS.htm which says it's an ASTB radome

I haven't looked at Point Mugu in much detail before but it seems to be the only place - apart from home base BED - that all three big MIT aircraft have visited in recent past. Thanks to Chris for pointing out 'MTH' as the code for MIT as used for the B707 N404PA and the DA10 (really DA20) N20NY....see below which has been edited to remove EGJ F27s, heavy civil airliners and BYA.

Some stuff on Point Mugu http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/point-mugu.htm As a national leader for over 35 years, the Radar Reflectivity Laboratory at Point Mugu remains in the forefront of radar cross-section (RCS) measurements and radar signature control technology. The facility provides monostatic and bistatic radar signature characterization and diagnostics of test objects. The application of wide-band RCS data to Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging of complex objects was pioneered at the laboratory in the 1970s, and is used to conduct signature diagnostics for a variety of applications. The two large anechoic chambers are equipped with compact-range collimating reflectors which provide far-field measurement conditions. The Bistatic Anechoic Chamber is the only facility of its kind in the world to provide full 180-degree horizontal and 90-degree vertical bistatic RCS measurements. All chambers can accommodate a wide variety of test items inclu

Here's N105TB in the Las vegas area having turned north towards Groom Lake And here having departed Pt Mugu - the aircraft is in the top left over Simi Valley - via PMD to DRA.

N105TB back from Pt Mugu to Groom Lake for the Easter weekend! ------------------ Aircraft ID N105TB Aircraft Type GRUMMAN G-1159 Owner/Operator AIR FORCE MATERIAL COMMAND ESC/DIKL 5 EGLIN ST BLDG 1624 BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS Serial Number 31 Year Manufactured 1968 Certificate Issued 05/10/1993 Airport most visited: Further details are restricted Flight Plan Received 2004-04-08 00:16:06 from Los Angeles Departure NTD POINT MUGU NAS (NAVAL BASES VENTURA CNTY), POINT MUGU CA Destination DRA DESERT ROCK, MERCURY NV Status Landed Planned Alt 17000 Feet Planned Speed 400 kts. Planned Dep 2004-04-08 01:00 Actual Dep 2004-04-08 01:13 Planned Arrival 2004-04-08 02:10 Estimated Arrival 2004-04-08 02:23 Actual Arrival 2004-04-08 01:57 Latest Speed 398 kts. Latest Altitude 15000 Feet Distance to Dest. Last Update 2004-04-08 01:58 Route NTD..PMD..DAG..LAS..DRA/0110

Reference N105TB's trip to PMD on 26-Mar, the LAX Passur site shows our old friend ZXQ1418 aka N105TB going well West of Palmdale and showing it's change of destination to NTD, which is Point Mugu. N105TB_26Mar04_PMD3.bmp

Yes it was N27RA. n27ra_crash_report.doc

Let's assume that it was N27RA that crashed. No sign of it since the day of the incident although it hasn't shown up in the accident databases yet. Meanwhile N105TB appears to be at Pt Mugu again. Although the last flight plan was filed to PMD it appears to have stopped tracking over Camarillo, CA which is around 9 miles from Pt Mugu as the crow - or G2 - flies. Thus its altitude of 2700ft 9nm out would appear to be good. Unless Camarillo happens to be at 2700 elevation which I'll check in a sec. Apologies to Gary for my part in a wild goose chase to try and find it at PMD! N105TB_26Mar04_TXNPMD.doc

Oops - it wasn't N20RA that crashed then.......it's still filing plans Aircraft ID N20RA Aircraft Type BEECH 1900 Owner/Operator DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE PO BOX 1504 LAYTON UTAH Serial Number UB-42 Year Manufactured 1985 Certificate Issued 07/28/1988 Airport most visited: LAS MC CARRAN INTL, NV See a list of all based aircraft at LAS Flight Plan Received 2004-03-26 20:40:08 from Los Angeles Departure PMD PALMDALE PRODN FLT/TEST INSTLN AF PLANT 42, PALMDALE CA Destination LAS MC CARRAN INTL, LAS VEGAS NV Status Planned Planned Alt 19000 Feet Planned Speed 260 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-27 00:30 Actual Dep Planned Arrival 2004-03-27 01:20 Route PMD..DAG.CRESO3.LAS/0050 Previous Flights OXR - LAS 2004-03-15 21:26 PMD - OXR 2004-03-15 18:36 PMD - NSI 2004-03-12 20:46 NSI - LAS 2004-03-12 22:30 OXR - EDW 2004-03-11 15:07

Hmmm - N105TB filed a plan to Pt Mugu then it was cancelled and this appeared instead! Aircraft ID N105TB Aircraft Type GRUMMAN G-1159 Owner/Operator AIR FORCE MATERIAL COMMAND ESC/DIKL 5 EGLIN ST BLDG 1624 BEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS Serial Number 31 Year Manufactured 1968 Certificate Issued 05/10/1993 Flight Plan Received 2004-03-26 21:36:32 from Los Angeles Departure TNX TONOPAH TEST RANGE, TONOPAH NV Destination PMD PALMDALE PRODN FLT/TEST INSTLN AF PLANT 42, PALMDALE CA Status Landed Planned Alt 16000 Feet Planned Speed 400 kts. Planned Dep 2004-03-26 21:45 Actual Dep 2004-03-26 21:48 Planned Arrival 2004-03-26 22:55 Estimated Arrival Actual Arrival 2004-03-26 22:32 Latest Speed 61 kts. Latest Altitude 2700 Feet Distance to Dest. Last Update 2004-03-26 22:34 Route TNX..BTY060030..MCY..CLARR.V394.DAG..PMD/0110

Accident Description Status: Preliminary [legenda] Date: 16 MAR 2004 Time: ca 05:00 Type: Beechcraft C-12J Operator: United States Air Force - USAF Registration: ? Msn / C/n: Year built: Crew: 1 fatalities / 1 on board Passengers: 4 fatalities / 4 on board Total: 5 fatalities / 5 on board Airplane damage: Written off Location: 125mls NW of Las Vegas, NV (USA) Phase: Nature: Military Departure airport: Destination airport: Tonopah-Test Range Airport, NV (XSD) Remarks: The Air Force Materiel Command Beech 1900 crashed while on a routine support mission from a remote classified airstrip on the Nellis range to the Tonopah Test Range.

Previous Arrivals/Departures Flight# Type Dep Time Arr Time Date N20RA B190 PMD 18:21 OXR 18:36 03-15-2004 N20RA B190 OXR 20:17 LAS 21:26 03-15-2004 BLOCKED G TNX 21:25 NTD 22:10 03-15-2004 N178B I TUL 21:40 RVS 04:11 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 PMD 01:28 OXR 01:44 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 OXR 02:00 LAS 03:06 03-20-2004 N661BA BE20 TNX 19:27 NSI 20:50 03-22-2004 N661BA BE20 OXR 21:15 LAS 21:44 03-22-2004 N178B W RVS 23:08 RVS 03:49 03-24-2004 N662BA BE20 PMD 01:03 LAS 01:47 03-24-2004 N661BA BE20 PMD 01:21 LAS 02:05 03-25-2004 N178B GLF3 RVS 14:14 SDL 16:34 03-25-2004 BLOCKED G NTD 18:12 DRA 18:57 03-25-2004

Here's the next update - N105TB apparently 'landed' at DRA while at 15000ft!! N105TB_25Mar04_5.doc

Having reached DRA N105TB takes a right turn; this is the last plot before it changes to Military radar. N105TB_25Mar-04_4.doc

N105TB-Mar25_3.doc