21 June 2007

AIR FORCE AIRCRAFT ACTIVITY OVER CANBERRA

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From a Defence Media release:

WHAT: A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) PC-9 aircraft will be flying over Canberra for air-to-air photos of other Air Force aircraft: the Boeing 737 Business Jet (BBJ) and the CL-604 Challenger.

WHERE: Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra.

WHEN: Thursday, 21 June 2007 from 2:00pm – 3:00pm.

A PC-9 aircraft from RAAF Base Williamtown will carry a photographer who will be taking airborne photos of the Air Force VIP fleet, the BBJ and Challenger aircraft from Number 34 Squadron (based in Canberra).

The PC-9 will arrive in Canberra at approximately 11:00am, before flying over Lake Burley Griffin with the other aircraft at approximately 2:00pm, for one hour whilst taking the photos.

The aircraft will be flying between 3000–5000 feet (approximately 900–1500 metres) around Kings Avenue bridge. The majority of the flying will be conducted to the south and south-west of Lake Burley Griffin. All aircraft are not expected to operate any further north than the War Memorial and no further east than the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).

Anyone see this? Any photos?

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I’m glad that my taxes are paying for the RAAF to fly its aircraft in circles over Canberra so they can photograph each other. I imagine that this occuring late in the financial year is no accident – it looks like a classic example of getting rid of an underspend!

In the spirit of this site and conspiracy theories in general, I offer the following:

Today I was riding towards Fyshwick when I saw a small jet on final for R35 at Canberra Airport. Then a puff of faint black smoke appeared behind the engines and the aircraft climbed away. While some might say it was obviously practising a missed approach, I think something more sinister was at work. Did the pilot spot an alien craft over the threshold? Did the pilot receive a threat from Al Qaeda? Was there a dispute about AWAs and rostering arrangements? Was the aircraft ordered out of the airspace by security in case the PMs jet was intending to be in the area (just in case). Was the pilot pissed and went off to sober up over Lake George?

Who knows what caused a perfectly serviceable aircraft to abandon the glideslope so close to touchdown?

So you really were off with the Faireys, Thumper?

I don’t think I’m going to get to the RNFAA Museum anytime soon; hell I have enough trouble getting to the RANFAA Museum at Nowra!

“Yep…

I’ll just go and sit in the room of mirroes and have a good hard look at myself….”

And there will be a three hour long test on modern military aircraft recognition – first thing Monday morning for you, young man! 🙂

I work out in Deakin, and saw them buzzing around all afternoon, was quite a sight.

Things happen when I leave my camera at home.

I saw them flying over Rivett around 2:40pm … looking at images of both I am sure that I saw the Challenger with the much smaller PC-9 flying alongside it’s right wing. They were both flying pretty low too.

I wouldn’t have even noticed them as I was driving but for my 3yo son saying “mummy, look at the two planes”. Needless to say I pulled up pretty quickly once I spotted them.

Thumper, I think you’ve confused the PC-9 trainer with the AP-3C Orion?

I could hear them buzzing around, but couldn’t get out of work to see them.

I just saw this driving back to work after lunch & was wondering what was going on. I should have known RiotACT would know.

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