[MilCom] Re: MilCom Digest, Vol 54, Issue 35

[Charles Rapacki]

Hi Duane,
This might be a possible aircraft you saw that day.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA107/history/20081019/1630Z/KLAX/KJFK

If it wasn't a 747, you might have seen a A380 Airbus.
If it was a low wing aircraft. 

Chuck in Detroit / NODAK 1

--- milcom-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:

> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:44:20 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Duane Mantick <wb9omc at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [MilCom] big honkin' airplane Sunday
> afternoon
> To: Milcom <Milcom at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID:
> <154463.56207.qm at web30901.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> 
> I don't know if this was a military bird or not (and
> unfortunately this was not from my home QTH and
> wasn't in position to get at a scanner or other
> radio) but it overflew Fort Wayne, IN Sunday
> probably approx. 5:30 PM EST from SW to NE.  This
> was at contrail altitude, and in spite of the
> altitude the good visibility allowed a clear
> definition of 4 contrails; 2 from under each wing
> that merged into a single line on each side of the
> aircraft.  BIG bird, and as it passed to the NE I
> got the sun behind me (which tends to give you a
> more accurate idea of light vs. dark in coloration
> as you're not looking into the sun but rather seeing
> it reflected from the aircraft) and the bird was
> quite dark in color.  I could not distinguish any
> real color other than dark. REAL dark. Saw no bright
> glinting reflections from any angle.  
> 
> It would have been better if I had remembered that
> in my Amateur Radio "Go-Bag" (concept that for going
> mobile/portable in an emergency situation, you equip
> yourself with some basic essential equipment) is a
> small pair of binoculars......I might have been able
> to distinguish the airframe shape. DUH.
> 
> Aircraft was not a particularly fast mover.  The
> size and overall spread of the contrail is what
> caught my attention - we see commercial jets leaving
> contrails across Indiana all the time and so we're
> used to those but this was easily twice the width,
> maybe a hair more.
> 
> Anybody catch a radio transmission about that time
> of day that might ID this dude?
> 
> Duane
> WB9OMC
>