[Scan-DC] Attention, DCA planespotter types, and you know who you are.

[Blair Thompson]

I went into work in DC on Tuesday. I took the newly reopened Yellow Line in both directions. On the way back home, at about 6:28 p.m., just as we were accelerating around the curve at the south end of the airport, I spotted what at first I thought was the empennage of a Viscount. Which is impossible. 

Upon a closer look, I saw that it was a much more common P-3. It had a dark blue tail with a wiggly white line. I figured it had to be a NOAA P-3. Google is your friend, and a quick search this morning came up with this:

https://flightaware.com/photos/view/951273-931db33487ce2ed7a6216aa4d000789c48119544/aircrafttype/P3/sort/votes/page/1

https://cdn.plnspttrs.net/23170/n42rf-united-states-department-of-commerce-lockheed-wp-3d-orion_PlanespottersNet_1182142_0927ef0bca_o.jpg

The "wiggly white line" on the vertical stabilizer is an albatross. It was either N42RF, "Kermit," or the similar N43RF, "Miss Piggy." More searching found this:

https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A4FAC3

N42RF is nowhere near DCA. But N43RF is:

https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A52242

That's dynamic, so here's the log:

https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A52242/1970795274/log

It's N43RF for certain. To be exacting, the aircraft is a WP-3D. See this:

Lockheed WP-3D Orion
https://www.omao.noaa.gov/ao/aircraft/lockheed-wp-3d-orion

Right, a "Hurricane Hunter":

A Day in the Life of a NOAA Hurricane Hunter
https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/day-in-the-life-of-noaa-hurricane-hunter/

I don't know how often it shows up at DCA, but a few years back, there was a NOAA aircraft here for an open house.

I'll look into it.

Contact Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
https://www.omao.noaa.gov/omao/contact-office-marine-and-aviation-operations

Update: these Hurricane Hunters:

https://twitter.com/NOAA_HurrHunter

Not these Hurricane Hunters:

https://twitter.com/53rdWRS