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

[Andrew Clegg]

It just departed and flew right over Ballston. Heading to Lakeland.

https://fr24.com/NOAA43/306cbe2d

> On May 24, 2023, at 12:40 PM, Blair Thompson via Scan-DC <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>
> 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
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