'VULTURE' Over Yuma, Goldwater Ranges

[clover509]

On the evening of April 9th, around 7:30 - 8 PM local, I had 'VULTURE' calling unknown assets on 357.300. Fired up my ADSB software and caught 'PHENOM08', an E-8C JSTARS aircaft (tail number #02-9111) in a long, slow track over the eastern edge of the Yuma range and western edges of the Goldwater range.

At the same time, I showed, very briefly, a few hits on an Air Force F-35 (tail number #13-5067) working further east of 'PHENOM'.

More comms came through on 352.075 and 363.475 with the same male voice on 357.000 but without any callsigns. The last known use for all of the above frequencies were from an old copy of Monitoring Times that had a feature on MCAS Yuma and were attributed to Marine Air Group 13 (MAG-13) and Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 (MAWTS-1) air-to-air and air-to-ground training frequencies.

Kind of an interesting catch on an otherwise dull Tuesday night!

 

[rwier]

Hi clover,

Very interesting indeed. Does "my ADSB software" allow you to watch/track aircraft that are not available using the public options of FlightAware and/or Fightradar24? Thanks!

 

[MtnBiker2005]

Flightradar24 blocks too many flights or aircraft info.

For iOS(iPhone/iPad) try using OpenADSB and selecting to show only military aircraft.
Link: http://openadsbapp.com

Comes preconfigured using ADS-B Exchange (adsbexchange.com) data.
But it can use other VRS sources and ADS-B data sources.

 

[rwier]

Thanks!

edit:

Alas, my joy was short lived, as my phone is a Samsung.

 

[w2xq]

Have you tried the Android "ADSB Flight Tracker" app by CodingRealLife? I found this in the Play Store on a search. I will install it for giggles and grins...

Edit: Installed same. Seems to be interesting but i need an education to read the map. There are blue lines of varying lengths with numbers and some small green rectangles on the lines. I don't know what they are.

I am directly under the glide slope of the long runway (6) of KWRI (McGuire AFB) but there is no traffic at the moment.

 

[rwier]

Thanks w2xq!

 

[w2xq]

Further to using the Android ADSB Flight Tracker app, it is quite interesting. It shows not only small aircraft off local airfields, but also the military aircraft flying into McGuire AFB and helicopters. The helicopter graphic is cool. I heard it call on the MAFB A/D frequency and folliwed it on the on the app as it made a training flight around the base. The app's 3D representation doesn't excite me, but the 2D is quite good.

 

[rwier]

After considerable searching, I have settled on a free "tracker" site available on Chrome, for desktop use. This site definitely tracks "some" military activity. Today followed AF1 from Andrews to Green Bay. Presently showing PHENOM08 "out west" and earlier, two F-35 Lightning IIs over the Goldwater Range.

ADS-B Exchange – World's largest co-op of unfiltered flight data

Thanks for the tips guys!