Anyone Monitor TIA Tower tonight?

[FireMedic712]

There was a large three engine (L1011??) commercial airliner that circled downtown tulsa for nearly 2 and a half hours at varying altitudes (sometimes very low). I didnt know if it was having trouble and was burning off fuel or something else was going on. It was in a clockwise pattern from dusk (around 5:30) to nearly 8 p.m. I didnt have a scanner on me because I was at work. Any ideas?

 

[rfradioconsult]

The FAA perodically tests the ILS approach with specially equipped aircraft to simulate a commercial aircraft of like size and performance. They do this on a rotating schedule.

 

[FireMedic712]

Wow, I never thought of that. From what I could tell it was a blue and white plane with a tail insignia. That makes alot of sense. Thanks!

 

[HelmsDeep]

It was a FedEx MD-10 shooting approaches. They wanted to do it in a tail wind config .. dunno if there was much of one.

I don't think there are any L10's in the FedEx fleet.