AWACS

[mattcawby]

Friday afternoon MAGIC 53, a NATO E-3 AWACS, is doing some HF testing with Boeing flight test in Seattle. Freqs used so far:
2.990
4.052
10.344
15.516
27.994
29.905

They are transmitting voice and Link-11. MAGIC 53 just informed Boeing they will be working on Saturday.

Photo of the airplane:
http://microvoltradio.com/kbfinine.htm

 

[Radiorick]

Matt....your the same guy that was featured in "Monitoring Times".
How are you certain that "Magic 53" was up on Talid A ....did you
hear the "ping pongs" as the net was polling?

 

[mattcawby]

I was monitoring in the parking lot about 200 yards from the E-3 while they were coordinating with Boeing flight test on 149.9. They conviently mentioned each HF freq, then I tuned to it and listened to the Link-11 polling

 

[Radiorick]

At the Field right off of I-5? If so I've seen it while going to SEA-TAC

 

[Radiorick]

At the Field right off of I-5? If so I've seen it while going to SEA-TAC

 

[Radiorick]

At the Field right off of I-5? If so I've seen it while going to SEA-TAC

 

[mattcawby]

Yes, here are some pictures of the Boeing military ramp:

http://microvoltradio.com/boeing_military.htm

 

[mmartinfan]

Awesome web site there mattcawby, for plane spotters like myself it is the holy spot of airplanes. I've been there twice.

 

[Chris-M]

Great site about the Boeing facility, Matt! I've seen a few of those planes from the highway while passing by in a hotel van. Specifically the B757 Raptor testbed aircraft. That one has been around quite a while. The Museum of Flight is one of the places on my list that I must visit. Haven't had a chance yet. Usually have a 24 hour layover downtown at the Red Lion hotel during the Houston-Seattle-Anchorage trip. We have dual HF transceivers in the B757s that I fly and when we're not using them for comm's (overwater) I do some DXing. They basically tune 0-30 Mhz but the newer ones only do USB and AM. The older ones did LSB too.

 

[Chris-M]

N69742

Matt, you have a picture of a plane that I have flown several times as both Flight Engineer and First Officer out of Guam for Continental Micronesia. It's the Planet (formerly Air Mike/Continental Micronesia) B727, picture JUSTICE 42 N69742. I'm glad to see it's still flying and not cut up for scrap like some of the old 727's. Planet also has a bunch of retired American Airlines B727s.

http://www.geocities.com/~aeromoe/fleets/comike.html

 

[mattcawby]

Cool, that airplane has an interesting paint scheme. There was another Planet Airways at Boeing Field today, N893AA (Justice 893). They picked up some passengers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

http://microvoltradio.com/kbfiten.htm

Thanks for visiting my website, to stay on topic: earlier this evening a flight of B-52's, HAVOC 85 and a KC-10 GUCCI 37 were on 6761.0 coordinating air refueling time of 0345z at 48N 140W. The B-52's are rare up here and they have been flying around since Saturday