Peel Police helicopter?

[mjf]

There was a very low flying helicopter circling around the Bloor and Dixie Road area last night for at least 15 minutes. I couldn't get a good view through the trees but it resembled the H135 that Peel is supposed to be getting. I couldn't find any updated news on these helicopters. Also, nothing showing on ADS-B exchange.

I did fire up the scanner and check the usual 119.3 and 133.4 but didn't hear anything from it. Pearson was very busy at that time so there was lots of traffic on the tower frequencies. Is 119.3 still the best frequency for finding VFR traffic like this in the Toronto area? Or would they stay in touch on the tower frequencies?

 

[gary123]

ADSB has developed a bad habit of blocking all types of aircraft. Lots of LE planes and helicopters are on the block list all over North America. The same for tons of military aircraft. Flightradar24 is a bit better on showing some of these aircraft but sadly, they too block certain ICAO ID's.

It's a pain because pilots of all types are known to reference these databases just to give a better situation awareness of what is in the air near them. Us hobbyists also find that a censored source becomes a frustration as you can no longer rely on it being accurate or useful. TAFL is good example of what happens when the data is so censored (filtered) that the source becomes useless for the purpose for which it was created. Blocking a helicopter from being displayed could easily result in a mid air incident. All it would take is a pilot seeing the anti collision lights and being unsure or unaware of what they are, executing a avoidance maneuver. Just what you need to have happening in the crowded and busy airspace directly beside a major active airport.

 

[mciupa]

I asked someone who has Flightradar24 set up. Their reply is below.

FR24 saw it on M-LAT only, no ATC radar or ADSB. It first appeared over about the 401 & DVP heading towards the location mentioned in the info you sent at 2312Z yesterday. There was a single location estimate did appear a few minutes earlier out around Ajax. I can’t playback my local FR-24 receiver, only the mosaic public data anyone can access, so if it’s a block ATC SSR code then I’d have to look for it on my local data feed “live”. I’ll watch for it tonight and see if it’s visible and if so in what area it’s primarily operating in. I’m pretty sure both YRPD and DRPD base their aircraft out of YOO.
You can see that it did a lot of spins around the area in question, and the QEW/427. The very straight lines of flight can be ignored, those are estimate positions based on very poor M-LAT data quality supplied by too many bad and/or too few good FR24 feeders at those particular moments in time.

 

[mjf]

Thanks very much for checking that. No registration though. ADS-B exchange doesn't show M-LAT so that would explain its absence there. I have the AirNav Radar app and didn't think to check there. It includes M-LAT.

Back to the scanner question, is 119.3 still the place where VFR aircraft hang out in Toronto? I don't listen to air comms as much as I used to but back in the day, that's where the traffic planes (CFTR and CFRB) and various helicopters were found, at least during the day.

 

[mciupa]

My source is telling me he's now on 118.35 w/YZ Tower, working just north of High Park. Guardian 202 is the call sign. 8PM EDT/0000Z.

Update: Guardian 202 is back with YTZ on 118.2 @ 0013Z heading NW, following Eglinton Ave eastbound from Yonge.
Update: Heading south down Don Valley Parkway @ 2000'. Listening on Toronto Island Tower 118.2 with SDRTrunk.
Update: Landing on Runway 26 and proceeding to Gate 1 City Centre for fuel at Porter. Helicopter is an EC-130.

 

[Aviator747]

I feed FR24 for my area. I "tap" into it with Virtual Radar and see everything I am feeding. I have one of their receivers. FR24 does scrub some stuff.