STARS identification...

[electricsheep]

Okay, so I have FIVE aircraft licensed to Stars Aviation Canada, I know they use some as backups. These are the units with their registration numbers, I am just wondering if anyone knows the STAR designations for them. The only one I know is STAR-1 is C-GBNH. What are the others, and which units are used as backups.

C-FIOM Messerschmitt MBB-BK117 A-4D
C-FKCM Messerschmitt MBB-BK117 B-2D
C-GBNH Messerschmitt MBB-BK117 B-2D STAR 1
C-GCPH Messerschmitt MBB-BK117 B-2D
C-GDGP Messerschmitt MBB-BK117 B-2D

 

[Jay911]

IOM is up there in the north with you - I have a picture of it as STAR-3.
KCM is unfamiliar to me, so I think it's a northern bird too. (STAR-4)
DGP I have photos of from years ago as STAR-1 in the old livery (white outline Star of Life, no drop shadow). So it may be STAR-2 right now.
So perhaps CPH is STAR-5 or 6 (see my post "STAR-who?").. Airliners.net would have you believe that reg's still a DC10 owned by Canadian Airlines.

The primary ones are STAR-1 and STAR-3. The alternates are the even numbered ones and are the backup for their immediate predecessors in number (i.e., STAR-2 lives in Calgary with STAR-1).

 

[electricsheep]

Thanks Jay,
When it is warmer outside I plan on taking my new rig of a Panasonic FZ30 linked to my 36x spotting scope out to the City Centre to see what I can see of the regs... The STARS hangar is obscured from direct front view unless you are in a parking lot on the other side of the airport by the RCMP and Alberta Government hangars.

Flightaware does not seem to show the STARS flights.

 

[Jay911]

STARS in Calgary is also in a kind of 'obscured' location. The Shell Aerocenter has a business-office-like front end and hangars on the back side. CPS's HAWC1 is also hangared in the same place. There are a couple areas you can decently view the ramp right outside the hangar doors, but one is right on the driveway of firehall #27, and the other is in the parking lot of Customs, and I suspect neither entity has much interest in airfans blocking access to their property.

As for FlightAware, I'm not surprised, as I think the STARS crews do things on a pretty much instantaneous basis. I'm no aircraft expert, but I think aircraft like STARS and HAWC1 tend to do stuff more or less as it happens, rather than booking an explicit flight plan.

 

[Jay911]

I just found a website while looking for pics of Calgary Fire and EMS apparatus, and it happens to be photos of four of the STARS birds.

C-GCPH = STAR-4

C-FIOM = STAR-3

C-GDGP = STAR-2 (identified as STAR-1 as of this webpage's creation, but we know it's changed since then)

C-GBNH = STAR-1