FighterControl

johnhowe wrote:NVGs required for FAC on 27th, February,2012 18.00 to 20.45GMT SFC to 15,000 feet

Day/night FAC 1st,March to 2nd,March,2012, 3 Fast Jets involved in FAC Schedule 10.00 to 21.00 Legend Control

Arrived at Spadeadam at 11am 2nd, March. FAC callsign Bullion was controlling Lima 01 a Tucano the pilot was doing the exact serials

as the T1 Hawks from Leeming, most of the serial proviles were over Grey Mare Hill.

After the Tucano RTBd. Pirate 19 a Leeming JFATSU Hawk arrived to do work with Legend then it was lunchtime.In the afternoon another Tucano arrived to do more serials with Bullion and Legend this Tuc was simulating an attack provile as an A10. not like the real thing

but some dives and nice pullups most of this serial was to the east of Berry Hill and the airfield. Whilst the Tuc as low Level Pirate 10 was flying a high level provile.


I left at 15.30 no USAF types had been on the range, The Comms at Spade were fantastic I could hear Warton callsigns as Fighters andTargets + the Tanker Trials


d

Oh dear, Tucanos now used on FAC exercises!! yikes things must be bad! lol

from the 10th, March 2012 for a couple of weeks there will be Dutch Helos on the Range Chinooks, Cougars,
Etc its a Tac Blaze 2012. operating from Carlisle.
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Tutors have also been used of late. Sign of the times I guess

Now that is really sad lol

It is, soon be micro lights

Forget the microlights, I've got a really good stunt kite that we could photograph if you want!!
Let's at least have a few UAVs to make the trips to the outback more interesting - I see that ranges in the Catterick area are now NOTAMed for this usage, not that any should really be that visible to us on the ground.
Still, hopefully the Dutch will continue to put on a good show as they do seem very welcoming to the photographers, which is always appreciated.

There is a Notam for today 7th, March, 2012. It states that D510 & D510A will be additionally active from 9am to
5.0pm SFC to 18,000 feet. Info from ais. check this space for next few days.

Apologies this is a correction to the above post, It is not a FAC Ex, it was described on the Notam as increased activity by Fast Jets
over and above the normal traffic. It is also Notammed for today the 8th March same details. Incidentially I could hear 308.775 Spade
ICF as clear as a bell at Warton whilst waiting for another Typhoon first flight ZK336.

Can anyone confirm the fast jets headed towards Spade today, I caught them from a distance from my house near Morpeth, may have been F-15E's (otherwise Tonkas) at low-level, and would have been inbound Spade ~14:30.

Sorry can't confirm visual in the Tyne Valley of what they were - I did hear low flyers mid afternoon and to me the sound was more like Tornado rather than F-15 but . . . others may be able to give more definite answer and have a look at webmonkeyuk's *date* Teesside 'SBS Log' for today (hopefully posted tomorrow) in the Worldwide Milair Monitoring part of this Forum as he also notes times which may help give a clue for what was flying in the mid afternoon over this region.

Spade was full of gr4s and typhoons yesterday carrying out an excerise using paveways.

[quote="johnhowe"]There is a Notam for today 7th, March, 2012. It states that D510 & D510A will be additionally active from 9am to
5.0pm SFC to 18,000 feet. Info from ais. check this space for next few days.

Apologies this is a correction to the above post, It is not a FAC Ex, it was described on the Notam as increased activity by Fast Jets
over and above the normal traffic. It is also Notammed for today the 8th March same details. Incidentially I could hear 308.775 Spade
ICF as clear as a bell at Warton whilst waiting for another Typhoon first flight ZK336.[/quote hope its on tomorrow.

[quote="johnhowe"]There is a Notam for today 7th, March, 2012. It states that D510 & D510A will be additionally active from 9am to
5.0pm SFC to 18,000 feet. Info from ais. check this space for next few days.

Apologies this is a correction to the above post, It is not a FAC Ex, it was described on the Notam as increased activity by Fast Jets.

Another Notam for the 12th, March, 2012 increased traffic on D510 & D510A SFC to 18K feet 9am to 5.0pm no
mention of Tac Blaze on this particular site.

Yep I have noticed no mention of TAC blaze. Also upto now no transport stuff to NCL which is the norm let's wait and see. I'm at Carlisle today so any FC boys come and say hello I'll be in a grey Mondeo

michael1970 wrote:Yep I have noticed no mention of TAC blaze. Also upto now no transport stuff to NCL which is the norm let's wait and see. I'm at Carlisle today so any FC boys come and say hello I'll be in a 'GAY'Mondeo

I hope you get something this time, it doesn't look that much of a big exercise this time around

After the Dutch Helos vacate the Range, the Big Boys take over Notam for tonight Action from 17.00 to 22.00
SFC to 55k feet which is the same as the Cape Wrath Notam.
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Wills lands Seaking on Water.

TAC Blaze today now that's more
Like it. An hour and a half of low flying in and around Wiley. Also 3 apaches on Lightning Force flaring. All in all a great day. Roll on Monday

Visited Carlisle Airport today Thursday the 22nd March, 2012, quite surprised at the large amount of Dutch Army/Airforce equipment ranging from portable radar sites to hgvs to Oshkosh tankers.

On the ground were the 3 Chinooks and the Cougar two of the Chinooks had rotors turning and duly took off heading to Spadeadam.

30 minutes later I saw them over Spadeadam Farm and RTB Carlisle for fuel.
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Wiley Syke was full of Thursday Grandads, we had a good crack, Catkins(Chris) went to the gorge to catch the Helos flying past the
River Irthing waterfall, I went to the second layby and walked to the river and caught the Chinooks and Cougar entering the range at
ultra low level unfortunately I waited for a couple of hours but nothing flew through the Gorge.

On returning to the layby it was full of cars the Grandads had been removed by the Army due to the Flare Trials, The Army require
a sterile area of 500 yards for firing smokey Sams and Laser Firing. As it turned out it was blessing in disguise because all the low level
action was directly in front of us near to the Afghan Village. After the Chinooks departed the 3 Apaches fired the flares directly
opposite the second layby. All in all a good day.

johnhowe wrote:Visited Carlisle Airport today Thursday the 22nd March, 2012, quite surprised at the large amount of Dutch Army/Airforce equipment ranging from portable radar sites to hgvs to Oshkosh tankers.

On the ground were the 3 Chinooks and the Cougar two of the Chinooks had rotors turning and duly took off heading to Spadeadam.

30 minutes later I saw them over Spadeadam Farm and RTB Carlisle for fuel.

Wiley Syke was full of Thursday Grandads, we had a good crack, Catkins(Chris) went to the gorge to catch the Helos flying past the
River Irthing waterfall, I went to the second layby and walked to the river and caught the Chinooks and Cougar entering the range at
ultra low level unfortunately I waited for a couple of hours but nothing flew through the Gorge.

On returning to the layby it was full of cars the Grandads had been removed by the Army due to the Flare Trials, The Army require
a sterile area of 500 yards for firing smokey Sams and Laser Firing. As it turned out it was blessing in disguise because all the low level
action was directly in front of us near to the Afghan Village. After the Chinooks departed the 3 Apaches fired the flares directly
opposite the second layby. All in all a good day.

Eeeks, that's the trouble with the gorge, you're in a valley and have difficulty seeing what's happening over the hill! The gorge is a lot of waiting for that few minutes of absolutely brilliant low level flying that quite often never happens, but at least the Dutch provide the best opportunities.
So it was just as well Danny and Duane's gramp were there to chat to while we basked in the beautiful sunshine! Trevor had location halfway along eastern section of the valley, and we did get to see the chinooks low level into the village. But its surprising how far away it is and I have yet another 'action in the landscape' photo for my collection, oh and got some nice waterfall pictures too!!
Anyone get any photos of the flare trials?

Chris

Another superb day at Spadeadam with the Chinooks, Cougars and later in the day the Apaches. I was on the second layby
with Chris, we had numerous low level passes by the Chinooks and Cougars.

In the afternoon I went to the eastern end of the Gorge near to Wiley Syke Farm, after an hour or so I was rewarded by
seeing the Chinooks and the Cougars in the Gorge well worth the wait.

In the late afternoon the Apaches commenced the flare trials, after the flare trials the Apaches decided to outdo the the
Dutch Helos, one was flying an attack profile diving from 200 feet to ultra low level fairly tearing around the range, perhaps
it was a bit of Dutch courage.

viewtopic.php?f=121&t=54729" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; So elegantly put.
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Just a a post script to days action, Chris & I went to The Gilsland Spa Hotel (Owned by the CO-OP) one of the waitresses
had an unusual excuse for being late for work, the road she was travelling on was blocked by Dutch Chinook.