Attention, DCA planespotter types, and you know who you are.
Last edited Wed May 24, 2023, 12:35 PM - Edit history (4)
I went into work in DC yesterday. I took the newly reopened Yellow Line in both directions. On the way back home, at about 6:28 p.m., just as we were accelerating around the curve at the south end of the airport, I spotted what at first I thought was the empennage of a Viscount. Which is impossible.
Upon a closer look, I saw that it was a much more common P-3. It had a dark blue tail with a wiggly white line. I figured it had to be a NOAA P-3. Google is your friend, and a quick search this morning came up with this:
https://flightaware.com/photos/view/951273-931db33487ce2ed7a6216aa4d000789c48119544/aircrafttype/P3/sort/votes/page/1
The "wiggly white line" on the vertical stabilizer is an albatross. It was either N42RF, "Kermit," or the similar N43RF, "Miss Piggy." More searching found this:
https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A4FAC3
N42RF is nowhere near DCA. But N43RF is:
https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A52242
That's dynamic, so here's the log:
https://www.radarbox.com/data/mode-s/A52242/1970795274/log
It's N43RF for certain. To be exacting, the aircraft is a WP-3D. See this:
Lockheed WP-3D Orion
Right, a "Hurricane Hunter":
A Day in the Life of a NOAA Hurricane Hunter
I don't know how often it shows up at DCA, but a few years back, there was a NOAA aircraft here for an open house.
I'll look into it.
Contact Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
Update: these Hurricane Hunters:
https://twitter.com/NOAA_HurrHunter
Not these Hurricane Hunters:
https://twitter.com/53rdWRS
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