Strange looking helicopter over Runcorn

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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To those in the North West. Did anyone see the helicopter over the Runcorn area 10.20am, and possibly the outskirts? It made a good bit of noise and was flying very slowly, and did a couple of laps then flew off somewhere. I only had the Compact with me, and it may have been on digital zoom. Very poor photo, and the rotor blades have been frozen.

Just looking at the time stamp on the photo and it says 9.20am, but I forgot to adjust the time. Anyway, did anyone manage to get a better photo?
 
looks like a coastguard helicopter to me.
 
We had one doing laps around South Yorkshire on April 5th, I guess they're using it to monitor the lockdown.

Coastguard.jpg
 
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Yep, it's a Bristow SAR helicopter who operate the coastguard flights for the MCA since it changed form an MOD contract. Looks like an S92, we have 2 based here at my work.
 
We have this plane tracker app, and it shows the name and number of passing aircraft. The helicopter did not show up on the app, but other helicopters do, even RAF ones. We thought it may have been a covert one. I think we watch too many spy series on tv. lol
 
Every now and again we get a twin engine aircraft flying loops of warrington , Beechcraft I think , you can hear its familiar drone, somebody told me it's a surveillance aircraft full of electronics monitoring something on the ground, same aircraft has been spotted over Bolton doing it

It'd be interesting to find out what it's actually doing
 
wack61 said:
Every now and again we get a twin engine aircraft flying loops of warrington , Beechcraft I think , you can hear its familiar drone, somebody told me it's a surveillance aircraft full of electronics monitoring something on the ground, same aircraft has been spotted over Bolton doing it

It'd be interesting to find out what it's actually doing
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I think I have heard that one a few times. You can tell when it is not the police helicopter flying over head, as they have their own distinct sound. Those big helicopters have a thundering deep rumbling sort of sound.

Pity I did not have the DSLR and 300mm with me this morning, only the dinky little compact. :(
 
If It Moves... said:
We had one doing laps around a very landlocked Doncaster on April 5th, I guess they're using it to monitor the lockdown
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I would have thought local police helicopter would be cheaper. That big helicopter would use a massive amount of fuel, I would have thought.
 
I saw it fly over where I live in South Cheshire one day a year or so ago, and if flew back again a few hours later. As there's not much coast in Cheshire I wondered if they were perhaps taking it in for maintenance/repair or something like that?
 
Mr Badger said:
I saw it fly over where I live in South Cheshire one day a year or so ago, and if flew back again a few hours later. As there's not much coast in Cheshire I wondered if they were perhaps taking it in for maintenance/repair or something like that?
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It flew over Runcorn in the direction of Liverpool airport, it obviously did not land as it came back within a few minutes. It circled the area a couple of times, then flew off in the direction of Wales, or roughly in that direction.
 
The coastguard helicopters have taken over from both the Royal Air Force and Navy search and rescue teams. So they are used by mountain rescue groups and also on occasions medical evacuations. So they can be operating almost anywhere.
 
wack61 said:
Every now and again we get a twin engine aircraft flying loops of warrington , Beechcraft I think , you can hear its familiar drone, somebody told me it's a surveillance aircraft full of electronics monitoring something on the ground, same aircraft has been spotted over Bolton doing it

It'd be interesting to find out what it's actually doing
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it’s the Shadow R1.
could be practicing or could be tracking terrorist suspects. There were two circling Manchester last week for several hours.
 
I did get talking to a chap ( while maintaining the 2 meter rule) . He said ( shouted ) that he had managed to get a goodish photo. He had a Sony bridge camera, 20x zoom I think it was. I have taken the DSLR and 300mm zoom out, nearly every exercising morning. Today I take the compact, and something of interest flies over head. :(
 
Shadow R1 currently airbourne. Typhoon down by Kings lynn too.
Loads of military activity the last few weeks.

4ABE4FAD-1D73-43EC-AE16-AADFF02803C8.png
 
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The plane tracker app is amazing, me and the missus love it. Seeing a plane on the app approaching near ours, and going outside to see it fly by. Even more amazing and fascinating, is finding out where it has come from, and it's destination.
 
jonbeeza said:
The plane tracker app is amazing, me and the missus love it. Seeing a plane on the app approaching near ours, and going outside to see it fly by. Even more amazing and fascinating, is finding out where it has come from, and it's destination.
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I also have a scanner, so I can hear them communicating too. The civi stuff anyway, not so much military.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I also have a scanner, so I can hear them communicating too. The civi stuff anyway, not so much military.
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I find that fascination, I think I could get hooked on plane spotting. :)
 
jonbeeza said:
I find that fascination, I think I could get hooked on plane spotting. :)
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I don’t wear an anorak or take down numbers on a notepad, let me make that very clear :ROFLMAO:
Im just interested in the process of ATC and aviation in general.
 
jonbeeza said:
The plane tracker app is amazing, me and the missus love it. Seeing a plane on the app approaching near ours, and going outside to see it fly by. Even more amazing and fascinating, is finding out where it has come from, and it's destination.
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Ok you will love this, find home on the map and watch the ISS ( International Space Station) go over, it will give you times to see it etc.,

https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/


and as you can see it is possible to see it!

https://www.google.com/search?q=iss...wTqhqXACw&bih=910&biw=1280&client=firefox-b-d
 
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TCR4x4 said:
I don’t wear an anorak or take down numbers on a notepad, let me make that very clear :ROFLMAO:
Im just interested in the process of ATC and aviation in general.
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I suppose that is what most of us are doing anyway, when we take photos of birds people and streets. We are logging stuff, when we take photos. :)
 
You used to get Iridium flares of the satellites that you could spot from the door, however they have since been replaced so you don't see them since about 2018. however you can watch Musks new ones that come over in a row

https://findstarlink.com/
 
It is very eerie, no planes in the sky and no noise of traffic. Looking on the plane tracker app, and not a plane for miles. Nearest one is in Birmingham. And to think people in London used to complain about noisy aircraft, way back in the 70s or 80s I think it was.
 
We are on the Heathrow to US flight path, just on the Welsh border. It’s certainly quieter, but still quite a few flying over each day. Mostly cargo I assume.
From here, I can just about pick up Heathrow arrivals on the scanner, Birmingham often comes through and I’ve had Liverpool once or twice.
 
jonbeeza said:
It is very eerie, no planes in the sky and no noise of traffic. Looking on the plane tracker app, and not a plane for miles. Nearest one is in Birmingham. And to think people in London used to complain about noisy aircraft, way back in the 70s or 80s I think it was.
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This shows how bad it is, freight is very busy, but they are night owls, as for passenger flights, these car parks would be full to the brim normally.

Airport by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 14 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 4 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 6 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

and all the other carparks on the airport are similar, the lone car in picture one has now departed LOL, the others you see in a couple are hire stuff etc parked up.
 
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TonyT said:
This shows how bad it is, freight is very busy, but they are night owls, as for passenger flights, these car parks would full to the brim normally.

Airport by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 14 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 4 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

Airport 6 by Tony Taylor, on Flickr

and all the other carparks on the airport are similar, the lone car in picture one has now departed LOL, the others you see in a couple are hire stuff etc parked up.
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Just amazing how things are at the moment. Although I have noticed the air quality is so much better. :-)
 
rick448 said:
Yep, it's a Bristow SAR helicopter who operate the coastguard flights for the MCA since it changed form an MOD contract. Looks like an S92, we have 2 based here at my work.
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It looks identical to the S92. Do Bristow manufacture under licence or is it pure coincidence?
 
rick448 said:
Yep, it's a Bristow SAR helicopter who operate the coastguard flights for the MCA since it changed form an MOD contract. Looks like an S92, we have 2 based here at my work.
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Are those the version that had a spot of bother with gearbox oil leaks caused by the oil filter studs shearing? I seem to remember a few accidents... not sure it's the same version though. The one I'm thinking of was used a lot by oil rigs.
 
swanseamale47 said:
Are those the version that had a spot of bother with gearbox oil leaks caused by the oil filter studs shearing? I seem to remember a few accidents... not sure it's the same version though. The one I'm thinking of was used a lot by oil rigs.
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Yes, that is the aircraft. As I am not an engineer I don't have the details, but I believe there has been a change to the maintenance schedule for these which involves checking something in the gearbox with a borescope at regular intervals. I believe this is basically the same as the ones used by offshore companies but modified for the additional need of SAR, e.g. changes in configuration for extended range, addition of FLIR cameras etc.

Some basic info here.
 
rick448 said:
Yes, that is the aircraft. As I am not an engineer I don't have the details, but I believe there has been a change to the maintenance schedule for these which involves checking something in the gearbox with a borescope at regular intervals. I believe this is basically the same as the ones used by offshore companies but modified for the additional need of SAR, e.g. changes in configuration for extended range, addition of FLIR cameras etc.

Some basic info here.
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If I remember rightly it was something to do with using titanium bolts in a steel or whatever it's made of housing, theres some sort of corrosion takes place, that led to some of the bolts holding the oil filter shearing and a gearbox oil leak. If memory serves me there was an issue with the oil temp reading, it failed to read the higher temp fooling the crew into thinking it was a faulty sensor rather than loss of pressure. (my mate was a helicopter engine instructor at the time)
 
swanseamale47 said:
If I remember rightly it was something to do with using titanium bolts in a steel or whatever it's made of housing, theres some sort of corrosion takes place, that led to some of the bolts holding the oil filter shearing and a gearbox oil leak. If memory serves me there was an issue with the oil temp reading, it failed to read the higher temp fooling the crew into thinking it was a faulty sensor rather than loss of pressure. (my mate was a helicopter engine instructor at the time)
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Exactly this. If you register with the AAIB you should still be able to access the full investigation and lessons learnt.

GC
 
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