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Files Update

by | Jul 19, 2024 | Database, Downloads, Online Logging, Spotting

The New Data Files.

Have grown tired of waiting for the Australian data file to be updated, so have ammended the downloads page to reflect the data set used to create the files along with the record count for each file.

Hopefully the Australian file will be updated soon, I’m currently working on converting the ancillary datafiles from the Australian site and expect to have them done for the middle of August this should add a few thousand additional records to the downloads available. It will comprise at least two files, the derigistered and the changed registration files.

Following that I expect to be uploading some more check lists and a number of military data sets, but first I’m off line for a couple of weeks.

If anyone has anything specific that they would like, I’ll see if I can extract it and put it in a format that can be used from the downloads page. But it’s unlikely that I’ll be picking up any stuff from the site until the begining of August at the earliest.

Online Logging Maybe!

by | Jul 19, 2024 | Database, Spotting

The Plane Spotters Community.

I’ve looked at a number of online logging platforms in the past, to be fair they all have good and bad points. For me the biggest negative has always been that a number of these sites restrict your ability to download your log, some to just once a year – for a dedicated spotter a year can be a lot of data.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see the facility to send your log to an Excel spread sheet that can be saved locally, allowing you to have a local copy and an online copy (more copies is always better). Now to be fair, I’ve only entered 100 records into the site and haven’t had time to fully investigate it. But compared to some of the other sites that I’ve looked at the features seem to be quite good.

The database is fairly good, I know from personal experience how onerous a task it can be keeping a database up to date. Having nearly 2000 copies of the FAA Database Download going back as far as the late 90’s and hard copies going back to 1964, that doesn’t cover the hundreds of copies of other registers and fleet lists that I have incorporated in my own personal database.

Having checked the data out it is fairly accurate, but there are a couple of gotchas when it comes to inputting the data – but all in all it is fairly slick. Five stars on the ability to download your data after every logging session, pretty good rating on everything else that I’ve tried.

Once I’ve given the site a good test, I’ll post again with a more detailed review. But first impressions indicate that this site is better than average for an online logging platform.

The site is available here and is worth a checkout.

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create the downloads on the site, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are all from the date indicated on the percentage bar – the next set of download files should be available early August – hopefully the Australians will have provided an update by then.

 

 

What’s in a sighting?

by | Jul 18, 2024 | Database, Online Logging, Spotting

Logging aircraft.

When it comes to your spotting log, it is all about personal choice or preference. Two plane spotters at the same airfield on the same day will obviously log all the same stuff, so far so good. But it is possible that, even though the sigtings may be logged in an identical manner on the day. When they are transferred to some kind of master log, they could be kept in an entirely different manner – there may even be completely different information stored.

Our two ficticious spotters, lets call them Fred and Joe might have different perspectives on the information that they want to record. As an example Fred may have seen the aircraft before, for Joe it may be a new frame. If the registration or the owner of the aircraft has changed, for Fred it may be a “paint scrape” for Joe it’s still a first sighting of that particular aircraft.

Fred may record additional information, for example “Brought the Barcelona Team to the Cup Final”. Joe on the other hand may just record it as a “Football Charter”, or he might add nothing to the log entry. So the entries that you create in your log on the day make a difference to the information further down the line if you want to do any kind of research or writing.

What do I record?

Typically I’d try for a photograph with the registration of serial number visible and sort it out later, I don’t tend to keep additional notes – unless it’s something out of the ordinary. For stuff that’s flying and is too far away for an image, Flight Radar and ADSB Global are your friend (which is why I have a Bee in my Bonnet over LADD and PIA), at the moment you can get most of the information that you need from these sources – with the caveat that LADD hides departure and arrival airports on Flight Radar and PIA hides everything on both Flight Radar and ADSB Global – inside US Air Space.

In my log, I generally record the basic information that I provide for down load on the site. What I add is a date, a location and whether it was the first time that I saw the air frame. I seldom add any notes other than a photograph ID so that I can reference the photograph instead of searching through the 50,000 or so digital images that I now have.

What should you record?

In my opinion, if you’re just starting out – everything that you can. As you become more experienced and refine your skills as a spotter, you’ll recognise what you need to record to give you what you want from the hobby.

On this Day – Prestwick 17/07/1962

by | Jul 17, 2024 | Airport History, Spotting, Wrecks and Relics

Prestwick 17th July 1962

I’m in possesion of some old logs from Prestwick, these date back some 60 plus years – so i thought that I’d share a log that matches the day and the month. It’s great fun looking back over these logs, there was a bit more variety and traffic at Prestwick then.

Below is the log for the day, it probably doesn’t cover the time before the first train and possibly after the last train – spotters used to be dependent on such things. But all in all I’m sure that you’ll agree that it was a not bad day, I’d certainly have liked to be there – it was a further four years before I managed a days spotting at Prestwick.

G-GBIE Beech Travelair Travelair Gmbh. (Ferry)
G-ARUO Comanche 250 Henry & Fawcett.
CCCP-75789 Il-18 Aeroflot.
G-ARHV Tri-Pacer Duncan Logan (Contrs.) Ltd.
PH-DSM DC-7C KLM
PH-DCA DC-8 KLM
G-AOVT Brittania 312 BOAC
CF-CZW Brittania 314 Canadian Pacific A/L
18360 CF-100 RCAF
12437 R4D8 USN
17166 R4D8 USN
00377 C-135A USAF
20940 C-124C USAF
30049 C-124C USAF
21014 C-124C USAF
0-50940 C-47 USAF
0-17428 T-33A USAF

All in all, that would have been considered a not bad day for a spotter at Prestwick. If it was a first visit there would have been the CF-100’s and the Sabres all over the back at the Monkton side, there were too many to list here in the short time that I have.

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are all from the 24th of June 2024 – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.

 

 

PIA Traffic is it increasing?

by | Jul 16, 2024 | Aviation News, Online Logging, Spotting, Spotting Locations, Spotting News

Is PIA traffic increasing?

I’d say that it most certainly is, since President Biden signed the new FAA legislation on the 16th of May 2024 there seems to be an increas in the visible traffic on ADSB Global.

What is PIA, it’s short for Privacy ICAO Address. Without delving into it too much, it’s a method that the US Government provides through it’s FAA, that can be used by any private individual to hide their private flying habits from the general public. The ICAO part is short for the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Why bother about the fact that someone wants to hide, actually I’m not that bothered. I am a little iritated about the fact that a number of the individuals who want to obfuscate the fact that they are zooming around in private jets, are in some cases the people who would have you believe that they are in favour of a greener sustainable future.

Or in other cases people who have cultivated a public following, then decided that they want to cherry pick what the public sees of their lifestyle. I understand the security concerns that these people may have, infact I can sympathise with them on that point – not from any personal perspective, but for the reason that being famouse doesn’t give anyone an excuse to bother you.

My issue with the privacy codes comes from my interest in plane spotting, I don’t actually care who is on the aeroplane – I really only want to know if I’ve seen the plane before or not. As a plane spotter it is pretty annoying, I’m still looking for aircraft identities from many years ago. And as far as this PIA program goes I wasn’t bothered by it until I discovered that it may be used internationally.

There are many problems associated with people knowing where you are and are going, but in truth trying to hide the identity of your private Jet isn’t very effective – see the article from Forbes here and the lack of effectiveness becomes obvious. The chances of hiding from the spotting community are slim in the short term and pretty well impossible in the long term. Hiding from others not interested enough to use all the services and tecnology available might be easier, but in many cases these may well be the people that you want to cultivate.

As a footnote I would like to point out that the PIA program is free and available to any one, the FAA have assigned more than 50,000 ICAO codes to the program. As of now only a few hundred of these have been allocated, in reality to be effective, the codes have to be changed every few flights at least – but the logistics of that are quite difficult. So at the moment, the PIA program is enjoying very limited success.

 

Support this site.

It does take some time and effort to create these downloads, also there are a number of costs associated with running the site. So if you can consider supporting this site with a donation it would be helpful, if you find the site useful then why not treat me to a doughnut – or even a doughnut and a coffee if you’re feeling really flush.

But regardless of whether you donate or not, I hope that the contents of the files are of some use, also bear in mind that the files are all from the 24th of June 2024 – I will try and produce a new data set every month or more frequently if time allows.