I was wondering if there are any plane spotters / pilots / air enthusiasts etc on here.

I live in Newcastle and work in Blyth, which means at least twice a day I drive under the approach path to Newcastle Airport. 99 times out of 100 it's nothing special coming in to land. Sleazy Jets, BA, KLM, little Eastern Airways things etc etc.

But about 2 weeks ago there was a massive aircraft on approach. I have tried searching for it but can't find what it was.

Initally I thought it was a Hercules, same sort of wide body, short length ratio.

Brief description as follows:-

Painted dark grey / green.
4 Jet Engines, slung under the wings.
Wings attached to the body at the bottom of the fuselage.
Rear wings? were attached to the top of the tail, rather than the fuselage.
Had the little nose like a Hercules.

It's bugging me for ages.

Thanks

Mike

Was it a military aircraft?

The one that comes to mind is the C17, although the wings are at the top?

Linky

<----- AirBus Driver

haven't got a clue what aircraft you're on about, but the colour and 'little nose makes it sound Military

This could be the culprit. looking at it from the rear and from a long distance the Airborne radar can be mistaken for a tail.

nimrod?

Thanks lads.

I think Bilbro has it. I think I must have been mistaken about the position of the wings. I thought initially it was a Hercules, so perhaps they were mounted at the top!

Def not a AWACS / Nimrod. Too distinctive.

Cheers

Mike

Glad I could help

Just don't ask me anything about cars

There was one on the runway in September when me and the lass went on holiday.

It was parked on the apron and we were flying with Jet2 which was also over there.

As we went over on the bus there was a couple of army trucks and they were unloading a box with a flag over it....

Hey Clutch, you say it like you're proud to be a "BUS" driver

Anything like my toy below.




ATB Dan.

Does the C17 have the scary STOL capability of the C130?

I was a farnborough one year (when I worked over there=free tickets!), and saw the C130 land and get overtaken by its own touchdown tyresmoke. it stopped THAT quickly.

Impressive.

Ed.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ed_crouch
Does the C17 have the scary STOL capability of the C130?

I was a farnborough one year (when I worked over there=free tickets!), and saw the C130 land and get overtaken by its own touchdown tyresmoke. it stopped THAT quickly.

Impressive.

Ed.

---

C17

It can depoy all 4 engine thrust reversers IN flight. So yes it can stop quite quickly.

Compared to the Herc, which can land in 2000 fts at max weight the c17 stops in 3500ft at max weight.

The differance is a herc can carry 19 tonnes where a C17 carries 76.6 tonnes.

we've only 4 aircraft unless it was one of the USAF 196

ATB Dan.

I don't fly, just work on the engines and fuel systems.

For a scale referance, I can stand in the intakes easily.

ATB Dan.

[Edited on 1/11/07 by scutter]

Bill, that photo is almost exactly the same view I had as it came over the road.

Scutter, I'd agree that they are BIG planes!

Mike