Some weird KPBI movements....

[MarkLawrence]

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been having a lot of A124 movements in and out of KPBI - and I wish I knew why. They are all Volga-Dnepr AN124's coming from various parts of the world. I've yet to be able to catch an arrival or departure because the all seem to be in the last evening. Tonights example from both Flightstats and Flightaware:

Ident,Type,Origin Scheduled Departure Time,Departure Time,Estimated Time Of Arrival
VDA2127,A124,Yemelyanovo (UNKL),Sun 12:40PM GMT,Sun 12:40PM GMT,Sun 10:40PM EDT


I might actually try and get out to Military Trail this evening (at the end of the runway) and try and catch this arrival - might be a nice night shot...

Wish I knew why they were coming in and out though....

[njgtr82]

Mark, Sikorsky has a plant of some sort in West Palm Beach so that could be a reason. Parts or aircraft movements is my guess. Good luck, hope to see some shots soon.

Bill

[MarkLawrence]

Forgot about Sikorsky...yes - they are in North Palm Beach County - out near P&W...I guess that's what they are for. Thanks Bill! Going to try and catch this one this evening....

[MarkLawrence]

This has really interested me this evening - this route - for those that have a flight planner for FS9 (I used FSBuild to check it) or access to a flight plan generator...this is really an interesting route:

UNKL DCT USOPA B938 RO B151 UIKK A180 UEMO B155 UEEE G370 INLIR A812 UHMM G370 URABI B337 BUMAT B233 NB B244 OTZ J502 FAI J515 YXY NCA13 TULAG CUT190 PETMA NCA13 YQD J596 YWG J89 BAE J101 OBK J89 IIU J99 VXV J46 AMG V51 CRG STAR KPBI

Goes out over the eastern side of Russia, over far western Alaska, Canada, joins US airspace over Duluth, then Chicago down over the Midwest and down the Florida peninsula to PBI...Duration: 13 hours 51 minutes! Never realised the AN124 had that range - but - looking on Wikipedia - the longest flight by an AN124 - 25 hours+!