Fun mystery on ADS-B Exchange

a reply to: FredT

Six SAs arrived in the UK today on their delivery flight.

a reply to: EartOccupant

Raytheon has some interesting testbed aircraft. Their 727 landed in LA over the weekend.



Then there's the Boeing 757 they used for an F-22 stand in.



There's even a fun small engine testbed.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, i guess then they do live up to their name in avionics as well

a reply to: EartOccupant

I'd love to know what the 727 does. I bet there's some fun there.

Boeing stopped flying their 757 for awhile, but we've caught it on the ground with them obviously using it for something.

Honeywell is doing some social media stuff with their engine testbed. They recently had a Q&A with the flight and test crews.

a reply to: Zaphod58

So being it Raytheon, it seems to me there research is not in aerodynamics... we have other players for that.

But the strange shape additions are interesting. Sensor housing?

Honeywell is in our country almost exclusively known by consumers for house heating thermostats : )
I do however find them entangled in exotic energy research on my travels around innovation of energy production.

Sure it is an engine? Or an advanced high speed wind turbine ?? ( generator )

a reply to: EartOccupant

The nose is most likely an F-35 radar judging by the shape. The side might be communications related. It's some kind of antenna housing though.

Honeywell at one point was one of the biggest players in aviation systems. They're still a multi-billion dollar company, and produce engines and APUs as well as some avionics for commercial and military aircraft.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ah, now i understand i think. They take the shape of a designed part of another aircraft, and then fit in their electronic wizzard stuff, in the actual shape of the destination part and can test the effects of the shape on their equipment without having the actual aircraft being developed airborne.

If that makes any sense : )

Now you mention, I vaguely remember Honeywell making jet turbines. I also know they made some highly advanced wind turbine designs.. you still see nowhere ; )

a reply to: EartOccupant

Yeah, it let's them test the aerodynamic stresses of whatever they're testing, and with radar systems, they also install the full radar system, and they can test if the radome causes interference, as well as the performance in flight as opposed to on a ground rig.

Honeywell has branched out into several areas. They mostly do small aircraft engines on the engine side. Business jet class, as well as VLJs.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

Six SAs arrived in the UK today on their delivery flight.

Nice. Pity the USAF can't convert all the -E to this standard

Russki Tu-154 roaming the CONUS on an open skies mission
S-3 viking up for NASA

Cobra Ball up over NY

a reply to: FredT

Which way is Ball heading? I think they're getting close to a swap in the UK.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

Which way is Ball heading? I think they're getting close to a swap in the UK.

When I spotted it it was looked like it was heading over the pond based on its track.

a reply to: FredT

I think right now it's Combat Sent and Rivet Joint, so he's probably replacing one of them.

Mercury over Virginia flying an odd track. French A340 heading into the US up near Detroit.

Speaking of weird tracks....




Huh, that's a new one. DeHavilland UV-18A Twin Otter belonging to the United States Naval Postgraduate School.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I actually spoke with someone that was a crew member on Rivet Joint.

But he was tight lipped about saying anything that could of given anything away.

a reply to: grey580

Generally the crews on those things won't give much away. You might get a smirk or a smile, but that's about it.

MC-12W Liberty is over by Fort Hood just doing circles.

www.airforce-technology.com...

Training maybe? Or doing ISR work?

a reply to: grey580

Training.

Big boy over the Netherlands:

F-GSTB 394A61
Airbus Transport International BGA113B
France Civil
Airbus A300 B4-608ST

The 747 SP Sofia is up over Oklahoma