White Unmarked 747 at Cargo Terminal In Alaska

reply to post by 2ciewan


Ted Stevens International Airport

Arrived Yesterday, afternoonish.

Thank you.

This may not help without the flight number, or tail number but www.flightaware.com is a great tracking site for following flights. It also shows airport activity if you have the four letter airport code.

[edit on 12/4/2007 by Zaphod58]

reply to post by Anubis Kanubis


Sorry, had a long stressful day at work, and when I read your post saying that it was too polished and clean to be a used aircraft, it just pushed me over the edge, and came across as saying I didn't know what I was talking about, even though I've spent most of my life around planes.

I'd be more worried about the MIB in black SUV's now that you've blown your cover by snapping pictures at an International airport in this post 911 world we now live in

LOL

It constantly amazes me when people don't trust people who've worked there entire lives on aircraft, then proceed to tell us that we're wrong because it definately has no identification markings with no evidence what so ever, except of course, there 'eyewitness reports' and a extremely low resolution picture.

Look harder, there ARE identification numbers on the tail of those, you implied it yourself when you thought it was A6-GDP, which DOES have a tail number on it.

And the white paint jobs, imply NOTHING. White paint jobs have got nothing to do with whether the owner is government or not. Typically when an airliner changes owners, they paint it white till a check. An example of this is in akmakm post. Your plane and his plane are two diferant planes. The engines are completely diferant.

Aircraft also do not typically have dents of them, and provided they're well taken after, they look pretty new. I should know, I work on warbirds.

Cobzz, You can tell that the aircraft has dent from looking at that blurry picture???

If we have a proper picture maybe we can tell the difference..

Ashok

reply to post by akmakm


The OP stated that it looked new because it didn't have any dents in it, and that, really, means nothing. Planes do not usually have dents in them and are VERY strong machines. Today we had a winch smash into the tail of a Trojan and the winch was more damaged than the plane.

[edit on 5/12/2007 by C0bzz]

reply to post by akmakm


You can tell that they're different planes just by looking at the engines. The engine cowling on the pic taken recently goes much farther back than the cowling does on A6-GDP. As I pointed out in a previous post.

Originally posted by 2ciewan
Yes, they get painted... but ive yet to see one fly without so much as a registration on the aircraft.... don't think that really happens unless its military or ex military.

As I have said, I have personally seen it happen, and I have personally worked on aircraft in that condition.

Originally posted by 2ciewan
This is the same for most countries, and for an aircraft to be airworthy, it must display markings, for ATC and ground operations identification.

Again, if the aircraft was purchased from another airline the certificate was already issued under the old owner.

Originally posted by 2ciewan
"FAA 100% all the time, either because its not practical, or because of time/money, sometimes they just take the fine." - thats not true.

Absolutely 10,000% true, if you like it or not.
Again, this is something I have seen in person. I have seen aircraft fly with lists of no-ops that would make peoples hair stand on end. The FAA only has to deal with a relatively small group of professional companies when they deal with airlines. If you think they have some kind of traffic cops who ride around out there and enforce all their rules, then you obviously don’t know much about the subject. They entrust that the airlines will follow the rules they set forth, and will fine them if they are caught violating those rules. Many of the rules are nothing more then guidelines anyway (hence that they are called FAA GUILDLINES), and not really rules per say. The airlines have their own sets of operational rules that they follow, which in many cases are even more stringent then the FAA’s rules. It does not behoove an airline to get caught breaking those rules, or to operate in an unsafe manner as that would hurt their customer reputation. However, that said, it can and has happened. The times I have seen it has been with new or restarted airlines, who don’t have maintenance departments at most locations, have to contract out their ramp operations, and don’t have aircraft to ferry in to replace the aircraft being taken out of service.

The FAA does not look for those tail markings anyway, they don’t really use them in their operations, what they FAA is concerned with is that the aircraft ID shows up in the transponder ping so they can identify it on radar. Those markings are used to identify the aircraft if they had to have another aircraft identify the tail number in-flight, and for the ramp to ensure they are parking the correct aircraft at the correct gate then loading/fueling the correct aircraft with the correct load.

I have seen aircraft fly with lists of no-ops that would make peoples hair stand on end.

I'm curious....

What are the worst no-ops you've ever seen?

I did state when I posted the comparison pics that you could kind of see a row of identification behind the fence wire. It is right where the UAE plane identification is. Later, I saw it with the lights the on same way and it was the same engine.

Although I understand that it is possible to see white aircraft. This one fit all of the profile of the sheik's horsecraft. It isn't too unconceivable to think it would overnight here. Anchorage is the passage to the East. Maybe if something is on the verge of happening, the sheik wanted all of his possessions gathered?

Sorry about the picture quality, it is hard to remain legal and take good night photos at an airport.

[edit on 12/6/2007 by Anubis Kanubis]

No, actually it DOESN'T fit the profile of the sheik's aircraft. As I pointed out in my previous posts, it uses different engines than that aircraft. It is definitely NOT the sheik's aircraft.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I have an office in Northville, MI. I just spotted a white 747 on approach, probably to Willow Run airport in Ypsilanti. As I recall, McCain and Palin are supposed to appear nearby in Sterling Heights, MI after the convention. Given that the other sitings have been in Alaska, wonder if this plane carries some of the advance people for the campaign.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Was this the ship at Boeing Field not too long ago? I noticed it too and wondered if it were an inter-airline purchase or pvt/govt aircraft. Gotta say she sure was pretty.

reply to post by Anubis Kanubis


Looks like a B747-200, doesn't it? Kalitta Air does alot of transpacific ops and their -200's are solid white.....

reply to post by Anubis Kanubis

I saw the same ( all white/ no markings), 747 take off from Atlanta International Airport this past Wed or Thur. Always heard of these but never saw one w/o even id #'s.

reply to post by Anubis Kanubis


hi...today is the 17/1/09 for the last couple of days a white 747 with no markings at all has been at the sydney aiport. it is gone now. i too found it very strange...the only windows were on the first class level.