Issue 9 – February 2017
More goodies keep flowing onto our desk every month. We are nothing short of delighted. However, bad news also flowed in. With the world’s last flying Vulcan now out in the cold, and a number of airshows facing cancellation, we realise the delicate situation of our passion for aviation. Our hobby will never draw the sponsorship monies associated with big sport. Which means that those in charge of any aspect of our hobby have a great responsibility towards themselves, their charges and the aviation community in general. We take the opportunity of this issue to salute a group of volunteers who do a sterling job to keep a relatively unknown, and unloved aircraft alive and running. Charles and his team have indeed shown the importance of hard work, enthusiasm, and keeping your feet on the ground, and not biting more than you can chew. May I take this opportunity to remind everyone of our ‘Support Your Magazine’ initiative. Please show our contributors your appreciation for giving you a magazine without spending a small fortune at the newsagent.
Mark Zerafa Editor
Got Something to Share? If you have anything aviation related, be it photos, articles or artworks, please contact us on:
Spottermagmalta@gmail.com
Cover Photo: Head on, this Bangladeshi Army Aviation Dauphin prepares for lift-off. (Shadman Al Samee)
Contents Peru’s Mirage 2000s
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Toronto Pearson Airport
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Irish Air Corps
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USS Wasp
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Remembering McDonnell’s Tri-Jet
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KDC-10 – DC-10 Swansong
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PZL Iskra
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Bangladeshi Army Aviation
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Credits Mark Zerafa, Massimiliano Zammit, Adam Tetzlaff, Oscar Ardiles Almeida, Manuel Armas, Paul Harvey, Don Cashen, Vangelis Antonakis, Brendan O’Neill, Charles Hilditch, Patryk Szymanski, Shadman Al Samee
Editorial Address: 238, Morning Star, Manuel Dimech Str Sliema SLM 1052 MALTA, EUROPE
Editor: Profiles:
Mark Zerafa
Design Assistant:
Massimiliano Zammit
Richard J. Caruana Massimiliano Zammit
Copyright Notice All photos and articles remain the intellectual and artistic property or the respective credited persons. All unauthorised reproduction, by any means, both printed and digital, is considered an infringement of this copyright and all remedies available by law will be taken against any infringements of such copyright.
Inner Cover: A United Express EMB-190 gets de-iced prior to departure from Toronto. (Adam Tetzlaff)
If you enjoy reading Spotter Magazine every month, you will appreciate the hard work of many volunteers all around the world. You will also realise that buying a similar publication from your newsagent isn’t cheap. But Spotter Magazine is free, to encourage the love of our passion for aviation all over the world and promoting the talent of upcoming aviation photographers. We firmly believe that all photographers should be compensated for their work. So show your appreciation for our work by sending us a donation, however large or small, to our PayPal account quoted below. At the end of every year, these funds will be distributed amongst our contributors, according to their input in the magazine over the year. So please show your appreciation and support to all those who help give you a monthly aviation read, free of charge.
Greece Tour – 2nd-6th May 2017 Hellenic AF RF-4E Phantom Retirement – Kalamata AB – Tatoi – Wrecks & Relics
Organisers of Planespotting Travel since 2005 SpottersTravelMalta@gmail.com Tel. (+356) 7979 1275
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Peru bought twelve Mirage 2000s in 1984. Serving with Escuadron Aereo No. 4, the Mirages are based at La Joya AFB, close to the border with Bolivia and Chile. The aircraft, 10 single seater Mirage 2000D and 2 two-seat Mirage 2000DP, were subjected to an avionics upgrade in 2012. Peruvian Mirages can be armed with Magic and Super 530AAMs, AS-30L laser-guided air-to surface missiles and Armat anti-radiation missiles, as well as ATLIS II lasertargeting pods for guided air-to-ground munitions. .
Photos: Oscar Adriles Almeida, Manuel Armas Text: Mark Zerafa
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Toronto Pearson International Airport (IATA code YYZ, ICAO code CYYZ) is the largest and busiest airport in Canada. Named after Lester B. Pearson, Nobel Peace Laureate and Prime Minister of Canada, the airport handles over 41 million passengers a year. It is the main hub of Air Canada, and is also one of the hubs of FedEx and WestJet. With 75 airlines operating out of this airport, with flights ranging from transcontinental flights to regional flights, this airport offers spotters a varied selection of aircraft movements.
Photos: Adam Tetzlaff Text: Mark Zerafa
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A Cathay Pacific 777 gets de-iced prior to departure to Hong Kong.
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(above) The vast expanse of Canada and its relatively inhospitable terrain, especially towards the North, make air travel an important part of its transport network. WestJet and Air Canada operate numerous internal flights from Toronto. (left) The 787 has ushered a new era of fuel efficiency, rendering it possible to airlines to offer direct flights on long-range routes which previously were deemed uneconomical to operate due to lower demand levels..
The Zimbabwe Air Force was represented by two K-8 trainers, supported by a CASA 212.
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Some classic airliners can still be viewed at Toronto. Cargojet is the last 727 operator of this venerable tri-jet, and Air Transat is one of the last operators of the Airbus A-310.
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The home team widebodies. Air Canada Rouge is a subsidiary of Air Canada specialising in holiday destinations. 19 767s have been transferred from the parent carrier.
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Star-Alliance themed Air Canada A330. Although principally a 737 operator, WestJet use four 767-300ERs for long-haul flights.
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Deicing at night makes for some spectacular photo opportunities: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
FedEx Boeing 757-200F EVA Air Boeing 777 UPS Boeing 767 Austrian Airlines Boeing 767 Air Canada Boeing 787
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Photos: Paul Harvey Text: Paul Harvey, Don Cashen
To celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Uprisings, the Irish Air Corps was up in force with its entire inventory.
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The Irish Air Corps (IAC) formed in 1922 and is based at Casement Aerodrome outside Dublin at Baldonnel and is the air component of the Permanent Defence Forces of Ireland. The IAC has a primary role of supporting the Irish Army, Navy and protection of Irish airspace. Currently they have 27 aircraft on strength comprising 17 fixed wing and 10 rotary and approximately 750 personnel on strength. In recent years there has been a drive to upgrade and reequip the IAC with modern aircraft to make it a much more capable force. The IAC is split into 4 Wings, 1 and 3 Operations Wing and 4 and 5 Support Wing. 1 Operations Wing operate the fixed wing assets of 7 PC-9M, 2 Casa 235, 5 Cessna FH172H Rockets , a Lear 45 and a Pilatus Britten Norman Defender which is flown on behalf of the Garda Air Support Unit. 3 Operations Wing operate the rotary assets of 6 AW139, 2 EC135 P2 and 2 EC135 T2 which as the Defender are flown on behalf of the Garda Air Support Unit.
4 Wing carry out all second line maintenance as well as fuel management. 5 Wing carry out logistic and administration including air traffic control and crash rescue services. There are two additional units within the IAC the CIS Squadron which deals with communications, navigation and information technology equipment and systems required by the Air Corps and the Air Corps Collage which is the main training unit within the Air Corps. We were very privileged to be invited by the Air Corps to witness their contribution to the Centenary Anniversary celebrations held over the Easter weekend of the 27th and 28th March. We made two visits to Casement , one on the 15th March for the practice/dress rehearsal and the other on the 28th March for the Easter Monday portion of the celebrations. The two days went very much the same with some minor variations, on the practice day first to launch where the Casa 235 and Lear 45 call sign ‘Condor’, next where 3 AW139 lead by an EC135, call sign ‘Raven’, this was followed by 6 PC-9M call sign ‘Eagle’; last to go where 3 FH172H using the call sign ‘Hawkeye’.
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The rehearsals took place over the Curragh training ground well away from prying eyes and ourselves as the IAC where keen to keep the fact that the PC-9Ms had recently fitted with a smoke generating system, a bit of a surprise for the main Easter Sunday parade. We only noticed the smoke system was active when the PC-9Ms returned with green and orange staining and where quickly surrounded by cleaning teams to be washed down.
The main flypast took place on Easter Sunday over Dublin City centre on a very blustery day the formations looked very polished particularly, when Condor and Eagle joined to fly an eight ship flypast of Lear 45 in the lead Casa 235 behind flanked by three PC-9M each side trailing smoke.
On the 28th the formations did flypasts over several Irish town and cities, the Lear did not fly so the Casa flew as a single ship. The ‘Raven’; formation consisted of EC135 and now four AW139. ‘Hawkeye’ was now up to four FH-172H and ‘Eagle’ formation was now up to all seven PC-9M operational.
On return all the formations did flypasts with the PC-9M formation performing a very personal show of several formation passes for the few of us on base and the maintenance crews, who had worked so hard to put all seven PC-9M in the air, it was first for the IAC to put up a sevenship. A fabulous maximum effort from all the IAC ground crews to get so many aircraft serviceable and available for a historic few days.
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The authors would like to thank Captain Sean McCarthy and Sergeant Jimmy Hales for their help and cooperation in preparation of this article.
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Photos: Vangelis Antonakis Text: Vangelis Antonakis
Whilst moored at Souda Bay, we got the opportunity to visit the USS Wasp. A multipurpose amphibious assault ship and her potent airpower component.
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USS Wasp LHD-1 is an amphibious vessel of multiple role and it is the first of its class, the WASP class. It was built in Ingalls shipyards in Litton,Mississippi in 1984 and came into service in 1989. It is 257m length and 32m beam and powered by two steam engines of 70.000shp with a 23knots of max speed. It has the ability to cary 1.075 crew members and almost 2.200 Marines that consist a very powerful combat unit. We had the pleasure to visit USS Wasp LHD-1 during a port visit in Souda Bay Naval Station in Crete, Greece in a break of its 6 month deployment and exactly after the ending of its participation in Operation Odyssey Lightning in late Octomber 2016. At that moment the ship has on board the VMM-264/Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-264 (Reinforced) with 8 MV-22 Osprey’s , 4 CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters and it was reinforced with a detachment of 6 SVTOL AV-8BHarrier’s from Marine Attact Squadron 542(VMA-542) , 4 AH-1W Super Cobra of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 467(HML/A-467, 4 SH60R/S of HSC-22 Sea Knoghts of US Navy and 4 UH-1N Heuy. As far as the landing operations , USS Wasp was equipped with 3 LCAC vessels and a large number of Humvies, LAV-25 and many other support vehicles.
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Photos: Brendan O’Neill Text: Mark Zerafa
First flown in August 1970, Mc Donnell Douglas aimed the DC-10 as a medium to long-haul airliner to service routes which did not require the 747’s capacity. Turbofan technology of the time required the use of three turbofan engines, bringing the unusual configuration of a central engine mounted underneath the vertical stabiliser. The type has been superceded by McDonnell’s own MD-11, but even this had to give way to more modern and efficient twins which benefitted from more powerful engines which have since been developed. Nowadays in service only as freighters, the DC-10 is fast disappearing from the skies. Here we take a nostalgic view of some older DC-10 operators.
Having previously flown DC-8s and Lockheed Tristars, Arrow Air leased DC-10s in its final years of passenger operations.
African Safari Airlines was a Kenyan operator, which operated a DC-10 between 1992 and 2002
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Canadian Airline Wardair operated three DC-10-30s between 1978 and 1988. The airline was eventually bought by Canadian Airlines.
Until its demise in 1991, Pan Am was considered one of the first truly global airlines. Originally favouring the Tristar, Pan Am inherited a fleet of 11 DC-10-10s and 5 DC-10-30s when it acquired National Airlines in 1980.
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Photos: Mark Zerafa Text: Mark Zerafa
Whilst the United States Air Force operates a dedicated tanker variant of the DC-10, the Royal Netherlands Air Force has acquired two ex-Martinair DC-10s and has modified them to fulfill its own requirements. Two aircraft (T-235 ‘Jan Scheffer’ and T-264 ‘Prins Bernhard’) remain in service under the designation KDC-10, with No.334 Squadron at Eindhoven AFB. A third DC-10, T-255, formerly flown by United Airlines, was not converted to an inflightrefuelling tanker and used as a cargo transporter until it was retired in 2014.
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Photos: Mark Zerafa Text: Charles Hilditch , Patryk Szymanski
Designed by Tadeusz Sołtyk (hence TS) and built in Poland as a two seat trainer powered by a WSK SO-3 engine producing 2,425 lb of thrust. It arrived at Bruntingthorpe in June 1996 by flying in from Poland via Belgium. Shortly after it arrived, there was a plan to return it to airworthiness and was put on the UK Civil Register as G-ISKA. This did not progress and the registration lapsed. Instead, the aircraft has been maintained in ground running condition with various components being overhauled over the years.
The current maintenance team consists of Charles Hilditch as Crew Chief and he is assisted Clive Berry, Joanne Hilditch and John Lambeth. This is the only operational Iskra in the UK and takes part in the twice yearly Cold War Jets open days where a large selection of retired military jets are fast taxied down Bruntingthorpe’s 2-mile runway.
PZL TS-11 Iskra Bis B 1H-1018 was produced on 05.04.1974. Three days later, it started its service in Polish Air Force. From 08.04.1974 to 17.10.1979 served in 38. School Regiment in Modlin, then to 21.08.1985 in Radom. From 22.08.1985 to 10.10.1986 was being serviced in Bydgoszcz. From 15.10.1986 to 29.03.1995 it was flying in Radom. From 17.10.1994 to 29.03.1995 when being in service in Radom, Iskra was loaned to Dęblin. Then with a command number 33/95 was retired from service. "1018" took off to England on 21.06.1996.
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Photos: Shadman Al Samee Text: Mark Zerafa
Activated in March 1978, the Bangladesh Army Aviation Group is the army aviation unit within the Bangladesh Army. The force is largely self-sufficient, having its own training and maintenance infrastructure.
The Cessna 152 is the primary trainer, with five in service.
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A pair of AS365 Dauphins serve as utility transports.
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Six Mi-171SH helicopters have so far been delivered, with a further six expected to enter service. This rugged and reliable helicopter can operate as an attack helicopter as well as a transport, carrying a formidable offensive load on hardpoints mounted on outriggers from the fuselage. 71
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A trio of Bell 206 Long Rangers are used to train helicopter pilots.
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One Cessna 208B Grand Caravan is in service as a transport. The door seems to indicate its use to launch paratroops. A CASA CN-295W should be delivered in 2017.
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2017 Programme now out!
UK Classic Aviation Tour (East Midlands, Bruntingthorpe) Norway Denmark Heathrow Day-Trip Royal International Air Tattoo Slovakia Airshow and Museums Russia Japan Greece