Anyone see the Russian airfreighter fly into Auckland Thursday?

[bellbird]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/ind...-to-rocket-lab

Due to leave 8pm tonight

[allblack]

The only reason I'd live in Auckland. To watch the planes.

[Roscoe]

The only reason I'd live in Auckland. To watch the planes.

I spend the occasional afternoon parked at the viewing spot at the eastern end of the runway with my scanner listening to the tower talking to the aircraft. The majority of the time the aircraft land and take off east to west but every now they land and take off west to east and it is quite something to be at the eastern end when a 380 is taking off with full power. Very loud!

[Roscoe]

I have been down watching the planes come and go and listening to the tower talking to the aircraft and every now and then there is a reference to a "caravan."

Does anyone know what they are referring to?

[Zippity]

A Cessna Caravan?

ZK-SDD?

[Bryan]

Someone has spotted you in yours. Best get away quick!

[piroska]

the massive aircraft was actually carrying a StriX satellite to Rocket Lab ahead of its launch in 2023.

When launched, the Synspective synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite will deliver imagery that can detect millimetre-level changes to the Earth's surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night.

[bellbird]

Yep, all the info in the Stuff link in my post

[paulw]

the massive aircraft was actually carrying a StriX satellite to Rocket Lab ahead of its launch in 2023.

When launched, the Synspective synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite will deliver imagery that can detect millimetre-level changes to the Earth's surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night.

2023 is a long way off.

[Roscoe]

A Cessna Caravan?

ZK-SDD?

Thank you for that, Zippity. I had not heard of that before.