HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1515 times:
Maybe some of you flight tracking guru's can help me out. At 6:30pm and then again at 7pm est today an all white 747-200 was fairly low, going over DAB feild and then heading south, south west. No livery whatsoever. I had seen the first one, my buddy (another pilot) called about the 2nd one, which was even lower and closer. He called the tower, all they would say is that it was headed to Sanford/Orlando airport.
It just has my curiousity up a bit. We usually only see 747's higher and when they are getting around weather. And they usually have livery on them.
Phatfarmlines From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1322 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1444 times:
Also, one can catch other European charters inbound to SFB come over over the DAB waypoint. I have seen MyTravel and Monarch A330s come in low over DAB.
HlywdCatft From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5321 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1383 times:
I didn't see the 747 unfortunately. Weren't there still thunderstorms in the area at that time.
I did however see a relatively low flying 747 right after I moved here in May. I was in my backyard cooking on the grill when a 747-200 approached from the east and circled over my apartment and headed southwest. I was assuming it was the Virgin 742 at MCO just flying lower than normal.
I have seen MCO bound aircraft fly at lower altitudes over DAB too when there are thunderstorms around MCO because I am not aware of any A320s that fly to SFB, and that is what I saw at about 3500 ft 2 weeks back. Couldnt tell what company though because i was looking to the sun.
But I have seen SFB bound aircraft like the Transmeridean MD-80s fly at about 3500 ft along with various European 767s and A330s.
I looked at Flytecomm for SFB and nothing is showing up for yesterday that would be flying 747s.
My only other guess is that it could have been the Atlanta icelandic 742 that Virgin uses. I have seen the all white 742 at MCO. They may have gotten permission to fly below the clouds last night and perhaps were running late.
I don't think the EAL 747s come to SFB until winter.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 1350 times:
Yeah, there were thunderstorms to the west. I assumed that is what was causing the unusual route over DAB. Best guess would be 6,000 or so for the first, and maybe around 4,000 for the second. I evened wondered if for some reason it was the same aircraft... weird to have both all white and within 30 minutes of each other. And though 74's may land at Sanford, 2 within that time frame seemed weird.
Unfortunately, my buddy didn't get a hold of the guy he personally knows at tower, who would have told him all the details. The guy who answered the phone was a bit gunshy about providing info, and all he would say was that it was heading to Sanford.
Either way, it was very cool to see a 747 that low over DAB.. twice... and wherever it was going I'm glad I got to see it.
Planesarecool From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 4089 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 1341 times:
They would have been Air Atlanta Europe/Travel City Direct, seeing as they sent four to Sanford yesterday. Hlywdcatft, EAL have entered "Voluntary Administration" and will no longer be flying to Sanford.
Aa61hvy From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 13975 posts, RR: 59 Reply 7, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 1314 times:
I also saw a few 747s fly overhead when I was in DAB in May.
Ifly2eat From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 8 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 1275 times:
I live on the final for runway 9 at SFB and there were a fair bit of thunderstorms during the time you were speaking of. I see the all white B-747's quite a bit around here as well.
HlywdCatft From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5321 posts, RR: 7 Reply 9, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1238 times:
I didn't realize anyone was flying 747s into SFB at this time of the year.
You can regularly see the Virgin 744s flying overhead to MCO around DAB, but they are probably about 8,000 feet up or more.
HlywdCatft From United States of America, joined Jan 2001, 5321 posts, RR: 7 Reply 10, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 1170 times:
I saw a low flying 747 today around the time you saw it just west of DAB. I was looking towards the hazy sun, but the plane appeared to have a red tail like it was a Virgin. It was kind of strange since MCO bound aircraft are usually about 7-8000 ft (i estimate) up, but this aircraft was about 4,000 ft up (like about the altitude you would see a plane flying over Altamonte Springs or Casselberry heading to MCO).
B777ER From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 547 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1150 times:
The thunderstorms was most likely the reason. Don't forget that the main northeast arrival into MCO is the BITHO7 arrival. The published hold for this STAR is the LAMMA intersection which is 17NM south of the OMN VOR. The OMN VOR is by the Ormond airport so 17NM south from there would be over the southern end of Daytona/northern end of Port Orange. When there are bad thunderstorms over MCO, I can look up and see 2 or 3 aircraft in that published hold. I imagine why that 747 was low was maybe due to other aircraft stacked higher in the hold.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2069 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (8 years 10 months 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1102 times:
Cool that you saw a Virgin 747, but even on the higher of the 2 747's I saw it was clearly all white, and the second one was so low that there is no doubt whatsoever.
Good info B777ER. I've actually come into MCO crossing the beach somewhere around Ponce Inlet, which would be the arrival you are speaking of. But as HlywdCatft said, these were at altitudes you'd expect to see them at around the Altamonte Springs area. Weather or stacking probably being the reason, I was guessing weather at the time.
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