Plane Spotters... help with ID on this jet??

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Tony S

New Member
OK, this guy has been flying circles around the house for the last three days. South Pierce County all around Eatonville and the west side of Mt Rainier. Looks like it heads back to JBLM when it needs fuel after flying around for an hour, then comes back 40 minutes later. Anyone know anything about the what's and where's on it?


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squirl033

Super Moderator
Staff member
yep... sure looks like an L-39 to me... made in Czechoslovakia in the 60's. no idea where this one came from, but considering the stuff Paul Allen's got in his museum, including a Czech MiG-29UB, i wouldn't be surprised if he bought one of these...
 

Tony S

New Member
I am guessing that it was over in Tacoma at JBLM. After it flew circles here for and hour it made a straight line for over that direction, then came back about 40 minutes later and made another hours worth of circling passes. The darned thing almost hit the moon.

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squirl033

Super Moderator
Staff member
weird...it's clearly in Russian markings, not Czech - if it IS a Russian aircraft, what would it be doing at McChord? same question arises if it's privately owned... are there any events coming up soon a JBLM that might feature such an airfcraft?
 

squirl033

Super Moderator
Staff member
apparently the Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia has one of these that they fly at airshows... they apparently have one coming up on Father's Day weekend, so maybe they're doing some practice flights? they're based out of Olympia Regional Airport...
 

BobH

Administrator
Staff member
apparently the Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia has one of these that they fly at airshows... they apparently have one coming up on Father's Day weekend, so maybe they're doing some practice flights? they're based out of Olympia Regional Airport...

Yes, I've seen these at airshows before, and that's the best bet.

Where is the show on Father's Day? Oly or JBLM?
 

Tony S

New Member
I found the info on the jet by doing searches with different variations of the plane model and the number that was on the side of it and found the corporation that owns it,but nothing about why it's here in the area. It's owned by a company out of Henderson Nevada that contracts with the government for flight training. I also found one spot that talked about how back in 2006 before it was registered in the states that it was flown into Alaska and was confiscated by the FBI as it still had the pods on it that armament could be mounted to and it went through court to get it released.

It also looks like if you have enough cash one of these things can be bought for the price of a house overlooking the Puget Sound.

http://www.aviationdb.com/Aviation/Aircraft/1/N147XX.shtm
http://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N147XX

Here it is with part of the Alaska story, looks like there was a lot more to the tale than what's on this page.
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Opland/6321.htm
 
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