VC-10 over DSA
 

... or more correctly over Tickhill, near DSA, at 14:00 today. It overflew my house at ~1000', heading SW (so in a direction to be a DSA departure), then turned S over our village and climbed away.

Impressively loud - set off a few alarms.

I immediately checked the NOTAMS but could find no reference. The last similar event was for a funeral in Finningley village a couple of years ago and that did have a NOTAM.

Anyway - an interesting break from the daily drudge and nice of the pilot to go straight over my house :-)

Hello iansmith

Don't I know you from somewhere?

A VC-10 flew over Stoke a few months back.Someone on here suggested it was going into MAN for a repaint

Lucky you getting a good view of it.

I heard on another forum that it did a touch and go at DSA but I'm surprised I didn't hear it from here.

Know me? Possibly. What circles do you move in (waits for while string of joke replies)

Possibly a sim forum somewhere?Sorry if that's incorrect.

C'mon guys, can we drop the 'DSA' thing - it is OTT. Where is DSA? This description is meaningless to many and is completely unnecessary.

It's Doncaster - is that the same as Robin Hood airport now?
Here is a link for the next time someone uses IATA codes - or ICAO ones
Airport Code Database Search

Sorry, I thought the TLA DSA would be obvious in this folder.

DSA = Finningley = Donny Airport = Doncaster Sheffield Airport = Robin Hood Airport. Most of the locals would have liked either Doncaster International (said with only a touch of irony) or Finningley. If Heathrow could keep that name, why not Finningley?

It turns out that it was a training session moved from Brize due to weather. It is a shame he only overflew chez moi once.

I'm completely with John Miller on this 'DSA' thing. If you look at his location you will see why he queried it. My wife says you're just showing off your knowledge by using the codes, rather than simply telling people where the hell the place is. Most of us in the UK know the UK codes, but I and, I'm sure, many others would find it more than useful if people simply told us that it was at Stockholm, or Arlanda, or Frankfurt Hahne, etc.etc.,....................instead of us having to look up mysterious codes. Simples!!!

Come on JEM60-lets not be too harsh. Since this IS the PROFESSIONAL pilots rumour network, I would expect most people on here would be familiar with the ICAO codes for most airports?

If youre a non-aviation professional/non-enthusiast, you really shouldn't be on here, surely?

''Come on JEM60-lets not be too harsh. Since this IS the PROFESSIONAL pilots rumour network, I would expect most people on here would be familiar with the ICAO codes for most airports?''

Doubt it - unless they've flown in there or nominated it as an alternate. And the ICAO for ''Doncaster Sheffield Airport'' is EGCN which is what you would see on the flight plan, weather info and NOTAMs. DCA is it's IATA designation which is used more for ticketing and passenger information.

Last time I flew there it was full of red and white aeroplanes. I had no idea where DCA was.

GCHANGFLYER............. I am on here because I flew aeroplanes, gliders, skydived etc. and travelled the world video'ing airshows and museums for many years, and that is why I look at this site!!!. Many people on here are casual observers, like me, and despite my pretty large experience, compared to some, there are many, many codes that I don't know, and, with respect, if I don't know them, I suspect a lot of other people don't either.
I thought it was a reasonable request from someone who has always considered himself an enthusiast [see above!!].:confused::confused::confused:
The quote about showing off was not mine. If you consider my lack of knowledge to be not worthy of being on this site, then I apologise for being here!!
Read the Banner at the top of the site!

Ok, well I fly for a regional in completely the other side of the world,never flown in there before and i know it from its code DSA, but thats probably from reading magazines/airliner photo websites etc...valid points you make,maybe I just assume most others on here would also know what I knew...

I should probably read less airliner world magazine...:8

Now now children
 

Never thought I would see willy waving in this particular forum.

Right then, firstly I am ex RAF. I worked in Air Support Command Ops 1970/72. One of my duties was Flight Mounting, (cant say that nowadays in polite company). Now to my point, the squadrons were tasked on a monthly basis to do continuation training. Part of this was to do approach and overshoots at what where then designated MDA's (master diversion airfields). Manchester, Finningley, LHR, and some I cant remember. These airfields were obviously chosen for their 24 hour ops and length of runway. So then, Britannia, VC10, Comet, Hercules, Andover, nostagia fills the air........I imagine this practice still takes place here and there, budgets permitting

GGR

Changiflyer
I appreciate your reply. I read Airliner World too, and I still don't know the blasted codes!!!!:{ Happy landings to you. John.:ok:

Dont know much about the above,anyway for anyone interested heres the photo Gallery - FODSA and Robin Hood Airport and video YouTube - DONCASTER AIRPORT (UK) RAF VICKERS VC-10 XV101

google DSA airport. It's the number one item.
Failing that I google xyz IATA and that is better for the more obscure ones.

Time to learn something useful is under five seconds. If you get LHR and LGW why stop there? I could be sad and ramble that there's a whole world of learing why Orlando is MCO as it was once McCoy AFB and why Tees-side is MME.....

IATA codes are easy. ICAO ones not so much, certainly in the UK

''Ok, well I fly for a regional in completely the other side of the world,never flown in there before and i know it from its code DSA, but thats probably from reading magazines/airliner photo websites etc...valid points you make,maybe I just assume most others on here would also know what I knew...''

Assume - makes an ASS out of U and ME - to paraphrase an old RAF flight safety poster. I too fly for a regional company completely the other side of the world - and I have many flights from RAF Finningley in my logbook. But DSA was a mystery to me.

Perhaps it's because I'm not a spotter. And before anyone asks why I looked at this thread - it's because I used to fly VC10s.

Thanks guys. I really don't want to be googling something just to find out the name of an airport whilst enjoying a thread on pprune. I mean, it really is a bit of showing off isn't it... really? Imagine if I wrote: "Saw a Comet over QRA"? It would have everyone of you airport code 'experts' clicking on google in frustration at not knowing the location.

Oh, and I used to live at RAF Lindholme (before it became a prison), visited Finningley regularly and called by Doncaster on occasion. But never called it DSA!

Cheers ;)

First of all - thanks to GGR for the background on practise flights and to others in other forums who told me it was a practise.

Second: Bloody Hell - what's winding people up? I wasn't showing off - far from it. I was politely asking a question that I assumed would only be answered by a local and I used a shorthand I assumed would be understood by aviation locals. I didn't give it a second thought. I am truly sorry if it offended but our 19 year old travel clerk based down south uses it and I had no idea it would cause a storm. Would cause"Doncaster" really have been any better?

I did say it flew over my house and my location is "near Finningley" but I guess that wasn't any help either.

Sorry Ian. Although I phrased it badly in my original post, it was meant to be a general observation, not directed at you particularly. Cheers, John.