Aviation Spotters Online

23/07/2024

Today, The A*O team drove south for three and a half hours to take in the Pitch Black Operations at RAAF Base Tindal.

We were invited to board a RAAF KC-30 to meet with some fighter jets on a refueling sortie.

Other aspects of the visit to Tindal will be shared later

23/07/2024

Today, we had the privilege of joining 33 Sqn out of Royal Australian Air Force base Tindal for some late afternoon/evening air-to-air refuelling of some 1 Sqn Super Hornets, there were supposed to be a couple of Spanish Eurofighters but they pulled out unfortunately. But nevertheless, it was an awesome experience to take air-to-air pics of our Hornets, especially into the evening, a first for me.

Tomorrow we do it all again in the morning so stay posted. Plenty of pics and videos to come over the coming days.

23/07/2024

A snippet from today's visit to Royal Australian Air Force base Tindal. More to come later 😉

22/07/2024

Pitch Black 24 week 2 saw the start of late afternoon/night operations. Here are a selection of mine from tonight.

22/07/2024

Pitch Black 24
Week 2 day 1

What an end to day one of week two.

The exercise stepped up a gear tonight with the night launches getting underway. Here are a couple of shots of the Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30 Flankers departing RAAF Base Darwin as the sun drops below the horizon.

We will be posting more from this photoshoot in the coming days.

22/07/2024

A couple of The Republic of Singapore Air Force F-15SGs taking off tonight for the first evening flights of Exercise Pitch Black.

22/07/2024

The second week of Exercise Pitch Black has started this morning with the first wave of jets going out. It's also the first flights of the German and Spanish Air Force Eurofighters. The second wave going up soon then into the afternoon and evening.

More pics to come later tonight.

21/07/2024

A couple of early departures this morning out of Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin with Spanish Air Force A400M, T.23-11 callsign AME3184 heading off to RAAF Base Richmond. After that , we had United States Air Force F-22 Raptor, FRANK 1 - 04-067 depart back to Tindal via a low take off, then an unrestricted climb at the end of the runway to 25,000ft, and with a flight time to Tindal of 19 minutes.

After those couple of departures, it was time to head off to the Royal Australian Navy open day at HMAS Coonawarra. With the highlight being a tour of the Italian Navies flagship the carrier ITS Cavour. Embarked onboard for the open day, we had an AV-8B Harrier jump jet and an SH-90 helicopter parked on the stern.

It was an impressive bit of kit to get on and look over with the hospitality of the Italians second to none. It was also impressive to get on a boat ride around the outside of Cavour and see how massive she is from the water level.

Back into it again tomorrow with the Pitch Black flights starting early and going into the night. This week should be a good one.

Enjoy the pics.

21/07/2024

On the 20th of July 2024, the RAAF opened up the tarmac at RAAF Base, Darwin, for the Exercise Pitch Black Open Day.

It was a free community event allowing the local and traveling public to get up close with over 30 aircraft and their crews,

Approximately 30,000 attendees were expected. The final number may be higher.

It was a very well organised great day out. A big thank you to all those who worked so hard to make it the success it was.

20/07/2024

Welcome "Pacific Skies" to RAAF Base Darwin and Pitch Black 24.

Pacific Skies 24 combines several air force exercises, in which the German, the French, and the Spanish air forces participate as European nations.

The Royal Air Force, Italian Navy, and Italian Air Force arrived at RAAF Base Darwin last week and are now joined by the Luftwaffe, Spanish Air Force, and French Air Force.

These are some additional photos to add to Nathan's earlier post.

Week 2 of PB24 is about to get very busy.

20/07/2024

A big day today with the Royal Australian Air Force putting on an open day at RAAF base Darwin as a thank-you to the local community for putting up with all the noise. About 30,000 people were expected through the gates today, and it looked like they all turned up to support the event. It was a great day for all involved, especially the kids who got to get a passport stamped by most of the crews around the aircraft.

Later in the afternoon after the open day had finished, The Pacific Skies deployment with Germany, Spain and France arrived in Darwin with their Eurofighters. The first group was given an es**rt from a couple of French Rafales, which took off earlier to meet up with them.

The crews were greeted by top brass and officials after their shutdown of the jets and welcomed into Darwin for Exercise Pitch Black 24. Their flying program will start on Monday with them joining the exercise for week two which will turn into day and night sorties.

Here are some of my pics from both events today. Enjoy.

19/07/2024

A few other arrivals into Darwin International Airport today were Luftwaffe A400M, GAF 086, 55+09 from Queensland. Spanish air Force A330-200, AME 4504, T.24-01 from Colombo. And a United States Air Force F-22 Raptor, 04-067 from the 27th Fighter Squadron currently based in Tindal for Exercise Pitch Black.

Looking forward to the open day tomorrow.

19/07/2024

With Friday being a slower day with aircraft traffic and things getting set up for the open day, it gave me a chance to get some more editing done to my photos. Although a few more interesting visitors turned up today with pics for them coming later.

Here are a selection of my pics from the tower shoot and the Mindil beach display last night, Enjoy.

19/07/2024

Thursday, the 18th July, was my first full day in Darwin, and it was good to be back. Jim and I started the day with a photo opportunity with the Royal Australian Air Force media team next to the runway for the early morning departures for Exercise Pitch Black, and it didn't disappoint.

A huge variety of aircraft and countries departed while we were there photographing. Attached is some of the variety that we saw while there.

Our next stop after the runway was a photo shoot from the new control tower. It ended up being very windy yesterday while we were up there, but that didn't stop us. Pics to come soon from the tower shoot.

Our next stop after the RAAF base was to head down to the rocks opposite Mindil Beach for the flying display there. It was an awesome turnout for the display from our vantage point of the beach and surrounding areas. Jim has posted some of his pics. Mine are on the way soon.

18/07/2024

Pitch Black Day 4

The day finished with the traditional Mindil Beach Air Display. Thousands gathered on the beaches and surrounding cliffs and rocks to watch the airmen from participating nations put their aircraft through their paces.

18/07/2024

4 Italian Air Force Eurofighters departing Darwin this morning for a sortie in Exercise Pitch Black 24.

18/07/2024

A bit of GoPro video of 2 Korean Slam Eagles and 4 Italian Navy F-35Bs departing for the training airspace this morning.

18/07/2024

Day 4 of Pitch Black 2024 was massive for the A*O team and culminated at the Mindil Beach Display.

Thousands of images were captured and it will take some time to work through them.

However, to whet your appetite here is a clear highlight and one we may never see again. Yes, two Harriers and two F-35Bs of the Italian Navy flying together over the moon.

18/07/2024

While the team processes their images from an amazing day chasing the action at Exercise Pitch Black 2024 in the Top End of Australia,we shouldn't forget the amazing action ramping up the UK🇬🇧 at The Royal International Air Tattoo.

If you would like to see the action then follow the link and watch it live😉👌👌👌👌👌👌💗

Join us live at Fairford to bring you the arrivals for the famous Royal International Air Tattoo, 'RIAT' 2024. This is one of the biggest airshows in the wor...

18/07/2024

Well, right now in the Top End at Darwins famous sunset Mindil Beach the public flying display is happening. This is by far the greatest showcase of International Military Aviation in Australia.

Follow the link and enjoy the live feed the Royal Australian Air Force is providing-

https://www.youtube.com/live/iF-163cteno?si=yCgayGpFG5-k1oV7

The Royal Australian Air Force and international partners will return to Mindil Beach for the Exercise Pitch Black Flying Display between 5pm-6:30pm (ACST) o...

17/07/2024

Pitch Black Day 3

It was an early start as 8 x F-35s, 4 Italian and 4 Australian, launched out of Darwin bang on 0730 to kick off a fantastic day.

Here are just a few highlights for you to enjoy.

If you are in the area, don't forget to head down to Mindil Breach tomorrow. It will be worth the effort. :-)

17/07/2024

A reminder the spectacular Mindil Beach Flypast and display is on again tomorrow night, 18th July.

This great community event is part of the RAAF’s Pitch Black 24 calendar.

Below is the expected participation list.

Mindil Beach Flying Display Program
5.00pm – 5.30pm

United States Osprey
Australian “Tiger” helicopter
Papua New Guinea PAC 750
German Airbus A400
Philippines F-50 Golden Eagle
Malaysian F-18D Hornet
French Rafale Fighter

5.30pm - 6.00pm
Italian Navy F-35B and Harrier
Italian Air Force KC767, G550, Typhoon and F-35A
Australian E-7A Wedgetail
Australian F-35A Lightning II
Thai Gripen Fighter
British Voyager and Typhoon
Republic of Korea F-15 Eagle

6.00pm – 6.30pm
Singaporean F-16 Falcon and F-15 Eagle
Japanese E767 and F-2 Fighter
Indonesian F-16 Falcon
Indian Su-30
United States F-22 Raptor
Australian F/A-18F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler

16/07/2024

Pitch Black 24 - Day 2 - well the morning of....

Today was a huge day of flying with many waves throughout the entire day.

Here is a selection from the early morning operations.

15/07/2024

Exercise Pitch Black 2024

Flying activity for Exercise Pitch Black 24 kicked off today (15 July). Between the morning and afternoon sessions more than 140 aircraft launched from RAAF Base Darwin.

Captured from the afternoon session are examples of the Italian Harrier and F-35, Indian SU-30s, RoKAF F-15K Slam Eagles, USAF KC-135, Indonesian F-16 sporting a rather special tail, a RAAF C-130 and a special mixed pair of Indian Air Force Sukhoi SU-30 and RAAF Rhino.

13/07/2024

Well, after a bit of a delay getting here, our third visiting United States Air Force C-17A Globemaster III in REACH 785, 02-1108 finally graced Royal Australian Air Force Base Edinburgh with its presence.

She arrived around 5:30 pm local time from Brisbane after a fuel stop there after flying in from Pago Pago, American Samoa. Her arrival was in some very wet, dark, and challenging conditions for photography, but I made it work. She should depart tomorrow afternoon sometime if she does the same as the other two.

Here is a sequence of shots of her landing tonight.

13/07/2024

Paul Bennet, Glenn Graham, Glenn Collins and Jesse Jury performing their very impressive formation aerobatics routine, as the Paul Bennet Airshows Skyaces, at the Warbirds Over Scone show.
Australia Sigma Photo Australia

12/07/2024

Some contrast in conditions this morning for our United States Air Force visitor's departures out of Royal Australian Air Force Base Edinburgh.

REACH 115, C-17A 08-8193 departed for Guam in some low cloud/foggy conditions while REACH 220, C-17A 99-0168 had the better of the conditions when departing for Clark International Airport in the Philippines. She left with some blue sky and the sun finally made an appearance for the morning.

There is nothing more on our third supposed visitor yet in REACH 785, which was still in Hawaii. If it turns up, it turns up. If it doesn't, so be it. We have had two great movements over the last couple of days.

All I can say is bring on the warmer weather for Exercise Pitch Black 24 next week. 🤙

11/07/2024

''A couple of MOOSE on the loose''

Just over a year ago to the day, we had our last United States Air Force C-17 visit to Royal Australian Air Force base Edinburgh, and then today, we have had two show up again with a possible third still on the way also, currently in Hawaii.

Around 9:30 this morning on a grey and wet day, we had our first visitor in REACH 115, C-17A Globemaster III - 08-8193, arriving in from Brisbane Airport after a fuel stop there. 115 routed McChord AFB - Hawaii - Brisbane then to Edinburgh.

Then the second in REACH 220, C-17A - 99-0168 after a go-around and a second bite of the cherry finally arrived just after 1 pm local time. She routed Anchorage - March Air Reserve Base - Hawaii -Brisbane then into Edinburgh.

Fingers crossed the Third one arrives as that would make an impressive sight at Air Movements with three sitting there on the tarmac. The last time that happened was back in 2016, with three RAAF birds sitting there during Army Exercise Hamel, which was held at Cultana that year.