I think your set up is really pretty optimal now, especially with the decoder improvements. I was watching your tar1090 map last night for a bit, and it’s quite impressive how far over France you are seeing some aircraft below 10k feet.
Agreed. A very good indication of that is how accurate the maximum range circle is now and this plot demonstrates that perfectly.
I finally got around to updating my blog regarding the new installation and included a complete list of all the equipment used from top to bottom.
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My performance stats today are dreadful.
This’ll be why:
With that wind, there are far fewer aircraft in the sky today.
Having said that, my brother arrived at LHR this morning with winds gusting to 65mph at about a 45 degree angle off front so quite a strong crosswind component and he said it’s one of the smoothest touchdowns he’s ever had. It was s 744 so a big aircraft and when the driver made an announcement prior to landing, he said it was right on the limit of the aircraft capabilities.
For what reason? To get some applause beeing a brave guy? Or to make people more worried who have already some fear in an airplane?
Stupid…
So that people know that the aircraft is performing in conditions it’s capable of? I don’t think it’s a stupid thing to say at all.
Yes, sure.
But i am pretty sure that there are many passengers who do not want to hear that.
A simple “we have heavy wind, please prepare your stuff and yourself on your seat” should be sufficient. Operating within his capabilities should be normal and nothing to be mentioned extra.
If it would be outside the capabilities i would expect that the captain is turning around and stop the attempt
The first one i saw giving up today. Ryanair to Paris, looks like he is diverting to Frankfurt Hahn or trying another approach an hour later
Seem to be a different reason for this particular airport, not the storm. looking at Paris airports doesn’t look that bad. Others with this target airport are diverting as well
And that is clearly not the way from Dublin to London 
More likely so that people aren’t taken unawares by the fairly likely possibility of having to go around in strong crosswind conditions. That can happen even after the point of touchdown, since gusty conditions are somewhat unpredictable. Pilots aren’t usually in the habit of trying to scare their passengers.
I know, that’s why I was concerned about this message. Normally there are no “cowboys” on the flight deck.
I’m seeing the same. From the stats all the light aircraft are understandably staying on the ground.
I saw that a BA flight broke the NY-London record for a sub sonic plane today doing it in 4:56. They had a ground speed over 700 knots.
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Well considering you are hearing it 4th hand and don’t have the exact wording, context or tone of what was said, it might be somewhat premature to assume a 747 captain is a cowboy.
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I have a slightly higher number than on a regular sunday. Mainly caused by the situation that many of them passing my area twice. Some airports in the west are diverting aircraft or let them circle
I have the added fun of running a generator, during the current power-cut, to keep the essentials up and running.
The wife hasn’t sussed that the reason for classing the router as essential is to keep the feeds going.
The UPS does a stirling job of keeping the infrastructure going for up to an hour, giving me plenty of time to get out the power extension leads and rig everything up.
A more sophisticated exhaust system and a house wiring modification to add generator-only sockets and lighting looks to be coming up.
Edit: Oh well, power will be off for 36 hours, so I can’t really run a generator through the night.
Arse.
During the storms, I did rotate the aerial at regular intervals so it wasn’t being stressed in one particular direction but it looks like something has broken. I can’t lower it by myself and the winds are still too high for me to lower it anyway.
Looking at the forecast, we have high winds for another week at the very least so I hope it’ll survive through those and I can then get a working party together to lower and access the damage.
/edit - I’ve just turned it 180 degrees and it’s still leaning the same way. Either the top stub has broken or it’s come out of the collar. I think it’s going to collapse before I can lower it. That’ll be interesting, how well will my receiver work with an upside down aerial blowing around in the wind. Or wedged in my roof tiles 
No, I don’t think so because if you compare mine to the Martello Tower Group receiver, they’re very similar.
Me
MTG
Ah, ok
But it would mean that there is no impact even if the antenna is not aligned perfectly 
At the moment, that’s right. Fingers crossed it doesn’t end up upside down before I can get a chance to do something with it.
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I’m fed up with these weekend storms, ‘Ciara’ moved the flat roof mount of one of my satellite dishes leading to lost reception of Astra 1,2 and 3. It took me quite some time to get everything back to normal but just a couple of days later ‘Dennis’ knocked my roof mount out of alignment again!
edit: Finally found the time to replace the roof mount by a version that’s even bigger than the dish it has to support!
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