Helicopter flight path

heldel00

Have never been in this forum before just wondering if there is any way of finding out where a helicopter is going or what the purpose of a flight is?
Every saturday evening and sometimes during the week a helicopter flies directly over our house, sometimes sounds quite low, and then about 40 mins later it goes back the opposite way.
Just curious really.

Psychlops

Training? What kind of Helicopter is it, where do you live...

Oscar Bravo

Any location OP? If this was this evening it was most probably Dublin based Coastguard helicopter Rescue 116 who had 2 separate taskings to the north west this evening. One to Bundoran around 5pm and in the past hour or so they have been to Sligo and back.

heldel00

Cavan/Longford border.
Not sure what kind of helicopter it is (have been listening to it coming and going for so long that i haven't looked up in a long time. I can do next time though and post here)

Oscar Bravo

Rescue 116.

faoiarvok

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

Rescue 116.

I think they do a regular aircraft swap with Dublin for bigger maintenance jobs, not sure of the timetable but if OP reckons it’s a predictable schedule that would make more sense than most other stuff the Coast Guard would be doing.

Edit: ‘they’ being 118 in Sligo. That was clearly just obvious in my head

Bogwoppit

There’s been a helicopter flying over Naas like this most evenings heading SW and returning after an hour or so.
Not a coast guard helicopter but large enough, looks like it’s black and white but hard to tell.

Oscar Bravo

Bogwoppit wrote: »

There’s been a helicopter flying over Naas like this most evenings heading SW and returning after an hour or so.
Not a coast guard helicopter but large enough, looks like it’s black and white but hard to tell.

Possibly Air Corps 271 which has been out training lately in the evening,did a couple of approaches at Galway hospital Friday evening before returning to Casement. Other than that EI-MIK has been about,mostly putting out gorse fires.

heldel00

Oscar Bravo you obviously know your stuff. lI'll be back with more info next time i hear it.
Over and out (do they actually even say that?!)

EchoIndia

heldel00 wrote: »

Oscar Bravo you obviously know your stuff. lI'll be back with more info next time i hear it.
Over and out (do they actually even say that?!)

No, they don't.

ED E

heldel00 wrote: »

Oscar Bravo you obviously know your stuff. lI'll be back with more info next time i hear it.
Over and out (do they actually even say that?!)

When you hear it check:

https://www.flightradar24.com/

and

https://www.marinetraffic.com/

You might think Marine is a bit weird but the ICG Rescue fleet are coast guard and use the system for ships and planes interchangeably (ADS-B and AIS).

RadioRetro

This might explain yesterday's helo ops... from FB.

coylemj

ED E wrote: »

When you hear it check:

https://www.flightradar24.com/

Flightradar24 is hit and miss for helicopters. Sometimes they don't show at all, other times you can see it on the map but it's nowhere near it's present location. Could be shown hovering somewhere over Howth when it's just passed over Dun Laoghaire heading south.

Popoutman

You're more likely to have better luck with any details from here:
https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/

FR24 culls a huge amount of information from their feeders before showing to the public, whereas adsbexchange will not modify the data they receive.

Hopefully the helicopter you are seeing will be within range of at least two ADSB listeners that are running the MLAT direction/location finding service - most should be at least. If there's MLAT functionality available at all, you'll get to see some details on your flight of interest.

(I'm a little annoyed with FR24 recently, feeding them and getting a free account, but they still expect me to pay for functionality on the Android app? Pfft.)

grayzer75

heldel00 wrote: »

Have never been in this forum before just wondering if there is any way of finding out where a helicopter is going or what the purpose of a flight is?
Every saturday evening and sometimes during the week a helicopter flies directly over our house, sometimes sounds quite low, and then about 40 mins later it goes back the opposite way.
Just curious really.

My house was on the direct landing path above Bessbrook Mill in south Armagh and we'd have helicopters flying over the house every 15 mins or so 24 hours a day until they dismantled the base in 2007. A helicopter overhead is a novelty for me now lol.

Psychlops

heldel00 wrote: »

Cavan/Longford border.
Not sure what kind of helicopter it is (have been listening to it coming and going for so long that i haven't looked up in a long time. I can do next time though and post here)

Is it painted green? Big? If so its an Air Corps AW139, Is it big & painted red & white? If so its a Coast Guard helicopter out of Sligo (Rescue118) or Dublin (Rescue116).


Anything else is most likely civillian.