Aviation over locked-down Jeziorki

With hardly any commercial flights inbound to land, what does come over our heads in Jeziorki is a lot more interesting than the usual vanilla-flavoured procession of A321s and Boeing 737s. These strange days, when something's headed this way, the chances are good I'll see something interesting.

Below: a Polish Air Force Mig 29 fighter, normally stationed in Minsk Mazowiecki. There were at least four movements today, including a pair coming in together. NATO's Defender 20 exercise means more military flights into Okęcie.

Below: Polish Air Force CASA C-295 bringing Polish doctors back from Italy where they'd been treating Covid-19 patients.

I could hear the sound of turboprops getting louder and louder, but could see nothing in the sky. Suddenly, this Polish Air Force CASA C-295 (below) came roaring right over the roof!

An RAF Voyager KC2 (Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport) bringing a detachment of British Army Light Dragoons to take part in NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence. Good to know you guys are here!

Here's another Airbus A330, which along with the Boeing 777 is the largest regular passenger plane to use Okęcie. Of late, these Turkish Airlines planes have been flying medical supplies.

Cargo planes are more visible. SprintAir is now a cargo-only operator, using a fleet of these Saab 340A/340AFs (the latter have no windows). Interestingly, each SprintAir Saab has the same livery - but in different colours.

Below: another Saab 340, without windows and Hungarian registration, belonging to Fleet Air International.

Below: dusk delivery. Another windowless plane - this is a Boeing 737-400F belonging to Belgian freight carrier ASL Airlines.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (Polska Agencja Żeglugi Powietrznej  or PAŻP) has two aircraft for radar calibration flights. This Beechcraft B300 KingAir (below)..

And this LET L-410 (below). Both planes are called Papuga ('parrot') for their garish livery.

The presidential elections are scheduled to take place by post on (or around) 10 May. Because of the lockdown, there's no campaigning. Yet for the VIP jets of the Polish Air Force, it's business as usual. I'll leave that without comment. Below: Boeing 737-800, in livery commemorating the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence, and Marshal Józef Piłsudski's portrait on the tailfin.

Below: one of two Gulfstream G550 VIP transports. This one flew Warsaw-Gdańsk-Wrocław-Warsaw.

Below: the Antonov An-225's smaller brother, the An-124 Condor. Seen at Okęcie every now and then - this one belongs to Volga-Dnepr Airlines.

Because there's hardly any passenger flights in and out of Okęcie, there's a lot more general aviation around, small planes that would get in the way of regular scheduled airliners. Below: A Diamond DA42 Twin Star, a twin-prop four-seater light aircraft. A particularly lovely design, with diesel engines!

The beautiful cloudless skies made for perfect conditions for aerial photography, another common sight above Warsaw was SP-GEO, a Vulcanair P68 Observer 2, flying grids north-south covering the entire city and its environs. And there have been a great many flights of the Polish air ambulance service, another Italian twin-prop, a Piaggio Avanti. Immediately recognisable by its loud whining sound, caused by the pusher layout (propellers pointing backwards) and nose-mounted winglets.

Finally, another Polish Air Force transport type that's regularly seen these days is this PZL M28 Skytruck is a Polish-built light cargo and passenger plane, produced by PZL Mielec, as a development of license-built Antonov An-28. It has notable short take-off characteristics. Note, the camouflage pattern extends under the wings!

My lockdown working day has me sitting in my bedroom (better line of sight than the study downstairs) between 9 and 5; in the background on my laptop I have FlightRadar24 and ADSBexchange. The former is well-known; the latter gives a better chance of seeing military flights (as long as they have their transponders switched on). With advance warning, I can be ready to snap the planes as they fly over!

UPDATE: 26 April - caught this one over the house - an RAF A400M Atlas. Only the second time I've seen one (first time was here).

This time last year:
Easter in Ealing

This time four years ago:
WiFi works on Polish train shock

This time five years ago:
My dream camera, just around the corner
[No, the Nikon Z6/Z7 don't make the grade]

This time seven year ago:
Longer, lighter lens

This time eight  years ago:
New engine on the coal train 

This time nine years ago
High time to leave the car at home

This time ten years ago:
The answer to urban commuting

This time 13 years ago:
Far away across the fields