Leader 4 - What is it?

Hi all

This is my first posting so I hope it works OK!

Over the past few days this 'aircraft' has shown up at Bardon Hill Radio Transmitter site just to the east of Coalville. I am sure that it was on the runway at Gatwick last week. Today (31st Oct) the Leader 4 designation has changed to 00000000. Could it be a road vehicle? Does anyone know what this 'aircraft' is?

Regards Tim

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Slater on October 31, 2011 at 20:31

Quick reply as on break at work and due back in 5 mins! LEADER 4 would indeed be a ground vehicle (Land Rover, Pick-up or such like) involved in airfield operations possibly a "Follow Me" vehicle. It would be on the runway at Gatwick doing a runway inspection run in a suitable gap in traffic. I imagine an engineer had borrowed the truck to go out to the transmitter and hadn't turned the transponder off. These vehicles are equipped with a transponder like an aircraft so the callsign, in this case LEADER 4, shows on the towers Surface Movement Radar as it moves around the live sections of the airfield.

Permalink Reply by Tim Walker on November 1, 2011 at 12:10