Not sure why, but sure enough: a 🇨🇬Congo Government Ilyushin Il-76TD (🇨🇬TN-AFS) was spotted at 🇧🇷Aeroporto Internacional dos Guararapes - Recife in Brazil yesterday.
Here's the MLAT track of Congo Government 🇨🇬TN-AFS flying from 🇧🇷Recife to 🇧🇷Rio de Janeiro in Brazil yesterday. This matches the description of the flight by local planespotters.
First track on Flightradar24 in one year and three months (since 04 Apr 2021).
.@Africa_In_EN's recent paywalled article says 🇷🇺Russia suspects 🇦🇿Azerbaijani weaponry is delivered to 🇺🇦Ukraine via 🇸🇩Sudan.
They mention the 🇸🇩Khartoum-🇵🇱Rzeszów airlift I identified in April and identify 9 flights by "Green Flag Aviation" 🇸🇩ST-GFL*, mapped here. [THREAD 1/5]
According to the article, the route of the 🇦🇿Azerbaijani weaponry could be 🇦🇿Baku → 🇸🇩Khartoum (on GNF) → 🇵🇱Rzeszów (on UIA) → 🇺🇦Ukraine (over road?) [2/5]
Over 24 Feb - 30 Jul 2022, I identified 25 "Green Flag Aviation" flights into 🇦🇿+🇹🇷:12 to Baku (GYD) using callsign #GNF301 and 13 to Istanbul (IST) using callsign #GNF980.
Over all of 2021, I found approx. 8 and 8 flights respectively, so there is a clear increase. [3/5]
⚠️It looks like "Fly Sky Airlines" 🇰🇬EX-76006 #FSQ4921 flew from 🇦🇪Sharjah, UAE to 🇪🇹Harar Meda Military Airport in Ethiopia, the main base of the Ethiopian Air Force.
2021 had >100 flights from 🇦🇪UAE to 🇪🇹Ethiopia, carrying suspected military equipment, most to 🇪🇹Harar Meda.
🇺🇦 In late Mar 2022, two Ukraine International Airlines aircraft returned to service: 🇺🇦UR-PSI and 🇺🇦UR-PSL.
Since then, 🇺🇦UR-PSI did *15 FLIGHTS* between 🇸🇩Khartoum and 🇵🇱Rzeszów (🇺🇦Ukraine aid hub), visting the military apron at KRT, and got hidden on tracking sites. [THREAD]
Starting on 19-20 Apr, 🇺🇦UR-PSI is now blocked on all major tracking websites: @RadarBox24, @flightaware and @flightradar24. In contrast, sister aircraft 🇺🇦UR-PSL remains visible.
🇺🇦UR-PSL is based in 🇲🇩Chisinau and flies to other destinations (no 🇸🇩Khartoum and no 🇵🇱Rzeszów).
To me, the fact this particular aircraft became hidden while others remained visible suggests that there is something to hide here, especially combined with the odd route (Khartoum is not exactly a key tourist destination) and the military apron visits.
Some of my observations around @il_kanguru's find:
An aircraft can be seen crossing the 🇷🇺Russia-🇺🇦Ukraine border (white line), proven by a contrail (dashed yellow line), turning left around Khomutove (DPR).
3-4 km further west, 2? fast-moving objects can be seen - Air Defence?
We can see that the unknown phenomenon consists of two pairs of RGB lines, so we are looking at white trails.
I think that the sharp end on the east end and the fuzzy end on the west end suggests that the objects are not heading away from the aircraft but rather towards the ENE.
The aircraft is about 3 pixels long (±25-30 m?), making it larger than most fighter jets.
From my earlier Sentinel-2 aircraft finds, I know that these measurements are generally a good indicator of aircraft size.