ATR 72 / P-72A
ICAO AT76A regional airliner turned maritime patrol aircraft, flown by Italy and Turkey. Live ATR 72 and P-72A positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No ATR 72 / P-72A is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- ATR
- Role
- Maritime patrol and transport
- Class
- L2T — Landplane, 2 turboprop engines
- Crew
- 2 to 6
- First flight
- 27 October 1988
- In service
- 2016
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the ATR 72 / P-72A
Italy took the ATR 72 regional airliner, filled it with radar, electronic surveillance equipment and operator consoles, and produced the P-72A — a maritime patrol aircraft at a fraction of what a P-8 costs. Turkey did much the same with its own TB-2 and Meltem aircraft.
It cannot do everything a Poseidon does; there are no torpedoes and no weapons bay. What it can do is fly slowly over water for many hours watching what is on the surface, which is most of what maritime patrol actually involves day to day.
The AT76 designator also covers civil ATR 72s, so airliners appear here too. On a military feed the Italian aircraft dominate.
Callsign prefixes
- IAM
- Italian Air Force
- GUARDIA
- Italian Guardia di Finanza
- TUAF
- Turkish Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A high-wing twin turboprop with a T-tail — the standard regional airliner shape.
- —Patrol aircraft carry a belly radome and additional fuselage fairings and aerials.
- —Slow and low over water, in patterns no scheduled flight would fly.
Common questions
+ What is the P-72A?
Italy's maritime patrol version of the ATR 72, fitted with search radar, electronic surveillance equipment and operator stations. It replaced the Breguet Atlantic in Italian service.
+ Is it a replacement for the P-8?
No, and it is not meant to be. It has no weapons bay and less range and sensor capability, but costs far less to buy and operate, which suits patrol work close to home.
+ Do civil ATR 72s appear on this page?
They can. The AT76 designator covers the whole ATR 72-600 family, though on a military feed the patrol and government aircraft are what normally show.