powerrabbit Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 How many of us on the FTF live in an area in which we often see aircraft flying rather low I wonder. Here where I am it's not very far as the crow flies from Exeter airport and when the wind is coming from an Easterly direction all air traffic seems to pass over my house. We often see quite a bit of military stuff flying over, helicopters and fighters but there is a more interesting variety of aircraft that passes over and a lot slower, on its way into the airport, mostly civilian aircraft carrying holiday and commuter passengers to and from the near Continent and the Mediterrtanean. When Concord was flying it to used to come and go from Exeter and we often had a good view of her with wheels down on her approach. We quite often get the large transport aircraft coming over, especially the military transporters bringing back troops after their tours of duty in Afgahnistan, such as this C-17 Globemaster 111. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 We see those up here over Keevil Airfield Tim and sometimes a Galaxy too. More often though it is Hercules and Apaches that use the unmanned airfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stabliofarmer Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I live somewhat under a route into Manchester airport so see quite a few standard jets but some other stuff like Chinooks. Also see the occasional light aircraft as I'm not to far from Leeds Bradford or Blackpool airport. Also the lake next to where I live is favoured by the local fire brigades for training and after a girl was unfortunately found dead in the lake there was regular training sessions with one of the RAF's Westland sea kings for a while so I see quite a lot up in the skies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 Where I work its right beside the the City of Derry airport and the planes are really low so low that the lights in the showroom start to move for side to side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillTEF20 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Our farm is right next to Kemble airfield. They scrap a lot of 747s there so quite often see large aircraft very low! A Thompson travel one came in yesterday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 We are under the flight path for a lot of military stuff. Recently it's been helicopters, probably one a day on average. We also get Hercules' over very low. We used to get a lot more jets when we had a silage tower up, but now we rarely get them at low level. We are also nearly under the flight path for the Yorkshire air museum so we get the Battle of Britain memorial flight over quite a lot. Always good to hear the roar of merlin engines in summer. I've also got a picture of the Avro Vulcan flying directly over the yard last summer which I will try to post later. We don't have any commercial jets fly over but loads of light private air craft. Including a bi-plane which likes to do hours worth of aerobatics in a Sunday which gets annoying when he's going full chat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 nothing now since plymouth airport closed, but thursdays down this way is "war games" day for FOST (navy sea traing dep)" and we see the usual yank and raf stuff low flying,mostly heading to st mawgun or culdrose, but when younger the farms in suffolk were surrounded by usaf and raf bases, can remember seeing everything from starfighters, f15 eagles, f111's, phantoms, jaguars ,canberas ,occasionaly on nato weeks saab viggens and a host of other euro fast jets , tornados, regular waves of A10 wart hog on the way to the wash firing ranges most below 1000ft , galaxy transporters, starlifters, hercules gun ships,all usally on finals to the airfileds,regular fly overs of the blackbird spy planes from usaf mildenhall ,usally very low ,one went right over the top of us while muck spreading one day prob 500 ft odd and very fast ,very occasionaly the u2 spy planes , used to be able to sit at night and watch the lightening quick responce jets go off the blue afterburners racing across the sky, all i see up that way now when we visit is the appaches and a few kc135 tankers, very little else,although last time we had loads of black hercules gun ships flying arround very low,be intresting to see how much is arround when the new f35's are based at marham in norfolk, as i think that will ,and still is, one of the few active fast jet bases left up there now, where asi can think of at least 15 / 20 when i was younger pat they use silage towers as ref points, we used to have a big permastore grain silo, and regularly used to get them turning over / arround the farm, being so flat, its a big ref point for them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 pat they use silage towers as ref points, we used to have a big permastore grain silo, and regularly used to get them turning over / arround the farm, being so flat, its a big ref point for them Makes sense Sean, we are flat as a pancake here and before wind turbines started to pop up everywhere and we took the tower down it used to be one of the tallest things above tree level. Still get the odd jet screaming over late at night though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyboy Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Used to see a lot of buccaneer and tornado jets as we live not far from raf Lossiemouth and Kinross but with less squadrons now based there and the scrapping of the nimrods at Kinloss the sight of military stuff is few and far between. I work in aberdeen and you see a lot of choppers heading out to the rigs in the North Sea but it was not until recently when we were working right beside the heliport that I realised just how busy a place it was. I usually got to site about half six in the morning and the noise from the choppers even at that time of day was deafening, why anyone would want to live there I'm not quite sure but there are a lot of residential property's near by so I suppose the local residents must be used to it. The thing that surprised me most was the sheer volume of flights, a choppers would come and go at the very least every 10 mins and that would seem to continue for the whole day with them still coming and going when I headed for home about half 4. Not exactly sure how much a chopper flight out to the rigs would cost the oil companies but I have heard the figure of 5k banded about depending on how near or far out the rigs are located so at 5k every 10 mins over a 12 hour period you can see for yourself just how much money is generated from just one aspect of the offshore world we live in up here, scary figures! Not my first choice of travel to be able to carry out a days work, have heard some of the scare stories from some friends who work offshore, hence the reason I stick to dry land Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 No I think helicopter bases are some what noisier than fixed wing bases a lot of time, I guess their slower speed means the sound hangs around longer. Whilst Keevil is not as busy as it once was or even as it was just five years ago (Hercs used it daily from RAF Lyneham day and night) it is still an RAF Airfield but the number of aircraft and frequency of their use of the place has dropped. It used to always be three Hercs at a time doing parachute drops, touch and go, unlit night time landings and so on but now it is only ever two together. It's a big base though, ground wise and local farmers take the grass each year, I think it is 5 or 600acres. Lyneham was a buzz with Hercules activity being their main UK base but the whole lot was moved up to Brize Norton much to the disappointment of massive public opinion. A recent plan has been developed for a £230,000,000 training accadamy to be built there now, it's a big base and I think it even has it's own oil/fuel pipeline. It's seen the Berlin Airlift to the repatriation of fallen troops from Afghanistan, was home to V-bombers and was at one time, the RAF's biggest operational airbase.... What a history, eh?! Thanks Mr Primeminster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 i was surprised how noisey the appaches are, especially when hovering, give them their dues, if a farmer finds a flattened crop from the exercises, he just fills a claim in and they pay up, our friend we stay with has them arround pretty regularly as hes got a few clumps of woods etc arround, so they use them to hide behind ,they often track the cars on the roads going past etc, the newer merlins are pretty quiet mind, well compaired to the outgoing sea kings, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Gough Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Lyneham was a buzz with Hercules activity being their main UK base but the whole lot was moved up to Brize Norton much to the disappointment of massive public opinion. A recent plan has been developed for a £230,000,000 training accadamy to be built there now, it's a big base and I think it even has it's own oil/fuel pipeline. It's seen the Berlin Airlift to the repatriation of fallen troops from Afghanistan, was home to V-bombers and was at one time, the RAF's biggest operational airbase.... What a history, eh?! Thanks Mr Primeminster And yet i seem to remember being told that after the move to Brize Norton they didnt have enough room and had to use another airfield near by. Anyone around this way know if thats true. On the subject of low flying aircraft over our farm we do get quite low planes at times, normally hercs but sometimes military helicopters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Many years ago, back in the mid 70's we used to have a lot of military stuff flying low over us, being on a 1000ft plateau with deep valleys on three sides, the fighter jets used to be below us going up and down the valleys and on occasion would come up over the top ultra low, later on, up through the 80's three or four Hercules flying together would almost daily pass over us so low that even the trees would duck! I remember two instances, the first was when I was baling a field of straw and Father was picking in the corners with his four-prong and a military Wessex helicopter came in over the hedge and decided to drop down and follow me around behind the tractor and baler, trouble was the helicopters rotors were blowing all the straw away, Father raised his arm and shook his fist, helicopter pilot and navigator put up their thumbs and peeled away. We had to dump the baler and put on the turner to stroll up the straw again! The second was a little scary! I was dragging over a freshly ploughed field, this was about 1986, nice square level 11 acre field, I was about 1/2 way across the field just turning at the headland into the next pass when a Tornado fighter I think it was, dropped in over the hedge and was coming seemingly right at me up across the field and I was looking straight at it through the windscreen of the tractor, I felt the hair on the back of my neck start to rise and the next thing I knew was looking at a windscreen full of grey aluminium and rows and rows of rivets and a lot of dust. This jet was so low that when he saw me the pilot must have opened up the throttle and pulled hard back on the stick that the thrust from the engine dug a trench in the field a foot deep and wide, It took several passes with the drags to fill it in. That was a little hairy and something I'll never forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 the farm i worked at in hampshire was very near to odiham airbase,home to chinooks,they would make the buildings shake,always very low,and sometimes have all sorts of stuff underslung from the chinooks,down here in devon there is nowwhere near what there used to be,we would regularly get low flying hercules over the moors near where i live,hardly see one now,and at the moment im working at okehampton army camp,flavour of the month is merlins coming and going all the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 We here never see the amount of jets like we used to, may see one or two a month perhaps but like you Paul, most of the 'traffic' nowadays are helicopters, I see quite a few of the Merlins also as I'm not that far East of Okehampton camp as the crow flies, or should that be helicopter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 true about the jets Tim,when i was living with mum and dad in crapstone we would get jets flying over all the time,and as you say hardly see or hear any now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Interesting about the Chinooks too as we used to see them in threes and fours along with Pumas and they'd all be carrying Land Rovers, field guns, crates... Allsorts of stuff. I guess much of it is deployed at the moment so there is little left to practice with! Oh and get on YouTube, I love searching this kind of stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Anyone ever seen a Land Rover Defender dropped by a helicopter from 1000ft and the parachute not open? When my Brother was serving in the Terriers, REME side, he was sent out to recover them, he said they were difficult to find because all you could see was a flat lump about three inches thick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Have anyone of ye guys ever been to the Mach Loop in Wales. It suppose to be some spot for the military stuff flying low and fast. I myself would love to take a trip there some time. Only knowing when it would be a good time is the question. http://youtu.be/3-7zHlOi4T4 Here is another good vid of various fighter jets going hard . This vid of the Swiss air force I love. http://youtu.be/xtsWxUCsZ2Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo22 Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Growing up in West Cornwall there was always plenty of helicopters from RNAS Couldrose. Now in south Lincolnshire I've seen everything from spitfires to stelf bombers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 And yet i seem to remember being told that after the move to Brize Norton they didnt have enough room and had to use another airfield near by. Anyone around this way know if thats true. On the subject of low flying aircraft over our farm we do get quite low planes at times, normally hercs but sometimes military helicopters. I believe that was when the idea to move the German battallions back to the UK was announced and Lyneham was seen as the ideal place with it runways still in worthiness. That plan also included Hullavington (Buckley Barracks) and other army garrisons too though I think, not just Lyneham. This new plan is for Lyneham only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Have anyone of ye guys ever been to the Mach Loop in Wales. It suppose to be some spot for the military stuff flying low and fast. I myself would love to take a trip there some time. Only knowing when it would be a good time is the question. http://youtu.be/3-7zHlOi4T4 Here is another good vid of various fighter jets going hard . This vid of the Swiss air force I love. http://youtu.be/xtsWxUCsZ2Q Yeah me too!! It is the host to lots of YouTube videos as you have seen, I bet it's proper neck hair tingling too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenside MF Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 went home for lunch today,suddenly saw these come across in the distance so shouted at my mum to get her camera,she found it luckily so I said you take it so a bit of a rushed picture unfortunately,leading plane was a u.s air force transporter not sure what the other large plane and the small 6 jets were.Saw a similar flypast once of these last year but were flying closer together than this time, I'm sure they were coming in to land at r.a.f Waddington,zoom in on your screens to see it a bit better sorry about that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Looks to be a C-17 up front with maybe an AirBus A330 in formation with a few Typhoons. There is plans to introduce the A330 as a tanker for a number of Air Forces.. I think the RAF have their eyes on a few. Air Show season is also around the corner!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.