To think the RAF shouldn't do this

[concernedforthefuture]

I was rudely awoken at around 3am this morning by an RAF plane flying fast and low (c 600ft) above my house. I honestly thought it was coming down; it was so loud and scared the shit out of all of us.
I appreciate the need for training but... IT WAS 3 O'CLOCK in the morning??! We live a long way (150 ish miles) from Brize Norton where this plane came from (and indeed we aren't close to any airport / airfield), so low flying aircraft sounds are very unusual.

AIBU to think they should fly low elsewhere at night (like out at sea )? I probably am, but fancied a moan as I'm very tired this morning.

[Bargainhuntbore]

I absolutely love it when they train at the Mach Loop. We get a lot training round Snowdonia esp Chinooks this week. Plus the air ambulance and search and rescue. Very good place for seeing them.

Oh but the annoying drone of the Texan dive bombing does our heads in. Local people ate trying to curb them!

[Troels]

We get them from Valley Anglesey, coming down the conwy valley, but not at 3am. Earlier this week it was an low flying Osprey, lots of locals got pics of it for facebook.

[NichyNoo]

A Hercules plane has been doing loops around the Wirral for the past few weeks now. Flying very low. Flight radar says it is from Brize and seems to be looping around the Wirral then up past Edinburgh, out into the sea and back again.

[backinthebox]

@PhoneLock awesome picture!

[PhoneLock]

There is a lot of guessing and misinformation about what the military and other aircraft get up to on this thread.

There is. My husband took this picture of two RAF memorial flight planes flying extremely low right over the top of our house. He was up on the roof photographing some repairs at the time.

[notimagain]

@backinthebox

Thankyou kindly for clearing up the confusion over the TTAs..

From what some were saying I was beginning to think things had moved back from the system I knew which allowed low flying over the most of the UK, within airspace limits, and back to a version of the very old low flying system which was very very restricted and as a result a small percentage of the population living in very rural areas got overflown every 5 -10 minutes on a good day/night (great if you were a spotter, otherwise..)

[midnightstar66]

This guy is currently circling over the city I live at just over 3000 feet. I just checked flight radar because of the absolute racket and it hasn't even come that close to my house. I was disappointed I couldn't see it and I can see a good distance in every direction

[Starcup]

NIMBYism becomes NIMASism (Not In My Air Space)

😂

[OldQueen1969]

I enjoyed that piece of writing about the Eurofighter - and I totally understand the OP - being woken by loud noises in the middle of the night is pretty discombobulating.

I live in Bournemouth and of course we have the air show which is a whole can of worms I shan't bother to whinge about because local economy bla bla bla.....

One of the first times they showed off the Euro thingy, I was doing a Saturday gig on an industrial estate on the outskirts. Suddenly there was this deafening roar that just got louder and louder and the unit I was in started to tremble a bit - it really sounded like something was coming down - I rushed outside and looked and looked but couldn't see anything but it was absolutely teeth rattling. When it had passed I checked FB and of course we were under the flight path of the local airport and said plane was on its way to its display. Took me a few minutes to still my beating heart though and one thing I do wonder about is how people who have lived in actual war zones past and present feel when these displays happen and the skies are full of military planes.

When 9/11 happened I remember being on my way home, listening to the rolling coverage in the car and the horrible feeling of wondering if more planes were going to be weaponised and where.... I have flown since and try to be rational but there's a little bit of me that grumbles if we were meant to fly we'd have evolved wings.....

[backinthebox]

@Lockheart, I think you misunderstood the bit that says there are 3 TTA (Tactical training areas) in the UK. The RAF can train anywhere they want at low level as long as it complies with the airspace regulations for the airspace they wish to fly through. The TTAs publish a timetable but they can go anywhere really. My sister up north gets jets over her house, I live in the south of England and am on a helicopter low level training route - the chinooks make a racket when they come over at 50ft at 2am!

There is a lot of guessing and misinformation about what the military and other aircraft get up to on this thread.

[iVampire]

If you want to fly I would like to see it more remote areas

So kind of like where the OP says she lives??

[PrimeroseHillAnnie]

I live near Heathrow and I miss the aeroplanes.

[Fuss]

Not military, but many many years ago, before flight radar and the like, I heard a plane.
We were on a flight path from Manchester so 747's going over was usual, this however was incredibly low. The elevation of our house was such that you could see for miles and I stood on our front balcony looking at a 747 banking in front of me. The stink of aviation fuel was everywhere and I was absolutely convinced it was about to come down in the field beyond. It was so low you could make out the silhouettes of people in the windows.

Fortunately it seemed to lift again and head back towards the airport. By now most of the street were out watching. Instantly put the local radio on expecting to hear why but nothing. Never found out what had happened. Assume some emergency was turning it around.

One of those things that stays with me, just the stench of aviation fuel and the sinking dread that it was about to crash.

[andyoldlabour]

I don't know which area the OP lives in, but there are several places in the UK where there is a lot of miltary aircraft activity right now, and it is not just the RAF. If you are in the East Anglia area, then the USAF has been flying Ospreys, C130's, F16's, KC135's and A400's, mostly from Mildenhall. Lots of Hawks and Lynx's in North Wales (Mach loop) Cornwall and Devon, Salisbury Plains (Porton Down), and regular Apache flights down here in Kent.

[DestinationFkd]

You would hate to live on an R.A.F camp like me then OP 😂

[AuntieStella]

"find a loving target in a field without too many houses around and use it for practice engagements"



What sort of target did your keyboard change? It's turned a kind of military exercise into a Carry On plot

[mumwon]

not in my airspace
There are reasons why they need to do low flying at inconvenient times
first we are a small island &these things are flying very fast & probably because there is less civilian traffic around they are making the most of practice . (By the way there are strict rules about flying over built up area especially for civilian aircraft) They have to file flight plans & cant (shouldn't) just arbitrary fly where you want (although some civilian pilots!!!). As stated there have been paras in war situations & civilian emergencies in this century & we have no way of knowing when soldiers will be needed this way. We have had "incursions" from unfriendly aircraft in our airspace fairly regularly & probably more than we know.

[JudyCoolibar]

Also, sometimes they need to train at night so what time of day would you like them to train night flying?

11 pm would be more reasonable. Also flying over moorland rather than where people live.

[wombat1a]

@notimagain

ive heard of people having their cars followed by A10s

I'd suggest those people were mistaken.

We regularly used to get A10s practicing on us when using tractors on the farm. Once one of them saw you and lined up on you then you could be sure that a few others would turn up and use you for target practice. Seemed reasonable to me, find a loving target in a field without too many houses around and use it for practice engagements.

Biggest issue for us was they drowned out the radio.

[wombat1a]

A Herk that low at that time might be fact be practicing throwing things (like men) out the back.

We regularly get them overhead at low level at night time as they practice dropping things in the nearby battle area.

[notimagain]

ive heard of people having their cars followed by A10s

I'd suggest those people were mistaken.

[WelcomeToTheNorth]

I live on the east coast of Scotland. There is a lot of air activity here just now. And a lot of shooting practice on the ground too.

[XDownwiththissortofthingX]

Everybody should just be forcibly moved to the countryside, then the RAF would be free to fly over, strafe, practice bomb, and crash into our built-up areas with total impunity.

[NietzschePeachPearPlum]

Starcup Do you know how many fatalities on the ground there have been as a result of light aircraft crashes/malfunctions in the past few years?
You’d actually protect more people by banning fridges.

[user1471565182]

What happens if we have a war in which they need to fly in to built up areas in the dark? just not bother training cos it upset a few people. They train as if the UK is a warzone, ive heard of people having their cars followed by A10s