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.

[MyVisionsComeFromSoup]

@PhoneLock

including a German submarine at one point.
The Captain got quite excited

When you say a few years back, exactly how many years back do you mean?

would have been in 2014 maybe?

[midnightstar66]

@Zomblie if you like jets, the caravan and campsite next to RAF Lossiemouth is interesting

[CMOTDibbler]

The other place, rather further away, if you like jets is Okinawa. The airport is both military and civilian, and when I went there the best bit of my whole trip to Japan was coming in and out of the airport where fast fighter jets were taking off from the same runway. Very weird feeling queuing to taxi and seeing them in the queue as well!

[Londonmummy66]

Reminds me of growing up in Portsmouth when the Sea Harriers were out - especially one Navy Day when a little private plane came bumbling along - must have got the shock of his life when two of those came whizzing past....

[Starcup]

They are ALLOWED to fly - why would the authorities fine them confused

@curtainsforme

That’s my point- I don’t think they should be allowed to fly in built upon areas unless they are training to get their licence. Even then, don’t see why they can’t do it in less built up areas.

I would love to see an aviation law in place that prevents leisure flying over big built up cities. If you want to fly I would like to see it more remote areas.

[1Morewineplease]

Maybe it was an emergency?

[Truthpact]

If you don't get planes over your house often, it probably wasn't for training. I've lived in the training grounds of the raf before, they were there at least once a week. 😂 Wouldn't suit everyone, but I'm a deep sleeper, they never once woke me up. Quite nice hearing them go past actually, although you do zone it out a bit.

[womaninatightspot]

We've had some low flyers recently. RAF are training, have a base 40 miles away. On three days between now and September they'll be doing 24 hour flights. It really freaked the dog out as not used to it.

[TheCumbrian]

We have had this happen a few weeks recently at close to midnight on a Tuesday and whatever it was didn't show up on flight radar (didn't know about the other ways of tracking)

The first time it happened I genuinely thought a plane was about to crash into the house. The windows were rattling and the dogs were going insane. We live in the lakes in a very isolated location and are very used to low flying aircraft (I've numerous videos of chinooks etc wizzing about over the top of us) but this was something very very low and loud.

It happened twice I think after that, both times nowhere near as low or as terrifying.

If it shows up again tonight I will be definitely having another look.

[Horsemad]

You'll be glad you don't live near a Eurofighter base then OP, they are SERIOUSLY noisy, especially when the Quick Reaction Alert jets take off in the middle of the night sometimes 😆

[footphobic]

We used to live not too far from a Eurofighter base and were on their training flight path. They would often come over very low, which I loved but can see how some people would find it noisy and quite scary.

We moved and now even better live near an Apache helicopter base. We’re rural and not far from the sea, our house is right under their flight path and they fly very low. A pair fly past every day then return later, but mostly during the day or up to mid evening, so we don’t get woken. If it’s a different time we’re used to it and recognise the noise.

I can understand how you would’ve been unnerved, it is incredibly loud.

[mrwalkensir]

eggsandwich our youngest should be up there now :) Only time I've visited, the cloud was so low that we couldn't see them coming in very low over the house!

[ItsGoingTibiaK]

@Starcup

*They are ALLOWED to fly - why would the authorities fine them confused*

*@curtainsforme*

That’s my point- I don’t think they should be allowed to fly in built upon areas unless they are training to get their licence. Even then, don’t see why they can’t do it in less built up areas.

I would love to see an aviation law in place that prevents leisure flying over big built up cities. If you want to fly I would like to see it more remote areas.

NIMBYism becomes NIMASism (Not In My Air Space)

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[notimagain]

ive heard of people having their cars followed by A10s

I'd suggest those people were mistaken.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[DestinationFkd]

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

[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.