Tell me the pilots have GPS, radar, ATC radar etc to help in such circumstances these days?
You’d think, wouldn’t you?
Quite a few years ago, late one foggy night, I was up in my bedroom, mum was asleep and dad was doing a night shift, and I could hear the whistle of a jet approaching. Nothing unusual, there were aircraft flitting around at all hours of the day or night, so I thought nothing of it. Anyhow, it was getting louder, and all of a sudden there was an almighty roar, windows rattled, and my mum suddenly shouting, “what was that, what’s going on?”, in an absolute panic.
I had no idea, but I found out later it was an RAF Jaguar, on a night training mission, on final approach to RAF Lyneham.
Just a few yards away from me is Hungerdown Lane, once the A350 trunk route from the M4 to Poole, and very brightly lit at night. It runs due North/South, and Lyneham is about ten miles away to the North-East.
I think most have now realised what happened; the pilot saw the street-lights, thought they were the flare-path, and was on final approach, at around 100ft, when he suddenly realised his error and slammed the re-heats open!
I believe there was a stern talking-to involved…
I shudder to think what might have happened, a Jaguar coming down on an urban road with all the attendant street furniture.
Not long after, someone tried to put a C-130 Hercules down on the A4 at Cherhill, near Calne, which is also brightly lit at night, and closer to Lyneham, in fact you could see both lots of lights at night. That could have been a bit iffy, although with a Herc I reckon he could have done it, and taken off again.
The joys of living near busy military air bases… 😀
Posted 10 years ago
