Big increase in military flights

My WFH desk looks out across the takeoff area of PIK (possibly the quietest airport outside of Trumpton). There’s been a lot of big grey buggers in and out, presumably repatriation? of troops maybe? PPE? who knows. Lots of Qatari too, not sure why, one of their Atlas A4000’s has been in and out hourly for weeks now.

A plane nerds dream. 🙂

Pics?

I think the RAF has deployed some of its transports around the country to help out.

Somebody needs to spray those Chemtrails….

Lots of Qatari too, not sure why,

Lots of airlines ship some freight on passenger planes.
They’ve possibly condensed those into freight only flights which are better serviced at Prestwick?

The Qatari one just seems to be training PP, strange place for it, though it could be the US owned land at PIK that’s the reason.

I see about twice a week the same doing go arounds up in Aberdeen airport, the big freight type planes

I’m due down at Gannet to look at some work over the next week.

I’ll ask the guard on the gate. He usually knows everything about what’s going on.

Guid stuff, cheers. They actually building something there? it’s the sleepiest of wee sleepy hollows is Gannet. Til there’s a SAR shout.

There’s a Boeing C17 from Brize Norton going around in circles just now. https://www.flightradar24.com/RRR814/247c91f6

They actually building something there?

Nope.

Just patching up the old stuff.

I think the RAF has deployed some of its transports around the country to help out.

Weren’t they helping Turkey out with refuse collecting?

This is a very good website as you can filter it for just military aircraft. Click on the ‘U box’ at the top, although I’ve not yet seen a U2 (hover your cursor over the box!).
https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/
There’s a handful of Typhoons over the N Sea most mornings, along with a clutch of refueling tankers usually doing circuits too. You can currently see some Hawks batting round N Wales.
Check the military activity in the US and you can see how busy they are!
You can also filter by speed, altitude etc
Not good when you’re WFH though, too addictive…

C-17 Globemaster has been practicing ‘stuff’ around the Midlands and Birmingham Airport for a couple of weeks now.

I live near Stratford Upon Avon and have seen it twice personally. Friends have been reporting it on Facebook too :o)

Oh god! Why did I click on that link??? Now i can’t stop watching

There’s a helicopter above Reading with the registration 2-SEXY. I wonder if Richard Fairbrass is at the controls?

We had a C17 flying past umpteen times near Manchester Airport a couple of weeks ago – local news was practicing soft landings given lack of air traffic. We’ve also had survey planes out criss crossing the flight path.

although I’ve not yet seen a U2

I’ve seen one out of Fairford a couple of times. And B1’s (cool looking), B2’s (spooky looking) and B52’s (loud!).

There’s one of the Airbus M400s(?) flying around out of Brize most days too.

Probably nothing more than the massive reduction in civil air traffic means the military are now playing in areas you wouldn’t normally see them…and they stand out more.
An A400 was doing circuits at Glasgow the other day too. Just cos he/she could.
Plus it’s the time of year for mil exercises/good weather.

That site is addictive. I think this fella’s had a couple of pints in the pilots’ mess at lunch

https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/?icao=43c81b

That’s a lovely empty piece of tarmac in that picture beamers.

That’s a lovely empty piece of tarmac in that picture beamers.

I see what you did there.

Why that is listed as a military aircraft on that site ^^ is a bit odd. It might have a military(ish) paint job it doesn’t have a military registration.

This is a very good website as you can filter it for just military aircraft. Click on the ‘U box’ at the top, although I’ve not yet seen a U2 (hover your cursor over the box!).
https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/

and with one careless link you have reduced my WFH efficiency by about 98%. Damm you.

That Globemaster strayed over our way last week, rather low as well. I was brought up as a RAF brat, heard something that didn’t sound familiar and got a great view of the underbelly as I shot out into the garden.

Had a lot of Chinooks early in the lockdown, not had any for a while. Assumed Derbyshire Police had called in the big drone with rear facing gun to sort out those pesky walkers…..

The A400, C17 & Herc have been doing a lot of training recently. I’m not sure if it’s any more than usual or just that they are taking advantage of all the empty airfields at the moment, rather than spending all their time at military fields.

We’ve spoken to them a lot over the last month at Glasgow, whereas usually only see them a couple of times a year.

If you look on the Brize Facebook page they post updates about where they’ll be each day.

Cheers Phil, thought you’d know. 👌🏻

They have been in to us a couple of times moving people/stuff too, I guess that could ramp up over the coming weeks and months.

It’s quite nice having a couple of planes to talk to tbh & some work to do.

Only seen a C17, up close(ish) the once… last time i was up in Torridon starting the climb up to the Coulin Pass from Achnashellach Stn. About 1/3 of the way up i heard an unusual noise from behind so had a look over my shoulder and nearly fell over as an RAF C17 cruised past at pretty much the same elevation as me – could clearly see the crew. Of course by the time i had grabbed my phone for a pic it had sauntered off up the glen and the moment was gone. It was really quiet considering its size but guess that’s the norm for stealthy military manoeuvrings these days. Unforgettable experience for me :0)

That site is deadly for wasting time. Was watching a couple of US jets dogfighting. Currently watching a gunship heading towards Thetford.

I’ve seen loads of big grey military aircraft with no clear markings over the last few weeks. I think they were C17s but not an expert.
I’m about 8 miles west of Swindon.

Watched a U2 coming into land at Akrotiri – chase car needed as tandem landing gear means it falls over without strap-on stabilisers.

Lots of military flying? Checked the weather lately?

A C-17 flew over the house on the 8th May (VE Day but don’t know if it’s related). I only knew as it was at around 8 in the morning and sounded unusual. It made a sharp 180 degree turn shortly after flying over and did one of those rolling touch down and take off manoeuvres at Gatwick airport and then continued on to do a circuit of Jersey afterwhich I got bored tracking it. That tracking website is a compulsive addiction of mine.

I was fairly certain I saw 2 B52’s last week over Skye & heading due north. It was high hazy cloud & I was late in getting the bino’s on them , but whatever they were was unusual. They were high up & well ahead of me but the con trails were weird as in 8 engines weird , Black wide & unusual tail.

Was gonna post on here for some plane twitchers opinions on how likely it would of been.

Phil are you another Atlantic House resident? I know a couple of folk who have retired out of there.

Saw a herc the other week flying low all the way down the Forth of Clyde, probably the same one Ben Cathro filmed doing exactly the same thing up at Pitlochry. I’d imagine they are playing lots with the empty skies. Not really surprised to see anyone doing circuits at Prestwick least of all right now.

@Pauly – I’m surprised you don’t see them more often, Brize isn’t that far from you, I’m in Chippenham, and they’re frequent visitors, although not as frequent as the planes used to be when Lyneham was still open. Where I work in Westbury, we get fast jets, C17’s, A400’s, various species of helicopter, Merlin, Wildcat, Chinook, Apache, some come over ridiculously low as well.

The A400, C17 & Herc have been doing a lot of training recently. I’m not sure if it’s any more than usual or just that they are taking advantage of all the empty airfields at the moment, rather than spending all their time at military fields.

This ^^
It’s been in the local news for Glasgow about big military planes flying about, so’s locals don’t think Boris is staging a coup d’tat or something – I think because as quoted, with so little traffic at civvy airports, it gives pilots more practice at unfamiliar locations, so they’ve been doing circuits and bumps all over the place.

The fuel is paid for. Landing fees will be cheap at places like PIK, plus the tasking has shrunk due to C-19 restrictions so the pilots need training to offset that. Other less visited airports will be getting visits for experience as mentioned above.

The RAF still like live training (base training) and use that with simulator details to keep skills up to speed.

I’ll be featuring on your spotters page later in the week. Don’t know where yet, tho’!

Whereas we’re experiencing the opposite in the Lake District. Normally it can easily get to double figures of jets heading down Windermere everyday. Think I’ve heard 2 in total since the start of lockdown.

I’ve seen loads of big grey military aircraft with no clear markings over the last few weeks. I think they were C17s but not an expert.
I’m about 8 miles west of Swindon.

Probably the A400s from Brize, I see them loads too (in Cirencester).

I noticed the A400Ms doing a lot more unusual routes and low approaches over airports they wouldn’t normally use. Staverton in Glos used to get one approach a year or so, now it seems to happen every other week. Yesterday one was in Jersey. All just training according to Brize Norton RAF FB pages.

I’m sure I read somewhere that over half of PIKs revenue is from refueling military flights and before Covid kicked off there was a big increase in flights from the US.

Apparently this had absolutely nothing to do with the owner of a nearby golf course.