Anyone else like Birds AND planes? (2 Viewers)

[Mike Crawley]

Link to some decent pictures from Twitter, A400M Atlas

https://twitter.com/x/status/1581008835866566656

 

[Dave Ball]

Link to some decent pictures from Twitter, A400M Atlas

https://twitter.com/x/status/1581008835866566656

Air-dropping birders on Bryher?

 

[Andy Adcock]

Surely this cannot land on Scilly?

 

[Ratal]

Surely this cannot land on Scilly?

A400 lands where it wants. That is the beauty of them. If they want to land on the beach? They can and will.

 

[Mike Crawley]

Surely this cannot land on Scilly?

I have no evidence but my personal theory is that it’s done as a navigational exercise. Big transport aircraft regularly appear over Scilly.

 

[Farnboro John]

I've got some pictures of the A400M doing its missed approaches from the perspective of the departing Scillonian III, haven't processed anything from yesterday yet! I'll put a couple on here when I do get to them, it was a nice bonus to an epic day out. The aircraft serial was ZM414 for any number crunchers.

Large RAF aircraft conducting missed approaches at St Mary's Airport has been a thing for a very long time: I have an ineradicable memory of being by the runway crossing at the seaward end in the Eighties when a Nimrod did so - certainly that couldn't have landed, or if it had it wouldn't have got off again!

The RAF Transport Force took advantage of the lull in air travel during the pandemic to fly circuits and bumps at many of the UK's airports that are normally far too busy for such activity e.g. Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham. This also gave the controllers at the airports some aircraft to handle, useful practice at a very slack time. Since then the RAF activity has not dropped away completely with e.g. Bournemouth Hurn still being a frequent destination.

John

 

[KenM]

Popped into the viewing area at Mildenhall, Suffolk this am (first time) to witness two “Fokkers” 🤣 on the deck “firing up” before take off.
Never having heard airforce jet engines as the above on “the ground” before, perhaps 800-1000m away the roar almost deafened me!
Presume F…something or other?

Cheers

 

[Farnboro John]

Looks like the East end of the runway at Lakenheath to me.... The LN tailcode on the F-15E Eagle confirms it.

Ken's got away from his carer and is lost in East Anglia, people, keep an eye out for him and we might get him home safely.

John

 

[Andy Adcock]

Looks like the East end of the runway at Lakenheath to me.... The LN tailcode on the F-15E Eagle confirms it.

Ken's got away from his carer and is lost in East Anglia, people, keep an eye out for him and we might get him home safely.

John

Check local news sites for sightings of 'odd' birds, especially Goshawks and we might narrow it down.

We really should get him chipped

 

[MikeInPA]

There were two of these yesterday (NE London), I don’t have a scooby?

Cheers

I've been away too long. WTF is a 'Scooby'?

 

[Farnboro John]

I've been away too long. WTF is a 'Scooby'?

Scooby Doo = clue!

John

 

[MikeInPA]

Scooby Doo = clue!

John

Thank you John. I was scratching my head.

 

[KenM]

Check local news sites for sightings of 'odd' birds, especially Goshawks and we might narrow it down.

We really should get him chipped

You must have few spare then.🤣

 

[KenM]

An hour+ up the road from USAF Lakenheath at Hunstanton with “carer in tow”, I shot this “ahead of it’s sound”, looking at the tail, am thinking another F-15?
carrying a “lotta-ordnance”.😮

 

[Ratal]

Great pic - A center of gravity drill round, SNIPER long ranged target ID pod (seriously good for all weather strike and surprisingly good against air to air as well!) and LANTIRN low level all weather infra-red sensor. Bare bones to be fair.

This here is what a fully loaded up F-15E Strike Eagle can bring to the fight!

 

[KenM]

Had this Royal Navy Merlin? quite low over Battersea Park yesterday, initially assumed it was from the US Embassy almost adjacent, a tick for me, although a “columbarius” would have been preferred.😮

 

[Farnboro John]

Had this Royal Navy Merlin? quite low over Battersea Park yesterday, initially assumed it was from the US Embassy almost adjacent, a tick for me, although a “columbarius” would have been preferred.😮

Merlin HC3 serial ZJ131 coded "P" - passed my back garden yesterday, I was washing up and stranded away from the camera. It's one of the ex-RAF aircraft transferred to the RN for transport of Marines etc. Nice catch.

British military helicopters often transit London by following the Thames, leaving Eastwards via the Thames Estuary or North via the Walthamstow reservoirs; Westwards they join the M3 and follow that before picking up the railway around Farnborough.

John

 

[KenM]

Merlin HC3 serial ZJ131 coded "P" - passed my back garden yesterday, I was washing up and stranded away from the camera. It's one of the ex-RAF aircraft transferred to the RN for transport of Marines etc. Nice catch.

British military helicopters often transit London by following the Thames, leaving Eastwards via the Thames Estuary or North via the Walthamstow reservoirs; Westwards they join the M3 and follow that before picking up the railway around Farnborough.

John

Cheers John, this Merlin went West, an alternative route perhaps…

 

[Farnboro John]

Cheers John, this Merlin went West, an alternative route perhaps…

No, what I'm saying is that West or East through Central London they follow the river. If they are going West, as ZJ131 was, then more or less at the M25 they leave the Thames and follow the M3. What you saw accords exactly with what I would expect.

John

 

[M Edgeller]

Merlin HC3 serial ZJ131 coded "P" - passed my back garden yesterday, I was washing up and stranded away from the camera. It's one of the ex-RAF aircraft transferred to the RN for transport of Marines etc. Nice catch.

British military helicopters often transit London by following the Thames, leaving Eastwards via the Thames Estuary or North via the Walthamstow reservoirs; Westwards they join the M3 and follow that before picking up the railway around Farnborough.

John

Useful info, John. I seem to be getting more frequent sightings from my Southampton garden which is close to the southern end of the M3.
Mark