There used to be a farnhouse near Ingleton that had PISS OFF painted on the roof, which I suppose only had an opposite effect cause the pilots then knew they were on the correct course
2 Likes
I was down at the estuary where I normally fly earlier today. As it happens I wasnāt flying but was still taken aback by the sudden appearance of a Chinook skirting the shore at, I estimate, 100ā agl. This was a military chopper presumably on exercise. No warnings on NATS other than follow the drone code.
Am I missing another resource where i should be looking to get advance warning to keep clear?
It was impressive but a tad scary.
1 Like
I donāt think you are missing anything.
In my mind, key response if your drone was in the air is āreduce altitudeā and āget the hell out of dodgeā. Iāve flown mine whilst the local coastguard were prepping for a training session and laid out flares, etc for the heli to land. They didnāt even care to come and tell me donāt or be careful.
2 Likes
Iām never not impressed by a Chinook they should not be able to fly! Itās insane to watch their props mesh without touching each other and they are impressively agile for a fat bird and cause one hell of a down draft!!
I would have tried to take some pics depending how long it was in sight and assuming it was safe to do so.
1 Like
Yes. Call this free phone number 0800 515544 it puts you thro to the RAF safety centre HQ air command and they will tell you if they are having any low flying military āstuffā knocking about in your area.
Thanks for the number Brian.
Obviously police/air ambulance/coastguard need to go low at times but the 500ā base should be adhered to unless there is a warning out. Certain areas are designated for low flying.
I agree about the Chinook, itās always impressive to see, and hear!
1 Like
Military helicopters have clearance for low flying down to 50m if Iām not mistaken and fixed wing is down to 150. They donāt disclose route for obvious reasons just a certain area.
I was sailing in Poole harbour a few years ago, near the marines base and saw a RIB with about 10 guys in it, in black balaclavas. All of a sudden a Chinook came out of nowhere, dropped a wire and lifted the entire RIB, with occupants, out of the water and flew off over the hill. It was very impressive.
4 Likes
SBS no doubt ;o)
1 Like
Thatāll be them for sure.
I had a Chinook fly directly over my house last night while I was talking to my neighbour on the pavement.
They really are BIG when the come clattering directly overhead and on the low side.
As Iām the other end of the beach from Poole, I guess it was them off somewhere or the transport heading back to base having dropped the boys home. Maybe back to RAF Odiham in Hampshire.
1 Like
I might have posted this before but if not . . . We used to have Chinooks doing ātouch and goā exercises at the Police Headquarters. The landing area was the cricket/rugby field at the front of the building. On one side was the main building and on the opposite side were offices. It was a very hot day and the Chinook circled round and then hovered for several minutes.
Someone failed to tell the pilot that the maintenance men had just mowed the cricket pitch shortly before itās arrival. As it was very hot, all the offices had their windows open. (Can you see whatās coming?) As the pilot hovered, he did a really good job of scooping up all the grass cuttings and blowing them through the open windows. Oh we did laugh !!
6 Likes
This seems to be an ongoing issue. I had another encounter with a shockingly low fly by. Today about 11.00am we were walking down at the marina area and a Hercules aircraft flew across us at a height not much higher than an airshow display. I hesitate to guess but it was LOW. Say less that 200 - 250ā. I was flying in this very area yesterday at 100m (330ā). I phoned the number Brian (above) gave and the operator was not aware of any low flying in the area! I said that I thought that it should have been at 500ā and was told that for large areas of the SW they were able to fly at 250ā
Needless to say Iām not sure what to make of this. There is nothing reported on NATS.
The operator did e-mail me a form which he asked to be filled in and sent in at least 2 hours prior to a drone flight. Has any one else submitted these forms as routine? Even with VLOS the speed with which the Herc appeared would have made for a heart stopping moment. Im just glad I wasnāt flying today.
I am up in Scotland I phoned to find out what I needed to do to fly there I was told to email a day in advance Name, contact number, date time and location I would like to fly.
1 Like
I think thatās probably the safest option - contact the Low Flying team before you fly, with as much notice as possible. If nothing else then at least your back is covered. I was doing some flying on Skye last week, and I let them know my planned location as the area I was in was part of LFA14.
They provided me with a spreadsheet form last year, which can be filled in and emailed to: SWK-LFOFDronesGMB@mod.gov.uk
20200222-RPAS Notification Form-O.xlsx (30.7 KB)
which might be of use to Forum members
2 Likes
Thanks thatās good info.
For the SW, this is the form they sent me:
RPAS PROPOSAL FORM (public).xlsx (24.1 KB)
to be sent to: mailto: SWK-LFOFLFBC@mod.gov.uk
So itās really that simple? Ring the number give them your details and you can more than likely fly with no issues?
Iām visiting Skye in a week and Nats doesnāt even show this no fly zone, only found out because someone mentioned it on TripAdvisor.
Well the two RAF Hawks that just buzzed over my house and within 400ft would probably have smacked into my drone if it had been up high.
Maybe once a fortnight we get trainers whizzing by and luckily I donāt fly during the day as Iām very near a school.
But it would have been a near miss if I would have been up that high in my local field 
Flew over me too on Brid Beach, M2 was up in the air at the time, they were well above 400ft although looked on approach to be much lower
1 Like
South side or North side Chris?
1 Like