Odd aircraft behaviour during drone flight

General Drone Discussion
1

Yesterday I was out taking a few photos and I was within the FRZ of Southend Airport.
I had permission from Southend ATC for this, and had also submitted a flight report in advance, so I presume aircraft in the areas would be aware of a drone operating here.

During my flight there was a fast jet which passed by numerous times. It was nothing to worry about, it was sufficiently far away not to be a concern, and for my purposes my flight was limited to just above the height of surrounding building but below the height of the tallest trees, so there were have been much bigger problems long before a drone meets jet incident.

I checked flight radar when I got home just out of curiosity and found out it was a Folland Gnat which is quite cool. But that got me thinking, is flying a jet much more dull than I thought it would be? The area is pretty boring with no particular landmarks nearby, so I can only assume he saw the warning of a drone operating in the area and though that was the best thing to head for and check out.

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2

Maybe the communication to the pilot was down that an authorised flight was allowed and he went to target you with missiles armed asked for permission to fire and someone at control said “nope he’s allowed”. So you got away with being blown to bits?

3

Phew! So it was a good day after all. :joy:

4

In more likelihood is they might have known and that flight path does look like it came close to have a looksy. We do similar I guess sometimes, see something and go and have a look! i.e. a bike rider, or car, or bird (see howard or chris chased a swan the other day!) Maybe “I wonder if I can see a drone, let’s go and look there’s a report of one”

5

Could be the CAA looking for another excuse :rofl::rofl::rofl:

6

G-RORI/XR538 is part of the Gnat Display Team from North Weald, so he was probably on a training jaunt, or somebody had paid to go up for a jolly.