Strange Aircraft Formation's

EgoApocalypse

Hey,

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong area or is long winded and not interesting to anybody.

This is what I woke up to this morning and there is probably an easy explanation for this, It bothered me for the whole day.

I went out to my car this morning at approx 6AM and as it was a lovely morning I looked up into the sky. I live about 3k south of Ardee on the N2. What I first noticed was alot of left over contrail's in the sky above and on that note I looked East and I noticed an Aircraft heading what looked like directly East. But there was another Aircraft nealy directly behind that one. Both heading the same direction and same height, Looked like cruising altitude 30,000ft I guess. Both adding to already many contrails in the sky.
(Formation 2)

Then I looked west and nearly the exact same thing. Two aircraft one behind the other, The second plane tailing back a little further than in Formation 2 Same height heading the same direction East.
(Formation 1)

I thought that was strange enough, So when I drove out onto the N2 heading south, Again I noticed not the exact same thing but close , two aircraft this time bearing south, The contrails from this formation indicated that they where flyin parallel to each other for a while then one of the aircraft started to turn south east. The craft that went south east had a much larger contrail the the one continuing due south.
(Formation 3)

Now I dont post much or give much thought to this kinda stuff, But 3 formations, 6 Aircraft ,which all looked like Boeing 737's or Airbus's equivelent. like an every day jet in the sky. It just bothered me.

Now,

1. Do aircraft travel like this normally?
2. Are there flight paths that go like that?
3. Do Military jets fly over that direction?

I just wanted to post this up and see if somebody could either explain or point me in the right direction to finding an answer or am I just mad.

Now no UFO stuff, Case it aint,
No Chemtrail stuff either,
I just thought it strange and any real answer's would put my mind to rest??


A pic taken of ( Formation 2 ) from my phone, Not great because of the sun


A pic taken of ( Formation 3 ) from my phone,


A small map of what I saw


A pic very like what I saw of Formation 1, Photoshopped to give an idea, The plane tailing back had a bigger contrail than the lead plane


A pic very like what I saw of Formation 2, Photoshopped to give an idea,

Steyr

That looks like rush hour to me! They appear to be close but are separated by strict guidelines, they may even be on the same course or slightly off each others course/heading but nothing out of the ordinary here, Neon Circles can explain way better than me.

Steyr

Also have seen your post regarding Military movements, if they were Mil they may be in formation or somewhat staggered but closer than normal, and if they were "fast air" the contrails would be slimmer.

EgoApocalypse

Cheers for the speedy reply steyr,

M50 in the sky lol,

They seemed very close thats what was strange and im looking at RadarVirtual and flight paths are no where near Ardee, But thats real time.

Yea I thought that rush hour would be a little closer to the Airport.Probably wrong. Might have nothing to do with the airport.Dont know anything a thing about aviation.

Steyr

EgoApocalypse wrote: »

Cheers for the speedy reply steyr,

M50 in the sky lol,

They seemed very close thats what was strange and im looking at RadarVirtual and flight paths are no where near Ardee, But thats real time.

Yea I thought that rush hour would be a little closer to the Airport.Probably wrong. Might have nothing to do with the airport.Dont know anything a thing about aviation.

AFAIK Flightpaths can change. They dont look like they were heading to Dublin or from Dublin they seem too high, probably just over flights enroute east or west

EgoApocalypse

Steyr wrote: »

AFAIK Flightpaths can change. They dont look like they were heading to Dublin or from Dublin they seem too high, probably just over flights enroute east or west

Yea Im thinking overflights alright but in Two's ????? Im mean I doubt even a K apart, Closer even. Im only guessing tho, The photshopped pic of formation 2 is nearly identical to what I saw and the distance too,

Cheers for the info Steyr.

Steyr

this might help you: http://www.pilotfriend.com/training/flight_training/nav/airways.htm


"For jetliners flying inside controlled airspace, pilots are still responsible for maintaining a safe distance from other aircraft. They also must strictly follow IFR or Instrument Flight Rules. In this mode of operation, pilots are flying under reduced visibility and must depend on their instruments for additional guidance and information. Though rules of separation vary depending on the airspace in which a jetliner is flying, in general, air traffic controllers and pilots are required to maintain a horizontal distance of 5 nautical miles between 2 aircraft flying at the same altitude. For altitudes at and below 29,000 feet, vertical separation must be maintained at a minimum 1,000 feet. For altitudes above 29,000 feet vertical separation must be maintained at a minimum of 2,000 feet."

EgoApocalypse

Steyr wrote: »

this might help you: http://www.pilotfriend.com/training/flight_training/nav/airways.htm


"For jetliners flying inside controlled airspace, pilots are still responsible for maintaining a safe distance from other aircraft. They also must strictly follow IFR or Instrument Flight Rules. In this mode of operation, pilots are flying under reduced visibility and must depend on their instruments for additional guidance and information. Though rules of separation vary depending on the airspace in which a jetliner is flying, in general, air traffic controllers and pilots are required to maintain a horizontal distance of 5 nautical miles between 2 aircraft flying at the same altitude. For altitudes at and below 29,000 feet, vertical separation must be maintained at a minimum 1,000 feet. For altitudes above 29,000 feet vertical separation must be maintained at a minimum of 2,000 feet."

Cheers steyr.
Do you think that meets the critera for what I saw??

Steyr

Possibly but I honestly havent a clue Sir, wait for NeonCircles to view here, his name would suggest he is in the know;)

highlydebased

The ones heading east would have been heading to LIFFY waypoint, going to wherever in Europe. It would not have been an intentional "formation"- they were at different FL's...2000 feet vertically to comply with RVSM

The ones going south probably to BAKUR..BANBA or the like. We have night-only waypoints which are valid up to 6am only I think- not applicable for these though.

Early in the morning you'll see alot of it with it all coming off the atlantic.

highlydebased

Basically if you look at this - http://www.iaa.ie/safe_reg/iaip/Published%20Files/AIP%20Files/ENR/EI_ENR_6_2_en.pdf its a map of upper airspace in Ireland

You'll notice we no longer have upper airways any longer, its now free route airspace (Ireland and portugal are only places with it) where flightplans file direct to the exit fix. e.g aircraft coming off the ocean could file MALOT DCT GISTI DCT LIFFY UL975 etc...

Steyr

See what i mean OP!:D Cheers NC!

Snowc

If you go to this website http://casper.frontier.nl/eidw/ and click on the downward facing arrow beside the time box and move the time bar to when you seen the planes.This sould show you the planes you saw and how close the were.

xflyer

This is very common. You could have up to four aircraft in the vicinity of each other all travelling in the same direction but at different levels. It's a consequence of the 'Organised Track System' on the Atlantic route, which changes by the day depending on the upper winds or the position of the jetstream. Essentially it's the optimum route on the day. So most airliners will be funnelled along that route.

What you saw is the early morning transatlantic rush hour as it was aptly put. A lot of flights are organised to arrive first thing in the morning from the USA. You have to be up early to see it though. It's quite spectacular at times. On the west coast you can see the opposite as airliners head out over the Atlantic all following the same route often apparently quite close together.

At times you can see one overtake another looking for all the world like a race.

Danbo!

OP here is a screenshot of yesterday morning at 6am

Would it make sense? 2 to the south and 2 to the west?

rugbyman

Fascinating stuff.
Question, can/do the pilots chat to each other.
if so, can we listen
if so ,how?

Regards ,Rugbyman

Danbo!

rugbyman wrote: »

Fascinating stuff.
Question, can/do the pilots chat to each other.
if so, can we listen
if so ,how?

Regards ,Rugbyman

They can hear each other alright when on the same frequency. If you want to listen go to www.liveatc.net and choose your airport or area you want to listen to.

EgoApocalypse

Hey guys thanks for all the replies, Neon, Styer, Stee, SnowC and xflyer,
Some bits of great info.

I looked at my pic on my phone and I took the pic at 0624.



So would that make sense???? I have marked where I live roughly and viewing the planes from where I did would it put them in the locations in the pic above.Two west and one south.That would put me 50k away from the location of the nearest plane.

---

So of if they where the planes I viewed.

1.Why did I see an extra plane with each one
(I wasnt hung over or wear glasses LoL)

2. There was alot of contrail's around as you can see in the photos would they last that long?

cml387

I noticed yesterday morning (i.e. the 25th) that all the contrails lasted much longer than normal,no doubt due to meteoroligcal conditions.This was in Clonmel and the whole sky was streaked roughly east west.
It's no real mystery,that time is rush hour for eastbound European flights from the US.

Su Campu

Tracking sites like the one you posted sometimes do not show all the traffic in the sky, and in some cases the locations shown are actually wrong (they say this themselves on their site). It is possible, and I have seen it many times myself, that there be two planes flying one behind the other, and though to someone on the ground they may appear to be at the same height, in reality they're not, and may be separated by as little as 1000ft. Keep an eye out again, I'm sure you'll come across it again.

bazzachazza

Stee your assuming all aircraft had their Mode S transponders switched on. In your screen shots case I would guess your missing at least 5-10 aircraft.