Extremely low flying aircraft in the middle of nowhere!

greenybaby

Taken from another thread as it was in the wrong place, this happened at approx 1:30am this morning


Just had an airliner(took out commercial bit as it wasn't lol) go over my house at approx 500m, has basically woken the village up everyone was out looking to watch it, checked knock (came from that direction)- no departures, checked dublin - no arrivals til 5am, it wasn't really heading in the direction of dublin to be honest but it didn't show up on flightradar, i am in south leitrim, can anyone shed any light on this or help me find out why it happened??

Neworder79

How do you know it was 500m, no aircraft will be operating that low. Is this based on sighting or noise? In clear cold weather transatlantic jets at cruise can sometimes sound deceptively loud at ground level.

You can track commercial flights on flightradar24.com and playback movements. However there were no commercial flights over the island at 1.30 last night, and only transatlantic jets at 34000 ft for the rest of the night. Air Corps CASA turboprop might be a possibility, sometimes do costal patrols after dark.

Only other options I can think of are the Government Jet operating out of Knock, but that would be above to 8000 ft over Leitrim.

More likely would be a private jet out of nearby Enniskillen St Angelo, with a SE facing runway. But again that would be well above 4000ft.

greenybaby

As you can see from my original post I checked flightradar, it's not uncommon for flights not to show on it anyway! I am saying 500m because of the size of the aircraft, could be totally wrong, more than likely am but it was incredibly low, it was based on noise and sighting, it was not a clear night last night but this aircraft was well below cloud level.

greenybaby

Rang a friend in the air corps to see if it was the CASA but to be honest I really don't think it was a prop plane, only thing different about it was the wing tip lights were green if that helps? He said it may have been the garda plane but until he finds out I am in the dark, also he said the altitude was probably much higher than I suspect, which I agree with, just when you open your window to see a huge aircraft so close the auld judgement can be affected lol

kona

greenybaby wrote: »

Rang a friend in the air corps to see if it was the CASA but to be honest I really don't think it was a prop plane, only thing different about it was the wing tip lights were green if that helps? He said it may have been the garda plane but until he finds out I am in the dark, also he said the altitude was probably much higher than I suspect, which I agree with, just when you open your window to see a huge aircraft so close the auld judgement can be affected lol

Starboard wing lights are always green

Neworder79

Starboard (right) wing light is usually green, Port red. CASA has distinct prop hum like the ART so hard to mistake for a jet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBz377aq968

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qNskXQBo1Y

richiek67

Maybe something from Area 51 got lost......

greenybaby

Ok didn't know that about the lights, suppose i've never noticed them being green until last night when it was over my head, my friend got back to me and the casa wasn't out and it wasn't an air ambulance and he couldn't get info on the garda plane, there is a site about info on low flying aircraft but i need the reg of the plane, kinda impossible! But maybe the fact it was the only plane over the country at that time they maybe able to help out (bear in mind only 60% of aircraft will show up on flightradar so hopefully nothing else was about the area at the time)

brandon_flowers

The Dreamlifter flew over South Leitrim (or close to it anyway) at around that time last night but it was at 34,000 feet. Even at that height it would be making quiet a lot of noise and if it was clear you would notice the nav lights.

Neworder79

Live ATC have archives of Shannon control, it was Garda Pilatus Britten Norman Defender, P254, operating in your area. At 1:20 they report overhead Carrick on Shannon, on to Cavan and Baldonnel. Can listen back here:

http://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=einn_high

greenybaby

Neworder79 wrote: »

Live ATC have archives of Shannon control, it was Garda Pilatus Britten Norman Defender, P254, operating in your area. At 1:20 they report overhead Carrick on Shannon, on to Cavan and Baldonnel. Can listen back here:

http://www.liveatc.net/archive.php?m=einn_high

Excellent thank you! I am 30mins from carrick so times match up must listen now for the altitude! It was below the clouds as it wasn't a clear night here at that time, thanks again!!

greenybaby

Just after looking at the images of said aircraft and it doen't match up to the size of aircraft we all seen

greenybaby

brandon_flowers wrote: »

The Dreamlifter flew over South Leitrim (or close to it anyway) at around that time last night but it was at 34,000 feet. Even at that height it would be making quiet a lot of noise and if it was clear you would notice the nav lights.

No it defo wasn't that, this came right over the house, if it was daytime you would have been able to wave at the fecking pilots it was that low lol

No altitude mentioned in the ATC

Am happy to go with the defender, although it's a prop plane and this didn't sound like a prop, then again I was extremely all over the place after looking out to see it and then scrambling to get dressed to go for a better look!!

seven_eleven

greenybaby wrote: »

No it defo wasn't that, this came right over the house, if it was daytime you would have been able to wave at the fecking pilots it was that low lol

No altitude mentioned in the ATC

Am happy to go with the defender, although it's a prop plane and this didn't sound like a prop, then again I was extremely all over the place after looking out to see it and then scrambling to get dressed to go for a better look!!

People often mistake the size of jets and the sounds of them. Turboprops sound like jets to the untrained ear.

greenybaby

seven_eleven wrote: »

People often mistake the size of jets and the sounds of them. Turboprops sound like jets to the untrained ear.

I am ashamed of myself! But all in all an exciting few mins for me haha

DieselPowered

When the Defender and Garda chopped are flying around like this in the middle of the country at night, are they VFR or IFR?

I know the whole rule thing about special VFR in a control zone at night, so I'm not asking that, outside controlled airspace at night in Ireland it has to be IFR, but as the Defender is circling and not going from point to point, where does that fit into the air law?

urajoke

It was P254 and they were VFR and it fits in as they are OAT (operational air traffic) military and don't have to conform to CIVIL air laws.

knucklehead6

brandon_flowers wrote: »

The Dreamlifter flew over South Leitrim (or close to it anyway) at around that time last night but it was at 34,000 feet. Even at that height it would be making quiet a lot of noise and if it was clear you would notice the nav lights.

About the only way the dream lifter would have been making noise at 340 is this old ATC joke....

Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees." TWA 2341: "We are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?" Tower: "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"

brandon_flowers

In the dead of night in South Leitrim you'd almost hear the ISS orbiting.

seven_eleven

greenybaby wrote: »

I am ashamed of myself! But all in all an exciting few mins for me haha

To elaborate on what I mean. skip to 50 seconds in on this video. It could easily be mistaken for a jet engine by some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCHR7GAIUw

greenybaby

brandon_flowers wrote: »

In the dead of night in South Leitrim you'd almost hear the ISS orbiting.

Lol pity the dreamlifter was nowhere near south leitrim

Chuck Stone

seven_eleven wrote: »

To elaborate on what I mean. skip to 50 seconds in on this video. It could easily be mistaken for a jet engine by some.

Because it is a jet engine?

BeardySi

seven_eleven wrote: »

People often mistake the size of jets and the sounds of them. Turboprops sound like jets to the untrained ear.

But the BN Islander/Defender is piston engined.... :P

My money's on the Men In Black...

Growler!!!

Treadhead wrote: »

But the BN Islander/Defender is piston engined.... :P

254 is a turbo prop BN 2T

Neworder79

Living in south Leitrim you should be well used to the sound of Ryanair and AerLingus jets (Boyle is the main fix point for 27 approach at Ireland West). But I have noticed that aircraft at cruise can sound very loud over the West on a cold night, amplified through a chimney or wall vent.

greenybaby

Neworder79 wrote: »

Living in south Leitrim you should be well used to the sound of Ryanair and AerLingus jets (Boyle is the main fix point for 27 approach at Ireland West). But I have noticed that aircraft at cruise can sound very loud over the West on a cold night, amplified through a chimney or wall vent.

Where I am the knock flights are a good bit out, transatlantic flights would be all we hear here really, so the sounds really vary, like I know when an A380 is going over compared to a light aircraft, just need to clarify the plane the other night was sitting at approx 500m (i work in meters not feet) so asked someone else there what altitude they thought it was at (a very keen plane spotter and light aircraft flyer) and he said it was at about 1500-2000ft max so i wasn't far out to be fair with my 500m

BeardySi

Growler!!! wrote: »

254 is a turbo prop BN 2T

bugger.... didn't know there was a turbo version! learn something new every day!