Two prop planes in close formation Cork area this morning?

FishOnABike

I observed two twin prop, one slightly larger than the other flying what appeared to be the same course + altitude and several wing span distance apart thus morning between 09:15 and 09:30 heading in a NW direction over the Kinsale / Innushannon area.

It's unusual to see aircraft seemingly in such close formation. Can anyone throw some light on it?

Board Walker

I saw two light aircraft over Rotterdam port before, one just above and ahead of the other, Air to Air refueling training i imagine but i doubt that's the case here.

FishOnABike

Wouldn't think it was anything to do with mid-air refuelling.

The pair were level with each other, flying parallelto each other, at the same speed and direction and maybe 200 metres apart. The slightly larger one was west of the smaller one.

There was no sign of an umbilical and the size difference was small enough, the larger one maybe 1½ times the size of the smaller one. I wouldn't think it was related to refuelling.

Wondering if anybody might be able to see it on flight radar 24 or might have caught something on Cork ATC. Outside of air displays it's unusual to see two aircraft close to each other.

ironclaw

Many years ago I saw a similar sight around Bray and I believe the answer at the time was filming of some sort.

scuby

From the flight training school?

FishOnABike

scuby wrote: »

From the flight training school?

I'd often see one small or twin prop plane looking like it was following the river Bandon under VFR and practicing manoeuvres like climb, stall and recovery but this is the first time I've ever seen a pair flying parallel, level with each other and on the same heading only 200 metres or so apart, as if they were in formation. I'm a bit curious as to reason.

Psychlops

Air Corps PC-12 aircraft being used for type rating was down around Cork this morning, OH-GTH did a missed approach, also an Air Corps PC9M "FOX262" was down around Cork too.

BowWow

https://planefinder.net/flight/OHGTH/time/2020-02-25T10:45:00.000Z/speed/1

Teebor15

FishOnABike wrote: »

I observed two twin prop, one slightly larger than the other flying what appeared to be the same course + altitude and several wing span distance apart thus morning between 09:15 and 09:30 heading in a NW direction over the Kinsale / Innushannon area.

It's unusual to see aircraft seemingly in such close formation. Can anyone throw some light on it?

A PA34 and a DA42 flying in formation for a promotional photo/video shoot for Atlantic Flight Training Academy. There would would have been a C172 in the vicinity with the photographer on board,