RAF Terror Fliers

[MightyGem]

This appears to have been missed in Wednesday's Daily Mail:

"Tower Block terrorised by RAF jet

Thousands of office workers cowered in terror as a massive jet
thundered towards their tower block.

Visions of the World Trade Centre catastrophe flashed into their
minds as the Hercules swept to within 400 yards.

Now the RAF has apologised in a letter to the 3000 staff at the DVLA
centre in Swansea for the day in February they were 'buzzed' by the
C130 transporter.

They explained that the plane had veered off course during bad
weather.

A woman clerk at the centre, which processes licences for every
vehicle in Britain, said yesterday: 'It was huge and brought memories
of the pictures we saw in New York on 9/11.

'Anyone working in a high rise building is sensitive to seeing
aircraft flying close by - a lot of us were scared stiff'

An RAF spokesman said that at no time did their plane breach safety
rules"

And there was me thinking that the RAF were a professional bunch and
diverted due to bad weather, rather than veering about the countryside

[WE Branch Fanatic]

Didn't know the Herc was a jet.......

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Edited ......MASSIVE jet...............c130:rolleyes:

hacks and whinging taff's are a poor combination:ok:

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced

[Tarnished]

It is a jet - got no spark plugs therefore must be a jet or a glider.

Its a jet with fans on the front and gets easily lost in bad weather

[ShyTorque]

Anything to wake 'em up down at DVLA. Thanks boys.

Hopefully they'll send me a new V5 now so I can get me new motorbike taxed and on the road :rolleyes:

[dmanton300]

I did hear that DVLA receive 12 tons of mail a day . Maybe they're looking at delivering it by LAPES?

[SilsoeSid]

Looks like a jet engine;

http://www.idaho.ang.af.mil/Photos/c130eng.jpg

3D views (http://www.rolls-royce.com/civil_aerospace/products/regional/ae2100/default.jsp)

[Scud-U-Like]

Even allowing for media hype, this is not really a matter for levity. A large ac heading for your high-rise office block must be disconcerting, to say the least. I understand the RAF took it very seriously.

[twang]

Hacks & whinging Taffs are a poor combination ,so are winch weights & pointy implements :E

[whowhenwhy]

Shy Torque, do you want one of my V5s? They've sent me 2 for the same vehicle! I'm sure there's something illegal I can do, but my imagination fails me!

[Av18tor]

Good to hear that the people working really hard at the DVLA, not gazing out of the windows all day looking for stray aircraft!!:E

And I thought that they were only interested in penalising the people who re tax their vehicles albeit a little late (two weeks due to holls) to the sum of eighty pounds! Hope it shook them up good and proper!

Well done boys!!

:ok: :ok:

[ShyTorque]

whowhenwhy,

Yes, I'll have it. I'll clone your motor then I can put my speeding tickets in your name. Thanks.

Fiver OK? ;)

[Pontius Navigator]

1,200 feet, what's the problem, the MSD is 250 feet. Round my neck of the woods it can be 100.

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Go on then Twang.....which category do you fall into?:rolleyes:

all spelling mistakes are "df"alcohol induced:rolleyes:

[WorkingHard]

Pontius Navigator - Do tell where in Lincolnshire 100ft is allowed (assuming you dont actually live on a runway or one of the danger areas). In any case the 250ft has to be with prior authorisation does it not?

[twang]

Thats why we keep the 'pointey' things away from winch weights, as they respond badly to barbs :{
Ding !, ding !, always broken , going down !

[sonicstomp]

A couple of random thoughts :

1. If the RAF had a higher public profile, your average office worker might recognise a C130 as a military a/c and therefore cheer rather than cower under the desk.

2. The MoD seems incredibly nervous about upsetting other govt departments at the moment - if no rules were broken why apologise? (Maybe still feeling guilty for wasting so much money on procurement projects :) )

3. The DVLA are a right royal pain in the a** so, french connection UK the c u next tuesdays!

[Scud-U-Like]

I'm not sure why you would expect DVLA workers to be spotters and I wonder how good they or any other average member of the public would be at recognising a C130 head-on and possibly in silhouette.

Swansea, as a Town with a population of more than 10,000, is a town avoidance (see www.mod.uk/issues/lowflying), so, presumably, it would be unusual to see a military transport ac flying there below 2000ft. If the DVLA building is, say 300 ft high, and the ac was '400 yards' (okay, make that 800 yards) from the building, then one could assume the ac was flying well below 2000ft, within the town avoidance. If the crew really were avoiding weather, fair enough, but I think an apology was in order, in the circs.

I doubt slagging-off DVLA helps the cause of the aircrew involved. It might give people the wrong idea.

[Legalapproach]

Great deal of low low flying Alberts in Norfolk last week - scared the c*** out of me in case any flown by old mates of mine!!! Strong wind made for some interesting drift even at 250'

Further thought; if this scares the living daylights out of our civil servants, would anyone from Rompers Green care for the lat long of my local tax office? There could be a good drink in it.....

[skaterboi]

Scud-U-like,

Sort of hard to stay out of the avoidance zone of the town whe you're making a low level approach to the runway don't you think?

[Scud-U-Like]

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but if memory serves, Swansea Airport (and it's ATZ) are outside the Town boundary.

[WorkingHard]

Pontious Navigator - I would still love to know about the low fly areas in Lincolnshire. Am I to assume you are away for the moment or some other reason for the lack of response?

[NorthSouth]

sonicstomp:If the RAF had a higher public profile, your average office worker might recognise a C130 as a military a/c and therefore cheer rather than cower under the deskYou might be too young to remember the C-130 that was nicked from Mildenhall by a pissed-off ground crew guy and flown out to Land's End where it crashed in the sea. A large lump of metal flying towards you is a large lump of metal flying towards you even if it is full of bombs rather than box-cutters.

[Training Risky]

My god NorthSouth, when was that!

[Archimedes]

See http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99469&highlight=C130+Mildenhall and follow the links in ORAC's follow-up for the full details (or as full as they ever will be!)

[Brain Potter]

WorkingHard,

All flying on Brenda's behalf has to be with "prior authorisation" - be it 100' MSD , 250' agl or FL400+.

Forgive me if I am wrong (honestly), but your posts do seem a little anti-military, particularly on the subject of low flying. Do tell all!

:D

[WorkingHard]

BP - Just would like to know where to avoid such low fly areas. Regularly take off and land which is where the particular interest lies. And yes I have had problems with mil low flying and at airfields clearly marked. Bit less now the A10 have gone but it has happened since and is a bit sad (and scary) when the paid professionals get it so wrong.