Low Flying Complaint - Oz Style
Thread Starter
Low Flying Complaint - Oz Style
Air force plane flyover spooks Canberra residents
I live in a outer suburb of Canberra and other than Australia Day etc military jets are a rare sight. I was therefore delighted to learn via local radio that a RAAF C-17 would be low flying over Canberra yesterday, which he did 3 times straight over the top of my house, what a sight, i never realised they were so quiet. Over a few ales last night at the local club, i was quizzed as to how they fly like that etc but everyone to a man enjoyed the show.
This mornings Canberra Times viewed the situation somewhat differently, the comments section had me spitting my morning coffee out
I live in a outer suburb of Canberra and other than Australia Day etc military jets are a rare sight. I was therefore delighted to learn via local radio that a RAAF C-17 would be low flying over Canberra yesterday, which he did 3 times straight over the top of my house, what a sight, i never realised they were so quiet. Over a few ales last night at the local club, i was quizzed as to how they fly like that etc but everyone to a man enjoyed the show.
This mornings Canberra Times viewed the situation somewhat differently, the comments section had me spitting my morning coffee out
Hempy, You have now made my life's greatest desire to make several low, full power passes over that guy's place 
No, nothing I've flown could make enough noise; let's say a Vulcan or a Lightning in reheat.
Disappointingly limited vocabulary of expletives for an Australian outback type.
No, nothing I've flown could make enough noise; let's say a Vulcan or a Lightning in reheat.
Disappointingly limited vocabulary of expletives for an Australian outback type.
Last edited by Basil; 12th Dec 2014 at 14:06.
Low Flying in Australia in the 1960s
In the mid 1960s I had the great pleasure of flying No 36 Squadron RAAF A-Model Hercules on an exchange tour for two and a half years (the C17s mentioned above are also No 36 Squadron aircraft, you'll note).
Whilst observing a transit flight, early in my conversion training, the flight engineer asked the captain if we might 'take a look' at his home town, which we then did, flying extremely low over the rooftops. I felt sure that this had to be breaking every rule in the book, and when a couple of days later the engineer came into the crew room brandishing a newspaper that had a photo of 'our' aeroplane on the front page, I thought that we would have a lot of explaining to do - but No - the journalist had given his article the heading, 'Our Town honoured by Visit of Giant Hercules'. That brought home to me that I had entered different world!
Indeed, later on, after I had been elevated to command, I sometimes descended early to waggle the wings at some folks I knew lived in a property just north of Inverell. Also, low flying over the empty airspace above the Blue Mountains just a short distance from Richmond RAAF Base after completing a weekend post-maintenance air test was an absolute joy (although I did once manage a bird strike - on a pelican!)
But what really struck me was how much the Australian population appreciated their Air Force - and showed it - at every opportunity when we landed at some Outback strip, or Air Show. Fantastic!
Whilst observing a transit flight, early in my conversion training, the flight engineer asked the captain if we might 'take a look' at his home town, which we then did, flying extremely low over the rooftops. I felt sure that this had to be breaking every rule in the book, and when a couple of days later the engineer came into the crew room brandishing a newspaper that had a photo of 'our' aeroplane on the front page, I thought that we would have a lot of explaining to do - but No - the journalist had given his article the heading, 'Our Town honoured by Visit of Giant Hercules'. That brought home to me that I had entered different world!
Indeed, later on, after I had been elevated to command, I sometimes descended early to waggle the wings at some folks I knew lived in a property just north of Inverell. Also, low flying over the empty airspace above the Blue Mountains just a short distance from Richmond RAAF Base after completing a weekend post-maintenance air test was an absolute joy (although I did once manage a bird strike - on a pelican!)
But what really struck me was how much the Australian population appreciated their Air Force - and showed it - at every opportunity when we landed at some Outback strip, or Air Show. Fantastic!
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: England
Posts: 576
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The only thing that could annoy me about that complaint is the lack of thought, imagination and the limited vocabulary of the speaker.
Hopefully not representative of many Australians...
Hopefully not representative of many Australians...
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: cardboard box in't middle of t'road
Posts: 745
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Had to post one of the comments from the link, coffee on keyboard moment:
I find it reprehensible that an aircraft could fly over our pristine suburb and destroy the peace and tranquility. Fair enough they can fly over the less well-to-do suburbs such as Queanbeyan where the noise of aircraft is a daily occurrence and probably a welcome relief to cover up the noise of hoons and guns being shot. As I was in the backyard at the time tending to my collection of roses I remarked to my wife Elizabeth that I could hear some noise in the distance and thought it was one of those hoons who drive around Manuka who has got lost again and is driving around our area. When the plane flew over so low my poor wife nearly spilt her flute of Pol Roger and our maid took cover under one of the gazebo's as she thought they were on some sort of bombing run. I'm sure that ADFA wouldn't appreciate it if our gulfstream flew low over their parade grounds without notice!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: 4 Civvy Street. Nowhere-near-a-base. The Shires.
Posts: 559
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Oh that's hilarious - in fact somebody should send it to the Daily Mail as an example of "hilarious" since they misuse the word so much.
I like the story about the Oz flyby of his hometown being so appreciated. I too felt that love, after a very close fly by of the kids' school went down in a similarly popular fashion.
I like the story about the Oz flyby of his hometown being so appreciated. I too felt that love, after a very close fly by of the kids' school went down in a similarly popular fashion.
Last edited by camelspyyder; 13th Dec 2014 at 17:19. Reason: spealang
