Sorry to dredge up a slightly old post - the Manchester Airport thread got my mind back to the C17's that have been doing circuits at BHX, MAN and others over the last few weeks. Last thursday, from memory, we had one do a low pass at about 2000ft directly over the house - was a surprise when i looked out the front window and saw it heading right for me. And we are in Solihull, about 2 miles perpendicular to a point about 500yds past the end of the runway, so fairly unusual to see.
Anyway, i wondered if anyone know the reason for these landings? Clearly these airports are now essentially empty and can easily accommodate military (i assume training?) flights compared with usual schedules. But why? I hypothesis that this might be because most of the RAF strips around the country either 1) cant take a C17 or 2) dont have the full kit to practice IFR approaches - perhaps a simulated night landing on an ILS with CATIII visibility to very low height? I would assume that the kit at BHX/MAN/LTN is all substantially better than RAF runways? Perhaps it also gives them a chance to practice SIDs that they may not otherwise get the opportunity to?
Grateful for any thoughts