Originally Posted by
Lyneham Lad
Thanks for the footage. Quite a large shadow at the 1.50 to 2.00 minute mark as it banks round. Those a lot cleverer than me could probably give a reasonable guesstimate of its altitude.
About 1.8x the apparent (foreshortened) wingspan, counting the pixels. Wingspan is given as 139ft 1in in open sources. 1.8*139 = 250.2ft.
Analyst comment: note that the a/c might be further away from the camera in the z-axis than is apparent, over the lower ground rather than the ridge. The apparent wingspan is foreshortened by the bank. Both of these might lead to an underestimate of its height over the ground.
Open sources show that the LFA 7(T) was active on 5th January, permitting low flying down to 100ft for operational training. When the LFA is not active, the lower limit is reported to be 250ft. We assess that the British are progressively building up the A400M tactical role capability; on this occasion they respected the higher 250ft limit although LFA regulations permitted them to go lower. Operating below 250ft in the active LFA would be an indicator of greater confidence in the aircraft and its systems, although the fact that the limit was observed with a high degree of precision (less than 1 per cent) implies they are making progress.