Big bang in Swindon area

[Tocsin]

When did the rules change? I dimly remember that ex-mil Gazelles were not to be flown with passengers, only crew (e.g. engineers)...

(posted on the Rotorheads thread also, seeking knowledge)

[Canadian Break]

Wyler

Tell them like it really is chap; muppets most of them! CB.

[Trim Stab]

"He said if the helicopter hadn't been ex-military we would have been dead."

So why pass so close then? Misjudgement?

[synsei]

@Wyler #138: You want to be careful sitting on that fence, I just gave it a coat of creosote...

[whitf_c]

TEEEJ

Because they would have been using the time to conduct air refuelling from the VC-10 and also burn up their fuel.

Three and half hours seems a hell of long time to return to base, even if air refuelling was involved. I don't doubt the accuracy of the information I'm just curious of what they would be up to for so long given that they were armed QRA jets.

The radio comms mentioned that they were authorised to fly at M1.2 at 2000ft, which is pretty much flat out. Is it known how long they were travelling at this speed? I assume even the Typhoon would require continuous afterburner to achieve this. I wonder if this was the first supersonic intercept to have taken place over the UK mainland?

[TheWizard]

Originally Posted by whitf_c

I don't doubt the accuracy of the information I'm just curious of what they would be up to for so long given that they were armed QRA jets.

Surely, that is the best place for armed QRA jets to be.......in the air!!
That will save that extra ten minutes to get off the ground!!

[Canadian Break]

first supersonic intercept

Whitf c; No, is the emphatic answer!

[Jamieone]

Standards at the DT

Looks like proofreading is optional at the DT. What's a 'Typhoeen'? Maybe it's an attempt at onomatopoeia.

Dramatic moment sonic boom fighter intercepts rogue helicopter - Telegraph

[MAINJAFAD]

Jamieone

In fact I think you will find that having any good journalistic qualities at all is optional at the DT at the minute, especially when it comes to defence and aerospace matters, mainly caused by 'Not having any background knowledge in the subject at all' and 'did not do research'!!!

[TEEEJ]

Whitf_c wrote

I'm just curious of what they would be up to for so long given that they were armed QRA jets.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Enthusiasts at RAF Coningsby have noted QRA Typhoons being scrambled for QRA missions within UK airspace and then those aircraft not returning for many hours. The QRA would be scrambled as part of a test against simulated hijacked aircraft. Once the test was completed the aircraft would not return immediately to the base. Why not use up the fuel and gain additional flight hours? In the case of the helicopter incident the VC-10 was also up so why not remain airborne to get the full training benefit of the scramble?

Only one Typhoon was authorised to go supersonic

Authorisation was given for one of the Typhoons to transit at supersonic speed over land, which resulted in the sonic boom heard by the public.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | RAF Typhoons scrambled over UK

[ShyTorque]

The QRA force's purpose is to identify any aircraft approaching or within national airspace without prior approval or not having identified themselves and which cannot be identified by any other means, i.e. the aircraft is not talking to civilian or military Air Traffic Control, has not filed a flight plan and is not transmitting a recognisable secondary surveillance radar code.

This could describe almost any private aircraft flying in Class G airspace in UK.

[MAINJAFAD]

ShyTorque

That is correct and if they stay in uncontrolled and unrestricted airspace neither NATS or UKASACS will really give two hoots, violate either on the other hand and alarm bells will ring at both organisations.

[ShyTorque]

MAINJAFAD, Thanks, yes of course that's true.

But no "prior approval" (in the context suggested in that statement) is required to take off and fly within Class G in the UK airspace.

[Lockheed73]

Typhoon saga and idiot pilot

Just read some of the thread, some people on here getting awfully heated over nothing... and now it's a UFO to blame. Haha. If the pilot has any sense he'll stay in obscurity for both his career and nut jobs (ufo lunatic fringe) chasing him for information that's then taken out of context. Just from experience

Keep it up though, I'm liking all the theories behind this incident

[zedder]

FIN1012,
Has there been another Big Bang in the Swindon area as you jumped off the wardrobe in your Superman outfit to claim your 50th Birthday pressie?

[Wander00]

Z- is that not the bare bonnes of a joke, cerytainly told around B+n++++K in the 80s, about engineers bienig discouraged from flying?

[MAINJAFAD]

Zedder / Wadder00, that story came from Kinloss when I first heard it at Valley. Does it include broken legs, the lack of a top of a locker and a Girlfriend who was too tied up to help. (Heard an army version of it once as well, but he was Batman).

[pulse1]

I guess that this is one way of ensuring that the pilot of a light aircraft infringing restricted airspace cannot later deny having seen an intercepting Typhoon.

[FLCH]

Right about the time of the bang, my girlfriend sat down to eat a Big Mac.

You can see she ate the Mac wiped the wrapper on her face and is ready to eat the table for dessert.

[zedder]

Can't remember where I was when I first heard that wardrobe story, possibly at St Mawgan. I definitely remember it did include the broken leg bit, the bloke ending up trapped in a locker or wardrobe, and the fact that the girlfriend was tied to the bed. I vaguely remember that it was the RAFP that had to sort things out, and then presumably try and write it up on tear-soaked notebooks!!

I can confirm that FIN1012 wasn't the person involved, unless of course he has forgotten to 'fess up'.