Low level over the sea
Practising CLA SEARCH for dropping the mail to the RN.....?
Looks like a practice SAR/Maritime type scenario - a bit of a cloverleaf search, with a creeping line ahead section and perhaps hidden in all that a sort of expanding square. And I would imagine the minimum height over water is a lot lower than 200ft!
Shack,depends where 1013 was today.....
Shack,true,but the txpdr. data is based on 1013.....which may be above or below the waves....
Depends what the serviceable A400 has on that day! 
Also had a tale told to me that, back in the 70's, the Soviets tried deploying troops ultra-low-level into deep snow - a number of odd ultra-low runs by suitable aicraft being observed one particularly hard Winter not far from the E/W German border as was. Turned out the plan was to save on parachutes.
Seems the trials were very short-lived.The person who told me seemed to (a) genuinely know what they were on about and (b) seemed not to have any good reason to take the pi$$ out of H 'n' H so I assume the above is a genuine "dit", as far-fetched as it sounds. But, years on after the tale was told to me I'm still not 100% sure it was (a) or whether they were just very good at (b)!
I have seen this type of activity in other areas but with C130's..
It looks as though the search was started in an area 10 miles NE of the intersection of English Inshore waters and the track followed by vessels travelling between Roscoff, France and Rosslare, Ireland. The pattern then narrowed the search down to a single point where the A400 pinpointed the point and remained in the area. Did someone go over the side of a ferry or vessel, what was the tidal flow at the time of search (Up Channel?) Could an underwater object have been loitering in the area?.
An A400 is a rather large asset for this operation unless nothing else is available.
Questions, questions, questions,
IG
It looks as though the search was started in an area 10 miles NE of the intersection of English Inshore waters and the track followed by vessels travelling between Roscoff, France and Rosslare, Ireland. The pattern then narrowed the search down to a single point where the A400 pinpointed the point and remained in the area. Did someone go over the side of a ferry or vessel, what was the tidal flow at the time of search (Up Channel?) Could an underwater object have been loitering in the area?.
An A400 is a rather large asset for this operation unless nothing else is available.
Questions, questions, questions,
IG
Last edited by Imagegear; 11th Jul 2020 at 14:46.
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Nav looking for a landmark to figure out where they are? 😜
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Almost certainly SAR training for use in the Falklands where it is the only asset.
I’m also fairly certain that the flight deck is never sullied by the presence of a navigator!!
I’m also fairly certain that the flight deck is never sullied by the presence of a navigator!!
Yeah, I've been bored enough to look at FR24 more than usual over the past 3 months or so and have seen similar tracks in similar areas from A400Ms on multiple occasions
ASRA drops? I never complained during liferaft drills after doing ASRA drops from the Herc, when 2 out 3 MS10 in the string inflated upside down. After that practicing righting a liferaft didn't seem to be a chore.
Also had a tale told to me that, back in the 70's, the Soviets tried deploying troops ultra-low-level into deep snow
https://books.google.com.au/books?id...chutes&f=false