Military aircraft at “window height”
 

Reported by a friend in the southern suburbs of Cape Town yesterday. Small planes. Any offers?

No idea, but some of the buildings in Cape Town are 400+ ft high

My informant says 6th floor. Madness in a built-up area!

Others are in the surrounding hills. Aircraft also have to go very close to the ground when they're taking off and landing. More information needed.

Is Thunder City still going?

Surely what matters is the interval between the aircraft and the ground underneath it and the ground immediately ahead of it.

"A Friend"...surely the most knowledgeable and un-challengeable source of information on the planet.

Nothing like an evidence based allegation is. there.

Why were they flying so high?

We were below the third floor of the flats at Templehof.

Here's a picture of aircraft at "window height"

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f61416886e.jpg

Clever tangent.

I shall play my Oboe by the Waterfall which feeds into the Fishpond, which unfortunately reeks of H2S

Would that be the one at Newhaven, Parramatta or Whanganui?

I made the front page of a local rag in Gloucestershire a few years back for a particularly exaggerated low flying complaint. The lady who called it in said I crossed in front of her car at “grass top height” and “half a Fiat Uno bonnet length” in front of her. When the RAF police came to investigate I told them it was one of the most routine low level flights I’d ever done and I genuinely wished I could fly a 70 foot long helicopter at 2 inches above the ground, 150kts and about 18 inches in front of a car :)

Simon......dear boy you just stated "Intent" to the RAF Plod. Now all they have to do is some field trials to gather the evidence that proves you in fact did as accused.

Remember...when a Woman makes a complaint about being done un-nicely by a Male of the Human Species....."She must be believed!".

Is the Two Inch thing the real cause for her angst perhaps?

Gee that was clever

pop down to the Village Inn to reward yourself

I was going to post a picture of the Tower Bridge Hunter incident, but the only ones I can find appear to be Photoshop jobs; maybe there are no real ones.

Reminds me of the low fly complaint I dealt with at Boscombe mid-90s.
Lady said a big helicopter was in her back garden and making such a racket. I asked if she could see any writing on it and her reply was "Yes, it says NO STEP ".

So if the aircraft was flying at 'window height', was the fuselage half-buried in the ground?

Just had Formby on the phone !
Not happy !

I bet MONICA, that works next to the PIPERACK at the aforementioned VILLAGE INN BOOZER would have a tale or 2 to recall....

I think there's a painting.....

A friend who was an RAF Hunter Pilot noted his denial of having done a bit of low flying arrived upon the rocks of reality when the person complaining correctly reported the serial number of a wing store for his aircraft.

If true...she must have had some very good eyes and an excellent memory.

Knowing the old Sod....my money is on the Lady's account.

Hunter Tower Bridge fly-through.
Flt. Lt. Alan Richard Pollock the pilot of the Hunter that flew through Tower Bridge in April 1968 wrote an article " Why I Flew my Hunter Through Tower Bridge - 5th April 1968" for "Flypast" magazine.

His article can be seen here: https://www.jeversteamlaundry.org/4sqnper004.htm

Hmmm.

I also recall handing a low-flying complaint at Boscombe (probably in the late 90s)…

The complainant declared that an Andover had flown so low that she could read the serial number under the wing.

However, it couldn’t have been ours, because we didn’t have one registered 909SX.

Context, the height of the window
 

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....745207dce.jpeg

Or, as ICAO succinctly puts it, "The difference between an accident and a serious incident lies only in the result".

So not only was he low flying, he was inverted!

No reg on the upper side of the wings; must have been flying backwards...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....5a172f5d46.jpg

excellent … 😎

if ever a like button was merited, the post to which you refer deserves it! :ok:

When I lived in Malmesbury, many years ago when Lightnings, F4s and Buccaneers were the established RAF FW fleet, and Tornadoes were relatively new in service, I was walking along Abbey Row ( https://goo.gl/maps/WhxagTdu3akDrZH97 for reference ) and saw a Buccaneer heading westwards using the valley. Below me. Well below window height!

nonsence, #32, an invalid contribution. The wheels are down!

Anyone from the ancient Valley Hawk era, who met an ‘experimental’ HS 748 in mid Wales - at (very) low level?