Low flying over Ditchling East Sussex tonight

[surely not]

A friend has asked if I knew what the 3 low flying, 4 engined, aeroplanes were heading South East over Ditchling, East Sussex at around 9.00pm tonight 3rd April.

I didn't see or hear them, and cannot find them on the flight radar sites. The obvious guess would be C-130 or A400, but does anyone know?

[chevvron]

Originally Posted by surely not

A friend has asked if I knew what the 3 low flying, 4 engined, aeroplanes were heading South East over Ditchling, East Sussex at around 9.00pm tonight 3rd April.

I didn't see or hear them, and cannot find them on the flight radar sites. The obvious guess would be C-130 or A400, but does anyone know?

Common area for the RAF to practice low flying so almost certainly C130 which would be quite quiet. There are no radar heads in the area so low flying aircraft wouldn't always show and in any case some RAF aircraft aren't fitted with ADS-B yet.

[Cremeegg]

Originally Posted by chevvron

.... There are no radar heads in the area....

Isn't there a big whirly thing on the hill just west of Pease Pottage which has direct line of sight to Ditchling Beacon maybe 10-15 miles away? Or does that have some super secret purpose?

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by surely not

the 3 low flying, 4 engined, aeroplanes were heading South East over Ditchling, East Sussex at around 9.00pm tonight

Were they seen simultaneously, or at intervals ? If the latter, were they definitely three different aircraft or could it have been one aircraft orbiting ?

A400Ms have ADS-B, so they normally appear on the flight-tracking websites. RAF C-130s typically only have Mode S/EHS, so they usually don't get tracked but will are still detectable. For example there were two C-130Js, Jigsaw 1 and 2, doing some fairly sporty low-level manoeuvres (judging by EHS returns) in this neck of the woods around 20:50 yesterday evening.

Your best bet might be to find somebody local who keeps a Mode S log.