Low 747 at Manchester?
 

Please don't flame me for this, but I was just wondering if anyone knows anything about a 747 that was flying quite low north of the airport, about north-northwest, about 7 miles from the airport, looked like a Virgin Atlantic from the colour on the tail but was obscured a bit by clouds. Was about 9:50z (10:50 local). Was probably nothing but wondered why it was so low in that area?

Which airport and which course did the plane seem to fly? Climbing, descending, or staying level?

hardhatter, something in the heading tells me it could be Manchester Airport. ;)

Might have been Cathay, in Dragonair livery, B747 Freighter which landed soon after this time.

I seemed to be staying level, was headed west, and seemed at a very weird place for aircraft headed for Manchester, they are usually much further north than where I saw it, and higher... just seemed a little weird and wondered if anything happened to it for it to do that... seems not...

Perhaps someone needs to practice their Constant Descent Approaches...:=

MAN is using 05L for departures at the moment. A Virgin 747 flying transatlantic would climb straight ahead until it is just about over Stockport then turn left (i.e. to the North-NW of the airport). The block on these departures is 5000ft (I haven't done a westerly off 05L for a while though) and a heavy 747 might take all the time available to reach that block. Alternatively, it could be headed north to GLA (POL departure) if it is the MAN-GLA-MCO flight. So, I expect what you describe will simply be the aircraft on the climb-out/departure. Aircraft do tend to have periods of low flight when either approaching or leaving the ground you see.

@sobolena:

:ooh: :O :ugh: :\...

I'll just go over to my corner and learn to read again...

carry on. :8

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=323050

Does this have anything to do with it?

After getting some more information, it does seem that it was a departure that was having a bit of difficulty climbing- nice to know!

What other routes do VS fly from MAN? I was SLF through the airport during the last week when I saw a 744 depart off 05L. It didn't turn left to the USA or right to London (ferry) but stayed on RWY heading for a long time, looking as though it must have had a decent load onboard.

Was it a charter, or an unusual departure for a usual routing? Must have been 5 days ago or so.

UnderASouthernSky
 

It could be the 747 that routes MAN-GLA then onwards to MCO. This would continue straight ahead for a while off 05L then turn left to POL a lot later than the WAL departures do.

Diaz:

I wouldn't have thought it was 'having difficulty' climbing. You make it sound like it was in trouble! It was probably a 747 full of holiday passengers and fuel for the transatlantic trip so very heavy. 4 engined heavies don't climb as quickly as the twins so although it may be climbing slower than a B767 for example, it certainly wouldn't have been having 'difficulty'! You should see an A340 climb, especially at the higher levels :sad: