Four engine fly over
 

Any one who is interested in aviation generally cannot but have notice how few four engine contrails there are these days- compared with a few years ago.

So when i do see one I always wonder who it is, mostly EK or SQ 380s and cargo 74s in my part of the world.

However yesterday one caught my eye going east to west over Camberley/Sandhurst area at 0900. It didnt look like it was ona regualr airways track like the Clacton/Biggin-Compton regulars as it was tracking well south of that. Of course the binoculars were buried under shopping, dog blankets and assorted junk in the boot so by the time I could have a look it was very tail on and rapidly receding. Checked out FR24 and nothing at all . Any one able to let me know what it might have been-I am guessing Mil as not on FR24 but I havent seen many military quad jets in this area

Sure they weren't chemtrails?

Tanker as per the thread in Mil Aviation?

I saw one last week which didn't show up on the sites I check - surreptitious check with the binos (in the office!) made me think it might have been an IL-76. Heading was roughly Clacton - Midhurst.

ADSB Exchange shows some mil but doesn't have a replay feature that I've found.

Possibly.... depending on what you class as east to west.

https://twitter.com/CivMilAir/status/928189148858671104

Matelo

I think that fits the bill very nicely , now I think back it had made a heading change just as i saw it and the track looks exactly right -sort of slightly South of west, I knew it wasnt going via Southampton because so much LHR outbounds on SAMPTON departures pass over that area and it was much too far south for the Compton /Brecon tracks for most Europe NA stuff.
So many thanks, been nice to see it sooner with all those blisters and bumps as it seems they are elusive birds very much from the spooky side of the military

Pax Britanica
Plenty of 4 engine traffic still over Northern UK (Yorkshire in my case) with LH and KLM traffic heading too and from Atlantic tracks, as well as US West Coast BA traffic. Does obviously depend on winds as we sometimes even get ME3 US East Coast traffic, but overall I believe you are correct, as the twins are in the ascendancy.


Regards
Mr Mac

The USAF appears to run regular trips to/from (I'm guessing) the States to Ramstein AFB in Germany, using a C17 transport. You won't see it on FR24, but it is often visible on the unfiltered display at ADSB Exchange. Through binoculars it has a distinct "dumpy" appearance compared to civil jets such as the B747 & A380. I have seen it several times over Norwich, tracking roughly E/W, and it's normally at around FL300.