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Hey guys,

Thought I would post here as I know a few of you guys are in the SW of England and posted re. the 'bang' noise (that turned out to be a sonic boom) last month.

There is a large 4-engine plane circling over Gloucestershire, it's quite high up so I can't ID it (think its a passenger plane and white), but it's been circling up there in large circles for at least an hour and a half.

Anyone in the know have any idea about it? Is there a problem at one of the airports so it can't land, or is it some kind of standard procedure to run down the fuel levels if a plane has a problem?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Update, it came round a bit closer last time and I could see its got a dish on the top, so an AWACs plane.

I didn't think the UK had one of those, so some kind of USAF exercise to do with the Olympics perhaps?

IIRC the UK has a handful of Boeing E-3s

It may well be that. The fleet was grounded a few days ago after a technical fault was found on one. Could be a flight test, seen the same thing with a Concorde once. It just flew in the same circle all day.

Ah ok thanks for that mate, that explains it then! Still up there after about 3 hours now, presumably the rudder must be stuck on this one

Pacific wrote:is it some kind of standard procedure to run down the fuel levels if a plane has a problem?

Looks like the question was answered but I thought I'd throw out that most planes can vent their fuel and would not need to fly around to use it up.

There have been a lot of planes in holding patterns over Reading today. (About 30 miles from Heathrow.)

I assume Border Control is swamped again.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

Pacific wrote:is it some kind of standard procedure to run down the fuel levels if a plane has a problem?

Looks like the question was answered but I thought I'd throw out that most planes can vent their fuel and would not need to fly around to use it up.

True, but they would be extremely hesitant to do so over a populated area. There are lots of IFE's (In-flight emergencies) where I work, and they've never dumped fuel unless they had to land gear-up.

There is of course the possibility that the E-3 has a maximum landing weight, but I work on fighters, not heavies.

So yeah, probably just a test.

Pacific wrote:
Update, it came round a bit closer last time and I could see its got a dish on the top, so an AWACs plane.

I didn't think the UK had one of those, so some kind of USAF exercise to do with the Olympics perhaps?

It was an RAF E-3D Sentry from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. RAF E-3Ds were grounded for a very brief period and all have returned to service. The RAF operate six out of seven originally delivered.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/sentry.cfm

The RAF E-3 Sentry that you witnessed was part of the Olympic Exercise that is ongoing. Call sign was NATO 32 and it was noted in communications with Typhoons fighters and other Olympic exercise participants. The area that the E-3 was operating is designated Olympic Area 1.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/exercise-olympic-guardian-02052012

All monitored by aviation and radio enthusiasts over on Fighter Control website. Possibly you will have to register to gain access to the sighting and radio logs?

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=57380

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=57616

http://www.aeroresource.co.uk/

TOMTEEJ wrote:

Pacific wrote:
Update, it came round a bit closer last time and I could see its got a dish on the top, so an AWACs plane.

I didn't think the UK had one of those, so some kind of USAF exercise to do with the Olympics perhaps?

It was an RAF E-3D Sentry from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. RAF E-3Ds were grounded for a very brief period and all have returned to service. The RAF operate six out of seven originally delivered.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/sentry.cfm

The RAF E-3 Sentry that you witnessed was part of the Olympic Exercise that is ongoing. Call sign was NATO 32 and it was noted in communications with Typhoons fighters and other Olympic exercise participants. The area that the E-3 was operating is designated Olympic Area 1.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive/exercise-olympic-guardian-02052012

All monitored by aviation and radio enthusiasts over on Fighter Control website. Possibly you will have to register to gain access to the sighting and radio logs?

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=57380

http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=57616

http://www.aeroresource.co.uk/

That's an impressive first post.



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