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A400 having fun?


Rick Brown

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Out playing again this afternoon 10-12 miles off Newquay - don't know how accurate the details are, but according to the display, he's been down as low as 25ft:

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Different aircraft (ZM416, I think) was flying similar patterns yesterday, but he was generally showing between 150-225ft...

 

 

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And talking of things at mere feet above the waves, while I was watching the A400 on screen, I could hear the clatter of blades in the distance, but nothing was showing up...

....looking out of the window, I realised what the noise was - what appeared to be a DHFS Griffin hovering low enough to be kicking up spray:

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He held that position for a good 10-15 mins - so while the A400 was playing off some miles off the north coast, the helo was a few hundred yards off the south coast (in the bay beween St Austell and Fowey on the above map)...

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On 08/05/2020 at 23:39, Rick Brown said:

 

 

 

Just for the records, the engine was fine...

 

Rick.

Before or after you’d ‘fixed’ it? 😁

 

Graham

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31 minutes ago, GrahamS said:

Before or after you’d ‘fixed’ it? 😁

 

Graham

During!

Actually, that's not me!

I was taking the picture.

Our team had just unloaded it. Not long after loading it !

It took off, hit the bird and returned pretty quickly. No Damage reported, just a mess to clean out.

The Eagle had been seen flying around for a few days and I'd made the comment it wouldn't be here much longer.

It wasn't!

 

Rick.

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  • 2 weeks later...
46 minutes ago, EwenS said:

ZM413 flying circuits and bumps at Edinburgh just now.

Trundled past us at high level on its way up. Not had a lot apart from Shetland Isles council (presumably on contract) Islander around after servicing. It looked very smart in its blue and white finish with a stylised Saltaire on its fin. 

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On ‎5‎/‎14‎/‎2020 at 4:44 PM, andyf117 said:

And talking of things at mere feet above the waves, while I was watching the A400 on screen, I could hear the clatter of blades in the distance, but nothing was showing up...

....looking out of the window, I realised what the noise was - what appeared to be a DHFS Griffin hovering low enough to be kicking up spray:

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He held that position for a good 10-15 mins - so while the A400 was playing off some miles off the north coast, the helo was a few hundred yards off the south coast (in the bay beween St Austell and Fowey on the above map)...

That's one of the Cobham Helicopter Academy Griffins based at Newquay.  The Wife and I were out for a walk on the North Coast this week and could hear one very nearby, couldn't find it for ages and when we did we couldn't get to it. Very close to the cliff edge:

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2 hours ago, Evalman said:

That's one of the Cobham Helicopter Academy Griffins based at Newquay.  The Wife and I were out for a walk on the North Coast this week and could hear one very nearby, couldn't find it for ages and when we did we couldn't get to it. Very close to the cliff edge:

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Nice pic! Being Newquay-based would explain why I see them around occasionally - a few weeks ago one went over heading south, and returned 90mins or so later heading north with another in trail...

56 minutes ago, Geoff Arnold said:

The DHFS do not operate  the Griffin or  Squirrel any more  and haven't  for over two years  they ate an independent company  and nothing to do with the MOD.

Learn something every day - but the aircraft still seem to carry military serials?

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50 minutes ago, andyf117 said:

Learn something every day - but the aircraft still seem to carry military serials?

Contracted to and operating on behalf of the military, fixed wing primary training is the same but done by Babcock (I think).

 

Dave

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16 hours ago, Coors54 said:

Contracted to and operating on behalf of the military, fixed wing primary training is the same but done by Babcock (I think).

 

Dave

Guessing they're mostly staffed by ex-military instructors earning more as civilian contractors than they did as service QFIs...

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30 minutes ago, andyf117 said:

Guessing they're mostly staffed by ex-military instructors earning more as civilian contractors than they did as service QFIs...

Yes, according to their website they are all ex military.  I'm not sure who they are training, seem to be mainly foreign Military but I heard a rumour that they'd taken on some UK students as a sort of 'Shawbury overflow'. 

They seem to be very busy at Newquay, Griffins are up daily, Squirrels most days and they also have some tiny little Cabri G2s.

The AW139 (ZR283) is still in the Hangar but hasn't flown for a while, the 2  AW109s (ZR324 and ZR325) left the Newquay fleet earlier this year and are now on the civilian register somewhere.  I think there is still an 84 Squadron Griffin in the Hangar.  

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A400`s & Herks have been flying over Liverpool, cutting across Morcambe Bay up to the Faslane area of Scotland and flying around up there for a bit (low level?) quite regularly the past few weeks too. Low over the sea off the Scillies must have been fun?

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