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Low flying 747 over shirley

sotonjoe

By sotonjoe,
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sotonjoe

sotonjoe

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At about 4:10pm today a 747 flew very low over Shirley. I was on Wilton Road and it appeared to come from the direction of the Common (East to West) before heading South and out over the water.

 

I swear it could only have been a couple of thousand feet in the air and was moving really slowly.

 

Does anyone know why on earth it would have been in the area and that low?

 

Did anyone else see it?

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Guest Dark Sotonic Mills

Guest Dark Sotonic Mills

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I saw it driving up winchester road, looked like it wasnt moving untill i stopped at the lights

 

Don't be stupid, it's too wide to get up Winchester Road. Maybe it was a BAe 146 instead.

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sotonjoe

sotonjoe

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Almost certainly on its way into Bournemouth.

 

 

i don't think so. To my knowledge, they don't regularly take aircraft that big at bournemouth and this was too low to be doing a normal approach to an airport that far way anyway. Its hard turn out towards the isle of wight seems at odds with the bournemouth theory as well.

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Mr Nice

Mr Nice

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In years gone by i was plodding along the road near bitterne and saw a BA plane almost sat on top of the street lights. Got home to discover the pilot had been half sucked out the ****pit and was stopping in Soton for emergency landing !

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Huffton

Huffton

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i don't think so. To my knowledge, they don't regularly take aircraft that big at bournemouth and this was too low to be doing a normal approach to an airport that far way anyway. Its hard turn out towards the isle of wight seems at odds with the bournemouth theory as well.

 

Sorry but your knowledge is wrong. Bournemouth regularly gets 747s landing and departing due to the maintenance base they have. In fact the runway is capable of taking aircraft that have a longer take off/landing run than a jumbo, Concorde visited a few years ago.

Its 'hard turn towards the IOW' is perfectly plausible. Watch the path the Ryanair flights take when approaching from the north for a westbound approach, out towards the island before a right turn over the forest to intercept the ILS.

[/anorak mode];)

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Minty

Minty

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Huffton is spot on... I used to work in ATC at Southampton, where all (well, 95%) Bournemouth arrivals were handled on approach and his description is about as accurate as it gets without boring you all with STAR's and maps of Solent airspace... [/uber-plane-geek]

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Danny

Danny

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Huffton is spot on... I used to work in ATC at Southampton, where all (well, 95%) Bournemouth arrivals were handled on approach and his description is about as accurate as it gets without boring you all with STAR's and maps of Solent airspace... [/uber-plane-geek]

 

I didn't know baggage handlers needed that level of expertise. ;)

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TopGun

TopGun

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Posted (edited)
Sorry but your knowledge is wrong. Bournemouth regularly gets 747s landing and departing due to the maintenance base they have. In fact the runway is capable of taking aircraft that have a longer take off/landing run than a jumbo, Concorde visited a few years ago.

Its 'hard turn towards the IOW' is perfectly plausible. Watch the path the Ryanair flights take when approaching from the north for a westbound approach, out towards the island before a right turn over the forest to intercept the ILS.

[/anorak mode];)

 

Hate to **** on your chips but putting a 747 on Bournemouth would be like parking a tank in a disabled bay. Doable but not preferable.

 

Maintenance - On-site maintenance checks are available on a wide range of aircraft including the Boeing 727, 737 family, 757 and 767, as well as the Airbus A300, A310 and A320 family.

 

http://www.bournemouthairport.com/bohweb.nsf/Content/FactsAndFigures

Edited by TopGun
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Huffton

Huffton

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Hate to **** on your chips but putting a 747 on Bournemouth would be like parking a tank in a disabled bay. Doable but not preferable.

 

Maintenance - On-site maintenance checks are available on a wide range of aircraft including the Boeing 727, 737 family, 757 and 767, as well as the Airbus A300, A310 and A320 family.

 

http://www.bournemouthairport.com/bohweb.nsf/Content/FactsAndFigures

 

Really?

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(Qatar-Amiri/Boeing-747SP-21/1187511/M/

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/European-Aircharter/Boeing-747-236B/1335461/M/

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/European-Aircharter/Boeing-747-236B/1123749/M/

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Nigeria-Airways-(Air/Boeing-747-267B/1100826/M/

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TopGun

TopGun

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Can't argue with that Huffton! Bournemouth is better than I thought. Not sure it could cope with regular heavy aircraft though.

 

On the subject of low flying aircraft over Soton I'll never forget a night walking down the Inner Avenue on my way to the Guidedog in Feb 1991... All of a sudden, there was a massive roar and a phalanx of F1-11s flew over. I got to the pub and informed people that the bombing of Iraq was about to happen. I got back about 1am and turned on the radio to hear that Desert Storm (air raid bits) was underway.

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ericofarabia

ericofarabia

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Can't argue with that Huffton! Bournemouth is better than I thought. Not sure it could cope with regular heavy aircraft though.

 

On the subject of low flying aircraft over Soton I'll never forget a night walking down the Inner Avenue on my way to the Guidedog in Feb 1991... All of a sudden, there was a massive roar and a phalanx of F1-11s flew over. I got to the pub and informed people that the bombing of Iraq was about to happen. I got back about 1am and turned on the radio to hear that Desert Storm (air raid bits) was underway.

 

Strange ... I normally see UFOs etc on the way back from the pub ;)

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Saint_Jonny

Saint_Jonny

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Got your anorak on today hufton? :p

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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

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A friend of mine used to work at Bournemouth as an Air Traffic Controller.

 

Bournemouth regularly hosts 747s. In fact a while back they had a scheduled service to the east coast of the US but I cannot remember which destination or which airline.

 

Southampton airport and Bournemouth airport have to co-operate very, VERY closely over the airspace control because they are so close together AND because the wind direction often means that the aircraft are taking off TOWARDS each other.

 

I visited him in the tower once, and when he was on radar control rather than visual duty, he was permanently on the phone to his counterpart at Southampton.

 

So seeing such a plane over Soton doesnt surprise me.

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TopGun

TopGun

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I believe that Bath Travel regularly flew 747s out of Hurn. it used to be a bomber aerodrome so it has long runways.

 

Being a bit of a saddo also I can't see how 747s can fly regularly in and out of Bournemouth. I accept the occasional flights and also in for maintenance but the airport is not built for 747s.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournemouth_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations

 

I'm sure owners MAG wants to upgrade but even then it would be passenger wise 737-NG size (smaller than 747s) just because of terminal facilities in place and planned.

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TopGun

TopGun

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Only charter flights now and then so not too much pressure as with several 747's a day ?

 

Big wings and small parking places for customers. If MAG redevelop the terminal then they will do it for mid-size aircraft to park. So that leaves only one (or maybe two dependent on taxiing) place at the end for a big aircraft like a 747 to park. Why make facilities for Hummers to park when the 97% trade is Ford Focus's...

 

A twin jet like a 737-NG or A330 can reach the Caribbean (and that's another question about twin jet engine failures) so no need for particular Jumbo facilities at Bournemouth.

 

Anyway, 747s are pretty out of vogue. Last one BA bought was 10 years back.

Edited by TopGun
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