I saw a strange sight last evening. I was at least 30 miles from the airport and there was a jet airliner at a very low altitude. I would guess less than 2000 feet. Maybe much less. Wheels were down and the nose was pitched up at a steep angle. It was traveling at a very slow speed for an airliner. I could almost keep up with it in my car. Also it was banking left and right fairly steeply. Never seen airliners this low in that area. Its fairly populated there. Seemed really strange to me. I almost was going to follow it to see what happened but I didnt have the time to. Watched the news last night but saw no mention of anything related. Any idea what he could have been doing? Kinda spooky seeing one that low to the ground that far out from an airport.
- Thread starter TimWafer
- Start date
DaveBN
Member
- Location
- Western lower Michigan
Maybe he was having mechanical trouble.
That's all I can think of.
Dave
That's all I can think of.
Dave
Crazy Horse
Well-known Member
Rod Serling .... rumor has it that he died in '75 at 51 years of age but we know that is utter nonsense. He's still out there making the occasional slow-speed surveillance flights near airports across the country.
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
Could have been making a low pass. To make sure his landing gear was down. I have seen that done.
MarkB_MI
Well-known Member
- Location
- Motown USA
2000 feet AGL is not "very low". Pattern altitude is 1000 feet AGL, but you seldom see airliners that low because they normally fly a straight-in approach on a steep glidepath in order to conserve fuel and reduce noise.
It might have been flying into a completely different airport than the one you assumed, one that might not even have an instrument approach. (Just because it LOOKED like an airliner didn't mean it was; it could have been a cargo or charter aircraft.)
It could be it missed its instrument approach and was sent out in a holding pattern, although 30 miles seems like a long ways to go for a missed approach.
I doubt it was experiencing any sort of emergency. No pilot wants to be low and slow in an emergency.
It might have been flying into a completely different airport than the one you assumed, one that might not even have an instrument approach. (Just because it LOOKED like an airliner didn't mean it was; it could have been a cargo or charter aircraft.)
It could be it missed its instrument approach and was sent out in a holding pattern, although 30 miles seems like a long ways to go for a missed approach.
I doubt it was experiencing any sort of emergency. No pilot wants to be low and slow in an emergency.
kcm.MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- NW Minnesota
x2 for maintenance flight
Goose
Well-known Member
I doubt he was going that slow.
The Nebraska Air National Guard based at the Lincoln airport operates a fleet of tanker planes for in-flight refueling, converted Boeing 707's to be exact. They routinely shoot touch and goes, and when they're on final they look like they're almost standing still when they have to be going well over 100mph.
In the scheme of things, whenever a flight of fighter planes from any branch of service hops overseas, one or more NANG tankers go along to keep them refueled over the water.
The Nebraska Air National Guard based at the Lincoln airport operates a fleet of tanker planes for in-flight refueling, converted Boeing 707's to be exact. They routinely shoot touch and goes, and when they're on final they look like they're almost standing still when they have to be going well over 100mph.
In the scheme of things, whenever a flight of fighter planes from any branch of service hops overseas, one or more NANG tankers go along to keep them refueled over the water.
jimg.allentown
Well-known Member
Among the reasons for what you saw, here are a few...
Training.
Maintenance.
Long, slow approach for fragile cargo.
Delay for other aircraft to land first.
Low fly-by to check landing gear.
Also note that most large aircraft can approach as fast as 200 knots. But, it looks slow from the ground. Altitude is generally higher than it looks from the ground.
Training.
Maintenance.
Long, slow approach for fragile cargo.
Delay for other aircraft to land first.
Low fly-by to check landing gear.
Also note that most large aircraft can approach as fast as 200 knots. But, it looks slow from the ground. Altitude is generally higher than it looks from the ground.
Stephen Newell
Well-known Member
I live about 40 miles from the airports in Dallas. Not too long after 9/11 an airliner came over my place low enough you could read the name on the plane. Being that time period I looked up the number for the FAA and called them to report it and they treated me like
I was a nut case.
I was a nut case.
747’ s used to do touch and go’s at our relatively small airport. No regular service with anything that big here. In the
shop one day and out the door in a instant the sky darkened and was the unmistakable whine of multiple turbofans.
Went outside and a 747 going over very low in a heck of a bank. I swear I could see the seats in the windows. This is about 10 miles from the airport. What a
monster when all you are used to seeing for big planes are 737s. Drove to the airport just to watch. Once they touch down and decide to nail it again it seemed like that girl would stand on her tail and pull up at at way better than 45 degrees. Don’t see passenger airliners blow smoke like that everyday.
shop one day and out the door in a instant the sky darkened and was the unmistakable whine of multiple turbofans.
Went outside and a 747 going over very low in a heck of a bank. I swear I could see the seats in the windows. This is about 10 miles from the airport. What a
monster when all you are used to seeing for big planes are 737s. Drove to the airport just to watch. Once they touch down and decide to nail it again it seemed like that girl would stand on her tail and pull up at at way better than 45 degrees. Don’t see passenger airliners blow smoke like that everyday.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Rotation speed on the KC 135 (USAF tanker version of the 707), with full combat load, was 165 MPH. So if that's what it takes to get it to lift, surely that's what it takes to keep it "lifted".....course if it's empty then I don't know, surely "stall speed" can be a lot less.
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