Apache Helicopters

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

A few weeks ago there was a proper noise outside our office windows in Mansfield Nottinghamshire.

There were two Apache helicopters hovering at maybe just double the height of our 1st floor office.

Holy moly! They are scary looking things.

I wondered:

1) What on earth were they doing?
2) Can they retract the gear? All the pictures I've seen looks like not, but maybe they can sweep the wheels back a bit

The wheels were full down (or so it looked to an untrained eye).

As I said, it was actually very scary

[15peter20]

1) Training most likely
2) No, welded down! Very ugly and unaerodynamic beast.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

15peter20 said:

1) Training most likely
2) No, welded down! Very ugly and unaerodynamic beast.

Ta

Strange place to train. I was expecting canon fire at any minute!

[15peter20]

Ha, I don't blame you. Sounds a bit odd but unlikely to be anything to worry about. You in a built up area?

[ecsrobin]

Depends on your location in Mansfield. The military have a big list of landing sites and fields that they can use for training around the UK.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

15peter20 said:

Ha, I don't blame you. Sounds a bit odd but unlikely to be anything to worry about. You in a built up area?

Yep, maybe a mile from the town centre.

[Crush]

They fly low over Basingstoke sometimes. Sound like a horde of angry wasps armed with chainsaws.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

ecsrobin said:

Depends on your location in Mansfield. The military have a big list of landing sites and fields that they can use for training around the UK.

They were right next to a load of houses.

[Emeye]

For a while a few years back we had a single Chinook flying around Manchester, setting down and taking off from what seemed random places at first, but then it seemed to become a regular thing each week or so.

The word on the street was that they were practicing picking up VIP in the event of a Nuclear or Biological disaster or attack.

After a while it stopped and hasn't been seen for a while - so maybe it was that sort of exercise.

Either that or they were using lovely Mansfield to double for downtown war-ravaged Syria or Iraq?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Emeye said:

Either that or they were using lovely Mansfield to double for downtown war-ravaged Syria or Iraq?

[300bhp/ton]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

A few weeks ago there was a proper noise outside our office windows in Mansfield Nottinghamshire.

There were two Apache helicopters hovering at maybe just double the height of our 1st floor office.

Holy moly! They are scary looking things.

I wondered:

1) What on earth were they doing?
2) Can they retract the gear? All the pictures I've seen looks like not, but maybe they can sweep the wheels back a bit

The wheels were full down (or so it looked to an untrained eye).

As I said, it was actually very scary

SO in a World where every man and his dog has a smart phone. Did you get a picture?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

300bhp/ton said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

A few weeks ago there was a proper noise outside our office windows in Mansfield Nottinghamshire.

There were two Apache helicopters hovering at maybe just double the height of our 1st floor office.

Holy moly! They are scary looking things.

I wondered:

1) What on earth were they doing?
2) Can they retract the gear? All the pictures I've seen looks like not, but maybe they can sweep the wheels back a bit

The wheels were full down (or so it looked to an untrained eye).

As I said, it was actually very scary

SO in a World where every man and his dog has a smart phone. Did you get a picture?

I was so amazed at what I was looking at I just didn't think about that. (Plus I thought they might lock on & make a bit of a mess of us)

[lee_fr200]

Once or twice a year we get this absolutely massive helicopter like a super stallion flying very very low over our house and landing in the farmers field 200yds away does maybe 12 circuits. It's always accompanied by 3 or more apaches also doing the same circuits and landings, they're low enough to read navy on the side of the bigger heli

[ApOrbital]

Two passed over mk the other week with two chinnocks.

[kowalski655]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

... I was expecting canon fire at any minute!

The paper must come out very quickly

[tuffer]

I live on the edge of Salisbury Plain, I get concerned if a day goes by when I do not see an Apache.

[Geneve]

If you are a landowner with a decent no. of acres and a suitable site, you can register your consent with the military to use it for occasional exercises. Many farmers do exactly that and, in return, get an invite to the station 'open day' and perhaps a flight in a Puma or whatever.

[ukaskew]

tuffer said:

I live on the edge of Salisbury Plain, I get concerned if a day goes by when I do not see an Apache.

Indeed, although when the C-17s are buzzing Keevil Airfield all evening (I'm a few minutes from the airfield) I do get a little bored, particularly as it normally keeps my son awake and is so loud we can't hear the TV

I miss the low flying Hercs since Lyneham closed but the Apaches certainly make up for it in terms of spectacle...that and our house is directly under the USAF flight path for Fairford so get to see/hear U2s and very rarely the B2s.

[anonymous-user]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

They were right next to a load of houses.

One of the crew members girlfriend or mum probably lives there.

[tuffer]

ukaskew said:

tuffer said:

I live on the edge of Salisbury Plain, I get concerned if a day goes by when I do not see an Apache.

Indeed, although when the C-17s are buzzing Keevil Airfield all evening (I'm a few minutes from the airfield) I do get a little bored, particularly as it normally keeps my son awake and is so loud we can't hear the TV

I miss the low flying Hercs since Lyneham closed but the Apaches certainly make up for it in terms of spectacle...that and our house is directly under the USAF flight path for Fairford so get to see/hear U2s and very rarely the B2s.

Saw a house pop up on Right Move the other day but it was right next to Keevil and whilst I am ex Crab Air and love watching Wockas I didn't fancy getting buzzed by C17's late at night. How does couple of minutes from Keevil put you under the flight path for Fairford, would have thought even a B52 would have gained significant height by that point.