A400M and Hercules in close formation over Northants

[LotusOmega375D]

Just spotted the above flying Eastbound. It's my first A400M in the wild and he was being closely followed line astern by a Herc. The A400M looked as big as a C17 at first glance. Are they a similar size?

[Boatbuoy]

LotusOmega375D said:

The A400M looked as big as a C17 at first glance. Are they a similar size?

More or less:

A/C	Wingspan	Length	Height	Weight (empty)	Max Takeoff Weight
C-17 Globemaster III	52m	53m	16.8m	128,100Kgs	265,350Kgs
A400M Atlas	42m	45m	14.7m	76,500Kgs	141,000Kgs

Edited by Boatbuoy on Tuesday 7th June 13:14

[LotusOmega375D]

Thanks for that. The A400M has just returned in the opposite direction, but without his C130 buddy. They do sound quite different to Hercs.

[Trevatanus]

Sounds like part of the rehearsals for Saturday's palace flypast for Trooping the Colour.
On that subject, does anyone know the route for Saturday, I understand that they are holding formation until they reach Brize, I cannot get to either Brize or the Palace, but assuming they will take (roughly) the M4? and wouldn't mind getting a few pictures.

[Boatbuoy]

Do you mean M40? They usually bank to the right just after Buck House (to avoid LHR I guess), looking at the map that sends them towards Northolt then I imagine straight line to Brize.

ETA: Just found this, it's old but looks very much like the 'normal' route - http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/02B614FF_5...

Edited by Boatbuoy on Tuesday 7th June 14:48

[Trevatanus]

Boatbuoy said:

Do you mean M40? They usually bank to the right just after Buck House (to avoid LHR I guess), looking at the map that sends them towards Northolt then I imagine straight line to Brize.

ETA: Just found this, it's old but looks very much like the 'normal' route - http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/02B614FF_5...

Edited by Boatbuoy on Tuesday 7th June 14:48

No, meant M4, but that was more me being "hopeful"

[anonymous-user]

Boatbuoy said:

LotusOmega375D said:

The A400M looked as big as a C17 at first glance. Are they a similar size?

More or less:

A/C	Wingspan	Length	Height	Weight (empty)	Max Takeoff Weight
C-17 Globemaster III	52m	53m	16.8m	128,100Kgs	265,350Kgs
A400M Atlas	42m	45m	14.7m	76,500Kgs	141,000Kgs

Edited by Boatbuoy on Tuesday 7th June 13:14

These sheep are far away Dougal

[Boatbuoy]

el stovey said:

These sheep are far away Dougal

P.S. They were cows

[ukaskew]

We get C-17s and an A400M over here (Keevil) a lot, the C-17 looks significantly bigger in reality, and it's a hell of a lot louder than the A400M.