What's going on in the air space over Leeds UK?

What's going on in the air space over Leeds UK?

On the 16th June my wife who works in the centre of Leeds told me she had seen two military helicopters
flying very low crossing over the town centre in what looked like a figure of 8.
This is the second time she has seen them flying around the city, the first time was about six weeks ago
The only difference being was that of the type of helicopters, on the first occasion she believes them to have been Wessex helicopters with the side doors open the second time she says they look like Wessex but no side doors open but the back seemed to have a ramp door quite ajar.
I am pretty sure military aircrafts are not permitted to fly below a certain level over civilian areas.
Has anyone else seen them or does anyone have any idea what's going on?

The Westland Wessex is no longer used by HM Forces plus they never had a rear ramp/door.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by shuck

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Aircraft must be above 1000ft normally, but there are exceptions, especially for helicopters.

Please read the rules here:

The Rules of the Air (Amendment) Regulations 2005

Yorkshire also has no less than 8 RAF bases, some of which are used by the Army as well. I really don't see what is so significant in a couple of choppers in the Air. Everyday where I live I see Chinooks, Lynx and the occasional Apache.

Also, the type of helicopter you describe is not in service anymore, so I believe. Any chance of looking through some pics of in service choppers and picking one out?

Nothing unusal at all.

If you lived in Heaton (Bradford) you would see these low level nearly every day.

Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Sorry.

One of the helicopters was a Westland Puma

They were very near the tops of the buildings..probably is nothing!! but I have lived in this city most of my life and never heared of anything like this!!

reply to post by shuck

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Just to confirm, is this the offending helicopter?

image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/AEROSPATIALE%2C_WESTLAND_PUMA_.png


Only two UK based squadrons operate the Puma, one out of RAF Aldergrove in NI (No. 230 Squadron) and one out of RAF Benson in Oxfordshire (No. 33 Squadron). That's not to say that they weren't on exercise up North, however.

There is also an Army Air Corps base at RAF Dishforth (which is in Yorkshire). It is known that 2 (Training) Regiment Army Air Corps, which is based in Middle Wallop, does do training flights over the Yorkshire area out of the above base.

It is entirely possible what you saw was a training flight (in fact, almost all flights you will see are classed as training). Perhaps for pilots going to Iraq/Afghanistan where they have to fly over urban areas etc.

[edit on 22/6/08 by stumason]

Thanks for the information!..just find it odd that they would be so low over the city centre..and yes your diagram was one of the culprits lol

The other one was similar but bigger with what looked like a landing ramp to the rear!!

Like you said probably nothing....!!

Thanks

I saw a similar helicopter over Millenium square at 14.00 on the 2nd of July . It was very low , 50m approx and I can judge height and distance very well . If , as other people have said in this thread , it is just a training exercise does no one consider it irresponsible of the military to be conducting ultra low flying exercises over such a densely populated area . Surely their are training facilities available to replicate urban conditions ? Low level helicopter flying is inherently risky as at such low altitudes an auto rotate landing would be impossible . Even a relatively minor engine problem at this altitude would be a disaster especially given the proximity to a hospital , university and shopping centres . What next naval live fire exercises on the canal or tanks up Briggate ?

on the exact date you have stated , a chinook and a puma landed at RAF Waddington after flying very low over the city a couple of times,

they were arriving in prep for the Waddington airshow .

maybe it is connected ???

reply to post by snoopyuk

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I think Mr Snoopy has given you an answer there.

Case closed?