Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:33:42 +0100, Tim Ward wrote:

You'd have to be doing some really bizarre low flying for them to get in
the way of line of sight VHF radio. Not something I've ever heard of
being a problem.

Military. Was out with the RAF just before Gulf War I, they were
flying sorties out over the Saudi desert, they get seriously low when
in combat rather than excercise conditions. They were down to a few
tens of feet, camels were a hazard...

I presume you are talking about Tornado here. They *can* fly damn low. I
know, I spent 20 odd years on their development. Rolls Royce (Turbo
Union) spent a lot of time developing the turbine blades so that the
sand didn't melt and clog up the tiny cooling holes in them.

A wind turbine has a blade tip height of 350 to 400' the fast jets
round here are below that level. We look down on some of the slower
stuff, hercy birds and helos etc that are really hugging the ground.

Son was a member of the crew of HMS Invincible a few years ago and they
held a families day aboard it. We took a sail around the Isle of Whight
and back to Portsmouth. One thing I enjoyed was the fly past by the
Hawk trainer aircraft. The first time I have ever seen them from above.
After that, I sat on the stern of the ship, feet dangling over the edge
and looking down at the wake. There is a net all around the deck so that
you would have to be very determined to jump and drown. Must be about 6
foot in width.

The aircraft's Harriers later left for servicing, but I stayed round the
back of the command tower, as I had seen plenty of those take off in my
job. Landing, they are good to see, if they perform.

Dave