contact details to report low flying military aircraft

[Cedars]

Danielle23 - a total of 318 British military personnel have died on operations in Afghanistan, and 179 in Iraq. All dearly loved sons, brother, husbands, fathers. Their families have been ripped apart. Would you like to see them? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7912865.stm

I'm sorry to hear that your foal was sweating, puffing and panting, but I think perhaps in context you can understand how your comments could be seen as offensive?

Pilots need to train in both urban AND rural areas, to recreate conditions they will face in conflict. Rather than complaining about it, why not take it as an opportunity to 'bombproof' your horse. Certainly mine have benefitted from living here, and didn't even flinch we had an 'inconsiderate' air ambulance land two doors down.

I'm sorry but I think that you're out of order posting this. Everyone is AWARE of the dangers the soldiers face and the need for practice. What the OP was saying is that her horses ESCAPED and could have been seriously injured. I think she's totally entitled to want to complain and there is definitely a way of reaching a happy medium - i'm pleased to hear that there is a number people can ring to check upcoming dates and bring their horses in or whatever on that day.

I would be absolutely livid if something had scared my baby so much she'd escaped and I'd had no warning. She's my pride and joy and I would be really angry if I'd had no warning and she'd been taken, injured or worst killed.

And before you have a go at me for being anti-forces and selfish, my brother has signed up and is being sponsored through uni before he joins, my father served, my grandfathers both served, and their fathers also. Oh, and I was Coxs for 2 years in our CCF. OK? Don't be so bloody rude.

 

[danielle23]

^^^^^^ thank you, some understanding!

 

[CastleMouse]

Sorry, but these threads annoy me so much I see the title!

Military planes and helicopters have to stick to certain flight paths, as do civilian aircraft depending on the wind, other aircraft in the air etc. Your horse WILL get used to it, so don't be so daft as to revert to reporting them. Would you report a lorry which drove past on a road near a field with horses, and caused them to spook?!?

 

[CastleMouse]

I am very close to saying a less polite way to say 'get over it!'!!

 

[BID]

We have chinooks flying low over our property almost daily, luckily my boys are not bothered by them but my neighbour has dreadful problems with her horses getting very scared. She has compalined many times and asked nicley if there is anyway they could avoid flying directly over her property and she was told that the pilots would be asked to try to do this however I have witnessed on many occasions that she is deliberately targeted and I have seen them not only fly directly over her but turn round and do a figure of eight over her property then continue on their journey. I appreciate that training needs to be done but not at the risk of animals or humans, my neighbour is not a young person and an accident is waiting to happen with the pilots taking this attitude towards her.

 

[irishcob]

Don't be so bloody rude.

Hmm, didn't think I was being rude. Just responding to the calling of RAF pilots as 'tw*ts', which I DID consider to be extremely rude and offensive.

Like I said earlier, I know it can be scary, and yes I would hate anything to happen to any horse or rider as a result of being spooked by low flying. But low flying exercises are not going to go away in the near future, and so we will all have to learn to deal with it.

 

[NeverSayNever]

guys - I have the utmost and greatest respect for our service men and women. Im so grateful for the brave job they do and count my blessings it isnt one of my own out there I appreciate that their need to train far outweighs my horse's safety... I dont like it of course, but I accept it.

I did wonder though about the Chinooks coming down in the field behind us.... we live rurally - but there are 6 houses/farms along a stretch of road. Most with a wee bit of land and animals. We are 4 miles from the nearest big village, and under 1/4mile from a main dual carriageway. However - we back onto the Angus Glens, which back on to the Cairngorms and there is miles and miles and miles of of open countryside and places to land that isnt within a couple of hundred yards of houses... I dont understand why they would choose to land beside a small group of houses when surrounded by open countryside. Im not saying its a huge problem though... I just wondered.

 

[danielle23]

Hmm, didn't think I was being rude. Just responding to the calling of RAF pilots as 'tw*ts', which I DID consider to be extremely rude and offensive.

Like I said earlier, I know it can be scary, and yes I would hate anything to happen to any horse or rider as a result of being spooked by low flying. But low flying exercises are not going to go away in the near future, and so we will all have to learn to deal with it.

Tw*t? idiot? fool?
What would your chosen word be if someone caused your horses to escape and be possibly injured or killed?
At the time id say the word was tame and totaly understated!
Id like to see how some would cope in the situation of having a foal out and mare attempting to jump fences to get to the foal and 5 other ponies running loose around farm machinery and 2 of which running off down a lane? Only me to rectify this on my own?

Really tho grow a back bone, i only said Tw*t! Easily offended?!!! Im sure he didnt do it on purpose but dosent mean i cant be upset!
Gosh its not like im a hate mob out to get the RAF! Im proud of the men whom fight for our country!

Thats the thing about this whole forum you can put anything without getting jumped on by the whole of the controversial bandwagon!

Yawn!!!

 

[gilliantahatann]

Wow, talk about overreacting? Danielle knows the risks these men take, as she's already said, so why carry on trying to prove to her what they doand that they take massive risks?
I think you would be pretty angry too if your horses all escaped, got injured and went on a road, wouldn't you?
Give her a break. I find what your saying out of order.

 

[Hels_Bells]

I wouldn't hold your breath for a response from the complaints email address. I submitted one as were woken at about 3am one morning by them hovering over one of our fields (right by our house) at about tree top height. They stayed there for 30 minutes. It was ridiculous. They have thousands of acres of MOD moorland about a 5 minute flight away - why they have to pick on our farm I just don't know! Anyway though I never got a response they haven't been back!!

 

[OWLIE185]

If young horses where exposed to these things as youngsters and trained properly then they would not be scared of these things.

Too many people spend too much time schooling horses in the safe environment of an arena rather than exposing them to the things they are likely to encounter.

 

[legaldancer]

[QUOTE
I did wonder though about the Chinooks coming down in the field behind us.... we live rurally - but there are 6 houses/farms along a stretch of road. Most with a wee bit of land and animals. We are 4 miles from the nearest big village, and under 1/4mile from a main dual carriageway. However - we back onto the Angus Glens, which back on to the Cairngorms and there is miles and miles and miles of of open countryside and places to land that isnt within a couple of hundred yards of houses... I dont understand why they would choose to land beside a small group of houses when surrounded by open countryside. Im not saying its a huge problem though... I just wondered.[/QUOTE]

This happened to us last month. My 9 year old was having a lesson on his pony when the helicopter appeared over us suddenly. There were only a few seconds between hearing it & seeing it appear over trees. Our field is at the rear of the house & we're in a village. It then turned & went to land in a stubble field behind our field, but didn't actually put down.

Pony was very good, but my old TB who was turned out was a bit skittish. We're not on any sort of flight path, but within 10 miles of a RAF base. This was a very unusual incident & had the pony reacted badly I would have complained, but no harm was done.

My father was an RAF pilot, but still I feel that exercises such as this should be carried out well away from villages. I'm sure this was opportunistic, ie, they spotted the set aside & went for it.

 

[Nocturnal]

Last week I was at a local unaff SJ comp, when a chinook flew low over the ring whilst my friend was jumping. Not one of the horses at the comp spooked; not even mine (who enjoys a good spook)! He just gawped at it.

Personally, I think that pilots are undergoing important training, and can't be expected to suddenly pull up every time they see a horse. I know its upsetting, and sometimes frightening, but I think this is something we need to try and desensitise our horses to, as hard as that may seem. If it was a pleasure craft, that's another matter.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Its def worth trying to live with it as you never know when you might encounter one, I was on a hunt and one of the hunt staff fell from his horse and was badly injured up in front. As I came up the hill the air ambulance literally landed right in front of us.

Horse who had been a total pig all day carting me around was tense but didnt freak like I thought he might.

Helicopters can and should should (except in this kind of scenario) try to avoid low buzzing, but jet pilots cant really cos of the speed and flightlines.

 

[Donkeymad]

I so agree with castlemouse.

Hels-bells, I would hazard a guess they were dealing with an incident.

 

[suzysparkle]

Im not ungrateful, i think they are extremely brave taking up an ocupation that puts there lifes in danger
They should just practise a bit higher over populated areas and keep the low stuff where there are no animals etc
Theres no need to get personal! and call people ungratefull etc

Populated doesn't mean anywhere there's people. There are strict rules as to how low and where they are allowed to go and they have to stick to it. If they had to avoid all animals and people they could barely go anywhere.

How else do they train for low level than to fly low level?? These aircraft and helicopters do go pretty fast they can't just select the odd field where there may not be a Horse and rider.

Oh and wind your neck in. YOU are the one that got personal by calling them t**ts. I have a very good reason to be upset by your comment. I totally understand that you are upset about your Horses - I would be as well - but you cannot blame someone for doing their job. Price of freedom / defence / trained armed forces far outweigh the luxury of Horse ownership.

 

[hadfos]

We had an issue with a Chinook,we were in the field with 4 horses poo picking,heard said chinook,so stopped to have a look(spectacular sight,and love the hub hub noise they make )...however the pilot deliberately dropped that chinook well below the height it should have been at and missed the big old tree top by about a metre,making the ground shake and my ears ring...horses went berserk(my lad tolerates most things but that terrified him)!
Fortunately there were 3 of us there that day and we all wrote to the military,stating time and location and reason for complaint!I worded my letter very well and to this day i have kept their reply!They apologised profusely,and said should anything unforseen happen to my horse they would be happy to fund any veterinary treatment he may require!Bizarre you may say,but very true!Although no comfort had anything happened to my boy,at least they acknowledged they could have caused a massive problem!(i personally think the pilot got a *******ing as their flight paths flight height etc are all logged)

 

[blueneonrainbow]

Perhaps you should have a look at the security of your fences if your horses managed to get out. What if a bird or a dog spooked them and they escaped - whose fault would that be?

I find the word t*** very very offensive and think that there are more important things going on in this country and this world than the ultimate comfort of some horses.

 

[suzysparkle]

Wow, talk about overreacting? Danielle knows the risks these men take, as she's already said, so why carry on trying to prove to her what they doand that they take massive risks?
I think you would be pretty angry too if your horses all escaped, got injured and went on a road, wouldn't you?
Give her a break. I find what your saying out of order.

It is NOT overreacting when she is talking about people's immediate families as is the case with a few people here.

 

[CastleMouse]

I so agree with castlemouse.

Thank you It's just something that annoys me so much...

 

[suzysparkle]

Tw*t? idiot? fool?
What would your chosen word be if someone caused your horses to escape and be possibly injured or killed?
At the time id say the word was tame and totaly understated!
Id like to see how some would cope in the situation of having a foal out and mare attempting to jump fences to get to the foal and 5 other ponies running loose around farm machinery and 2 of which running off down a lane? Only me to rectify this on my own?

Really tho grow a back bone, i only said Tw*t! Easily offended?!!! Im sure he didnt do it on purpose but dosent mean i cant be upset!
Gosh its not like im a hate mob out to get the RAF! Im proud of the men whom fight for our country!

Thats the thing about this whole forum you can put anything without getting jumped on by the whole of the controversial bandwagon!

Yawn!!!

1) I'd sort some better fencing

2) Hmmm....grow a backbone?? How would you cope if your other half was sent to fly a fast jet low level in a hostile area having not been given the opportunity to practice because UK Horse owners didn't like it? And that means sent away for weeks at a time with news reminders of the dangers for you to deal with. As for Chinooks - who do you think gets sent to evacuate the various body parts from where they have been blown up??

If you really are proud then quit insulting them and their families which is precisely what you have done. Again.

I do have sympathy for what happened to your Horses. The MOD also actively take complaints so air them constructively there.....like the OP asked details of how to do.

 

[Lizzie66]

Tw*t? idiot? fool?
What would your chosen word be if someone caused your horses to escape and be possibly injured or killed?
At the time id say the word was tame and totaly understated!
Id like to see how some would cope in the situation of having a foal out and mare attempting to jump fences to get to the foal and 5 other ponies running loose around farm machinery and 2 of which running off down a lane? Only me to rectify this on my own?

Really tho grow a back bone, i only said Tw*t! Easily offended?!!! Im sure he didnt do it on purpose but dosent mean i cant be upset!
Gosh its not like im a hate mob out to get the RAF! Im proud of the men whom fight for our country!

Thats the thing about this whole forum you can put anything without getting jumped on by the whole of the controversial bandwagon!

Yawn!!!

T**t is offensive in any circumstances. It isn't a word you use unless you intend to offend. So neither I nor anyone else, remarking upon how offensive you are being in using that word about our Armed Forces doing their jobs, are jumping on a band wagon.

If you had used the word in the heat of the moment and at the time then possibly you could be forgiven, but instead you have happily come on an open forum and used it to describe people risking their lives doing a very difficult job.

At no point have you apologised for using this word and have continued to defend its use.

I think you are the one that needs to grow, not a backbone (that a fair number of us on here have), but up !

 

[Brandy]

I live in an area where low flying happens daily, all year round. The Fens. Its flat and there are numerous RAF and US air bases. The horses are all used to the planes, both fast and slow flying, all low, and often chinooks (well, large helicopters anyway.....)

If you buy a new horse from a different part of the country, it may take a while to get used to it, but its normally with other horses that barely look up, let alone gallop about, so all is well.

Low flying is not done for the fun of it. And no, they can't do it 'a bit higher up' that kinda defeats the object!

Danielle - it must have been awful to have horses out, foals panicking etc and I can see why you were upset. Calling the pilots T**ts however, is a bit out of order. Heat of the moment maybe?

The most any of mine have ever done while being ridden is 'bounce' a bit. Nothing too bad.

But to be honest, you can hear them coming and have time to get off if need be.

 

[danielle23]

Its all yours problems if you wish to take offence, it was not aimed at anyone on here
Im not interested in peoples veiws on my opinion tbh
My beef was with the pilot, he flew over my horses, they got out, i got them back in and was peed off.
Also, not interested in the finer details about who he works for, and what his family think, but being 'not interested' doesnt mean 'dont care'!
Of course they have an important job to do and cant change flight paths etc i wouldnt expect them too just because it scared my horses, it happened and i was annoyed end of storey for me, i got them in and all was ok
On this forum people try make every mole hill in to a mountain! It just gets tedious

Theres a lot of poeples opinions on here that i find offensive, but i dont know anyone of them from the next person so dont really care enough to comment/reply , just read on or ignore stuff i dont like, dont really see the point in getting huffy and argumentitive with a random stranger

 

[BBP]

I didn't mean to have a go at you, I think it's just because some of us are very closely linked to some of the pilots etc and spend a lot of our time being worried sick about them, so we get really protective of them and the work they have to do. I did find that word offensive, but if you had been talking about a lorry driver who came by very close and fast I'm sure we all would have agreed with it, so I appreciate what you meant. Don't know if that makes any sense!

 

[pottamus]

Good lord I have heard it all now...suggesting that they should train higher in the air and not over rural areas where there are livestock around! Ha ha...that is brilliant! The whole point of their training is to enhance their skills and abilities to handle the aircraft under difficult conditions...flying low is essential training in skill and accuracy...flying fast is not negotiable...you can not pootle along going for a 'jolly' in one of these aircraft...yes, there is an element of slower careful manoveuors...but generally speaking speed is a must for these aircraft to even perform safely...they are not hand gliders!
Yes it is stressful to see a herd of animals careering around in a panic but what are they supposed to do...they would never get off the ground if they had to avoid all cows, sheep, horses in fields as they are all over the country...everywhere!
After all...all hell breaks loose on these forums when someone comes on and dares to suggest that horses should not be on roads and should stick to schools and fields!!! We all have to use the facilities available to us and cope with whatever is thrown at us.
And before I get shot down....yes...the red arrows and the 'black' training aircraft fly over my field fairly regularly - several all at once and my neighbour has parties that involve their friends flying in by helicopter and landing in the field next to my horse...having circled around my field and dropped down low in order to land whilst avoiding the telephone cabling that runs through their land.

 

[TheEquineOak]

I couldn't help but comment on this one. I have horses, we also see ALOT of low flying aircraft. It happens. My heart is with our boys on this one.

 

[Vicki1986]

If you were at a show and god forbid there was a terrible accident and the air amublance came - would you complain to them too ?

Not being funny, I know horses can bolt in a blind panic and stop for nothing - but - if your fencing can't keep them in that is the issue i'd be addressing personally, not the pilot.

Unless your planning on building a bubble round your horses then stuff happens, they get frightened, they run. Yes its scary to be faced with a stampede of frightened horses, but stop looking for someone to blame. It sounds like they could do with some exposure to this sort of thing, it will only help them in the long run to become desensitised to such things.

 

[danielle23]

I wasnt complianing, i was airing my veiw on the situation i had, if i wanted to complain id have rang them
its only electric tape so yes, the contributing factors were both the plane and fencing, of which both annoy me, but both i can do nothing about, I wasnt looking for anyone to blame it just one of those things, still doesnt mean i cant be annoyed!
My horses are far from bubble wrapped, and have way enough exposure to it all, like i said the foal got scared and got out wich sent the mare in panic, obviously its all new to the foal and was the first time it went over her very low, all the others got out coz the mare got defensive for her baby! The foal isnt going to be born desensitised is it, maybe people should read more carefully
My whole point im tring to get across is, that it is just how i felt about the situation, so i am entitled to express myself

 

[Lizzie66]

Dictionary definition of complain is "to express disatisfaction", you were definitely complaining !