Fighter jets

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BigBird146

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Blimey, just had one of those cold sweats and seen my life flash before my eyes!
Just got back from a quick ride on my lovely but not very brave/ sensible horse! Only back half an hour when I heard that horrid screach, thought it would be followed by a crash of metal as a car crashed but then realised it was a fighter jet passing over. Ran out to check the horses were OK and they were definately a bit bothered (although not manically so) were heads and tails up blowing and looking at the sky where the plane had gone! But what if I'd been on him, riding back along the main road on which we live?! Very scary thought. Can they just go where they like, whenever they like? We aren't near any RAF places at all and are in fact under the flight path for Manchester airport, albeit 20+ miles away in Derbyshire. I think these jets only come over maybe once every year or 2 so not often enough for your horse to get used to them (if they ever could!). I'm still having palpitations at the thought of what could have been!
 
Yes they do, although they generally do try to be obliging if notified about shows and the like. On whether they ever get used to them? I can say that having kept many horses adjacent to runways, and having regularly raced low flying jets back along the beach, they do get over it pretty quickly! Makes them pretty bombproof to sudden loud noises too
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Oddly enough they can do whatever they like pretty much wherever they like on the grounds that it is necessary. You can try putting in a complaint but they never do anything other than send you a standard 'this is essential for national security, like it or lump it' letter. More details here:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/AirSafetyandAviation/LowFlying/
Although their list of where they are flying and when is crap and can't be relied upon.

We just had two helicopters fly so low the other day they had to go around the house, just over the stables and straight down the middle of the school where they set off even my otherwise bombproof cob (and yes, I do mean AROUND the two storey house, that is how low they were). He is now spooking at loud traffic which he has never done in the seven years we have had him...
 
There is a phone number you can call to see if there will be low-flying aircraft in your area. I called it the other day, and they were only able to tell me that there would probably be some aircraft - but could not say when or precisely where. The lady I spoke to actually agreed with me that the service she was being asked to provide was totally hopeless, in that they cannot give you specific or helpful information.
I have to say that low flying helis and jets do alarm me - especially since we have a lot of young horses on our yard. But there does not seem to be anything at all we can do about it.
 
I think they have actually issued a low flying notice for the next 2 weeks for up north (england) I heard something about it the other day and wondered if they meant here (scotland).

We get them about 2/3 times a day doing touch downs at the airport beside work and the noise is so loud even IN a building! I hate to think what Beau would do if I was on him and he heard that!
 
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We just had two helicopters fly so low the other day they had to go around the house, just over the stables and straight down the middle of the school where they set off even my otherwise bombproof cob (and yes, I do mean AROUND the two storey house, that is how low they were). He is now spooking at loud traffic which he has never done in the seven years we have had him...

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Yep- they do that to us too - I think they target on the arena.... bastards seem to enjoy spooking the horses. Complaints achieve nothing. One of the only good things about global warming and peak oil is that their time is running out - one day soon , there won't be enough fuel to keep them up in the air. Horse power will win the day...

in the meantime, I don't know anything that stops the sound of a hovering helicopter being seriously scary
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Sigh

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They seem to be able to do what they want, we have the whole caboodle here, Herks and strange ones from Lynham constantly and then all the Apaches, Chinooks etc from Salisbury plain, and then there are the fighters, its like being in Apocalypse Now some days! though at least the horses get used to them.
 
Eek!

My worst moment was when I was on a main word when a plane did a VERY low loop the loop, close enough so that I saw him and he waved. xD My horse just stood there with a 'what on earth is he doing' type attitude. It was rather funny yesterday!
 
i live in lincolnshire in between 2 very busy air bases they are always coming over very low , a horse rider not to far from here was killed because of a low flying aircraft i hate them im terrified of when my youngester is going out on the road that he is going to panic hate, hate, hate them
 
We live right on the flight path for a naval air base, and our guys never take any notice of any of the jets / planes or helicopters coming over anymore. Even when they have air day (stupid excuse to waste loads of tax payers money) the horses still don't take much notice
THe yard that I worked on for a while had concorde going over twice a day (obviously when it was still going!!) and that was actually worse (noisier) than the jets, and the horses still paid it no attention. They do get over it quite quickly if you are "lucky"enough to live close enough to the bases
 
Thanks for the MOD link, although it does look pretty vague. We are between Manchester/ Sheffield/ Chesterfield so looks like they don't do much round here because of that. But it's a bit of a bummer that it just looks life tough s*** if you happen to be out on your horse! We used to have a lot go over when I was little and I just curled up and screamed I hated them so much. Think part of my fear now must go back to then!
Just as an addendum, I posted some feedback on the bridleways website about a route near here where I know a lot of paragliders and handgliders fly around, basically saying be careful because not all horses would be too please at having 40-50 of them floating around nearby and the route has steeps sides and is VERY popular with tourists in summer if they do have a panic (can just imagine us bouling into tourists like skittles!!). Anyway, someone responded totally shooting me down, saying that horses are very sensible and 'soon get used to them'!! Don't think I'll take my chances with it all the same!!
 
Gosh, thank god you weren't riding at the time! I'm in lincolnshire and any horse that we own tends to become oblivious to loud planes very quickly as we have the red arrows practicing regularly over head, very grateful for this actually as none of my horses even stop eating when planes are around!
 
understand what your all saying but end of the day they have to do it somewhere.....?!?

Although I'm not defending them it is dangerous for us horse riders and they should give better information!

I totally saw my life flash before my eyes a few weeks after getting my mare (known for being extremely spooky!) when a jetfighter flew along the hedge parallel to us and straight over the road infront of us! Strangely enough my mare stopped and looked at me as if to say what you fussing about it's only a plane then spooked at a sheep further down the road!!
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Nothing you can do about them going over your horses field but it is another reason why you should always wear hi viz when out hacking. I got a free vest and exercise sheet from the MOD a couple of years ago so that low flying helicopters can see you from the air and try and divert or fly higher over you. As ever they can never make promises but I do think that if you meet them half way by wearing hi viz they are more likely to avoid you
 
Well, the UK is a pretty small place when you are travelling at that sort of speed so you have to expect it. They can't go under certain heights over built up areas, however, it's unfortunate that Horses are generally in more rural areas so I guess it goes without saying that you will encounter them.
My husband is a fast jet pilot and our yard is between 2 RAF bases so none of them bat an eyelid. Of course they will avoid Horses, if they can see them, and that means a LOT of high vis. They go very very fast though so may not have time to react. There is no point getting annoyed, they have to train, and that's the price of freedom. Also, think how many civillians the search and rescue helicopters save every year. I have heard of Horserider whose life was saved by a S&R helicopter crew (and no, the Horse wasn't spooked by it!!).
 
As suzy sparkle says...they have to do it somewhere and at fast speeds you can't just break and avoid when you see a pony. I have lived and am living on a fast jet station. There were even two riding schools very near RAF Cottesmore home of the Harrier jump jet and not one incident whilst we were there was attributed to fast jets. Think there is a riding school at the back of RAF Coningsby where we are now.
I shall not go on as have done this argument to death but anybody who wishes to have any questions answered or debate this might want to check out:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=57
 
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