I live right on the south coast of England, I can see the Isle of Wight out my window. Yesterday I apparently at about 7pm a plane was seen flying over the sea, close to the coast dumping fuel. I guess it must have been an emergency before landing, and I have seen a video taken by my friend of it flying low, it looks to be a 737, I was told by my Nan it was a 747 (what does she know lol) but looks way to small in the video, and too quiet. It is some quite amazing footage. It seems to have been a fairly big emergency as they had 2 inshore lifeboats and the offshore out I guess encase it crashed. In the viedo it looks to be at about 200 feet maximum, porbably lower but it is hard to judge as it was a grey day and there was little background to give a good perception. My mum said she saw it flying low coming over just by our house which must have been after it dumped the fuel. Anyone got any thoughts or info about it?

therealzebraman wrote on Mar 28^th, 2007 at 11:36am:



What does your Nan know, more than you (lol)....................a 737 does not have a fuel dump facility, but a 747 does

Still interesting thing to watch.

Matt

It's not comfirmed that it was dumping fuel, guess not, but then what was it doing at that altitude over the sea. I'm pretty sure it's not a 747, looked way too small in the video, considering how close it was, the noise etc. There's now way a 747 would be as low as it was and as quiet from that distance. I must say I didn't see much of the video as my friend is a bit of a gimp and held the phone so poorly that I didn't want to watch. I'll try and get him to send me the video tomorrow and have a better look and perhaps upload it, it's pretty good footage. I do doubt the reliability of the info from my Nan as she got it from some other girl she knows, who apparently said you could see the passengers faces, which I doubt very much as from the video it is too far out to make out anything beyond the shape of the windows, and with the idiots in my village (it's got one of the biggest caravan sites in Europe and is full of Chavs and Pikeys, if your British you will know what I mean) you bound to get some stupid story about what happened. All I can confirm is that it is about 737 size, and was seen flying over the sea about 100 metres out, and at about 100-200 feet, going fairly slow and making little noise. It is unknown whether it was dumping fuel, but it's what I've heard.

Thats what I thought, but when you see this footage you will know it is serious, emergency or not, there was something going on. But when you think about it, there are hundreds of aviation incidents a year, how many do you hear about, considering the plane didn't crash, it wouldn't have been major news. I will try and get you the footage tomorrow. BTW for any other guys on the south coast I live in a village right by Chichester which is quite close to Portsmouth, that area, but as I say I'm right on the coast, and my friend was taking the video from his garden that looks right out on the beach.

Edit: All lifeboats were apparently out, for what reason I don't know but 2 inshore boats and the large offshore where out most definately for this incident, I will verify this tomorrow as my other friend's dad is part of the offshore crew. But that shows that they knew about it, and they were expecting the worse, if not there for a fuel dump clean up or something, which is what I am told they are up tp today. Please don't take a dig at my story as it is just stuff I have heard, nothing is comfirmed apart from what I mentioned from the footage I have seen.

therealzebraman wrote on Mar 28^th, 2007 at 3:02pm:

I'm not trying to pick holes in your story, simply trying to look at this logically. Everything you've told us so far is second or third-hand. You said yourself you didn't get a clear look at your friend's video. Something unusual obviously happened or you wouldn't have mentioned it. I'm intrigued & would like to see that video myself if you can get hold of it. I was wondering if this aircraft could have been on an exercise of some kind, spraying detergent on oil slicks or something like that. It's possibly something to do with the recent Napoli container ship incident. Air Atlantique used to do aerial spraying with DC-3s & DC-6s but I believe they lost the contract a short time ago.

I live at Goring-by-Sea which a few miles east of where you are.

therealzebraman wrote on Mar 28^th, 2007 at 4:55pm:

I'm sorry but I simply can't believe it possible to fly any type of aircraft that low & so close to the beach without everyone in the area reporting it, never mind something the size of a 737.

Quote:

I was suggesting that this might have been some sort of exercise. I didn't mean that there is an actual oil slick from the Napoli although that is not impossible with the tides & prevailing wind. I've lived in this part of the world all my life (64 years & counting) & we get all sorts of junk washed up on our local beaches.

expat wrote on Mar 28^th, 2007 at 6:26pm:

Now that makes sense. However I suspect it was further from the beach than it looked. 300 yards is too close at that sort of altitude. I would still have expected something like this to be reported, if only on the local news.

PS. The Nimrods I've seen are rather noisy.

Well I asked a friend and he has said that there ws a large prop aircraft in the area, and a large jet, both flying at lowish altitudes, but it is unclear which was where. I didn't get a chance to see the video again today at school as I had exams. It's very confusing now. I'm not trying to blow this out of proportion, just wondered if anyone had any info on it. I was told by my friend that the one by the beach was a prop, but there was a jet, maybe 737 size, at low altitudes, which my mum did see aswell. I was also told one of the planes was search and rescue but it wasn't clear which one. It's not unusual for lots of air activity over where I am, I see chinooks and props nearly everyday, aswell as jets, but at much higher altitudes, although I have seen jets at low altitudes around here before. I mainly see lower altitude aircraft flying training over to the Isle of White. I guess if it was something like an emergency for the jet or anything I would know as my friend's dad works on the lifeboat, and another's dad is an engineer for BA at Heathrow.