It's a bird. It's Superman! No, it's a plane.

July 14, 2016 7:23 PM

The Machynlleth Loop (or Mach Loop or CAD West) is a training area in Wales for low flying fighter jets. The terrain isn't closed to the public so it presents an opportunity to see jets (and the occasional cargo craft) flying by at eye level or below. Youtube compliations one, two, three, four, five. A view of the flight from the cockpit.

Post cribbed from Wikipedia.

posted by Mitheral (32 comments total)

Oh wow. Fantastic.

I used to have summer jobs in the Eastern Sierra, and every once in a while there'd be F-14s and other Navy jets up from the Air Weapons Station at China Lake, crackling through the sky right overhead and booming away over the ridge. Nothing as close as this, though!
posted by notyou at 7:35 PM on July 14, 2016

Oh my god--we were there in Wales, unsuspecting tourists, back in ~1981, just enjoying the scenery. My parents were in their early 30s, I was 9 and my sister was only 1. The sky suddenly ripped apart, full-on Krakatoa shit, and we literally thought the world was ending--we could not reconcile what was happening. Only after we realized we had not yet been vaporized or otherwise spectacularly killed did we consider the preposterously-low-flying jet hypothesis.
posted by rodeoclown at 7:50 PM on July 14, 2016 [12 favorites]

I watched the first video without initially realizing that my phone was connected to a bluetooth speaker in another room.

After I watched the first fly-by my wife asked, "What was that?"

I paused the video. "Low-flying jet."

"Wow, it's really close."

Then I resumed the video. I got busted when she realized that gee that's a lot of air traffic and hey actually it's coming from the kitchen.
posted by compartment at 8:28 PM on July 14, 2016 [17 favorites]

The first vid - delta wings! F14s and a Gripen. Nice.

I mean, serious, Saab makes fighters that look like they're from sci-fi manga... and they're cheaper and as performant as anything made by the big military powers.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:36 PM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Speaking as a former F-14 Avionics Tech, there are no F-14's in the first video. Plenty of F-15's though.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 10:01 PM on July 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

In the cockpit view, does anybody know what those squiggly lines are on the, uh, windshield area?
posted by joan_holloway at 10:47 PM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Probably explosives to shatter the canopy as part of the ejection process.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:53 PM on July 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also I'm pretty sure the Gripen-looking birds in the first one are Typhoons because twin engines.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:12 PM on July 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

That cockpit vid is pretty good stuff. Thanks for sharing!
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:35 PM on July 14, 2016

I spend a lot of time in Scotland where this happens as well.

Its just slightly incongruous to be in a very remote and beautiful place to have a pair of jets rip through. Pretty cool, though.

However, one time I was on a winding, single track road from the moors down through trees on my way down to a fishing spot when one of them ripped over my head from behind at something like 50-100 feet. As it approached from behind, there was no sound until it passed, and then holy shit I nearly drove off the road down the hill in my unconscious reaction. Very dangerous.

But my fav moment like this was looking for bottlenose dolphins in a quiet spot in the Moray Firth. A single, lone Spitfire was practicing for an airshow the next day, and as the only person on the beach I was treated to a personal Spitfire aerobatics display including it pulling out of loops only 20 feet over the sea. The best noise ever made by man is that Rolls Royce Merlin.
posted by C.A.S. at 12:17 AM on July 15, 2016 [12 favorites]

Winterhill, what you're saying is a version of the "if the artist is a horrible person, am I allowed to like the art?" problem. We can despair of the money suck these aircraft can be, and we can be deeply concerned (even horrified) by the uses they're put to. But I can also appreciate and enjoy what aerodynamic science and meticulous training can achieve.
posted by bryon at 1:17 AM on July 15, 2016 [17 favorites]

I remember walking in the Brecon when a Tornado came hurtling up the cwm below us and then pulled up to exit the head of the valley right over our heads. Didn’t see or hear it until it was practically on top of us!
posted by pharm at 3:04 AM on July 15, 2016

Experiencing a sonic boom at close distance is one of the experiences I missed in life so far. I'll checkout if this is happening over here. You might have given me my next holiday destination, thanks Mitheral!
posted by ouke at 3:46 AM on July 15, 2016

Do I have to be the first killjoy to point out that the only reason these planes exist is to kill people?

Yes, apparently.


their sole aim is to harm others in faraway countries

Not necessarily true. Deterrence, and not only with an offensive but an important defensive capability. Domestic airspace patrol and escort work is a big part of any nation's fighter fleet. Swords/ploughshares and all that, but until the Utopia is delivered there is a moral case to be made for a country to have an air force.
posted by C.A.S. at 4:07 AM on July 15, 2016 [4 favorites]

In the cockpit view, does anybody know what those squiggly lines are on the, uh, windshield area?
posted by joan_holloway at 1:47 AM on July 15 [1 favorite +] [!]


Probably explosives to shatter the canopy as part of the ejection process.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:53 AM on July 15 [1 favorite +] [!]


Yes. If the pilot has to eject that stuff detonates the canopy so the pilot can shoot through it.
posted by Thistledown at 4:26 AM on July 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also - I think that delta-winged jet is a Rafale, and not a Gripen. They're very similar designs, but the Gripen's canards (those are the short stubby wings mounted forward of the main) are mounted further back, and the missile rails on the wings are shorter like a Rafale's. I may be wrong about that, though.

A good friend of mine is a Strike Eagle (that's the F-15E - I'm thinking those might have been Strike Eagles in the first video) back-seater (weapons systems officer) who has been stationed at Lakenheath and Mildenhall both. I'll have to ask him if he's flown that loop. I'm betting he has.
posted by Thistledown at 4:36 AM on July 15, 2016

There's a practice bombing range not too far east of the Fallon Naval Air Station (northern Nevada) thats right off Hwy 50. Not sure if they still do this, but you could pull over and watch the jets blow up targets. It was pretty fun.
posted by elendil71 at 4:39 AM on July 15, 2016

Okay, on further review, I think those Rafales ARE Typhoons.
posted by Thistledown at 4:42 AM on July 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

For anyone who's interested, there's schedule information here.
posted by MattWPBS at 5:02 AM on July 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

Is it just me, or are the F-35s flying a fair bit higher than than the F-15s, Tornados, Hawks, Hercs, and sundry?
posted by rodlymight at 5:05 AM on July 15, 2016

The first video's delta-winged jet is a Typhoon.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:35 AM on July 15, 2016

Is it just me, or are the F-35s flying a fair bit higher than than the F-15s, Tornados, Hawks, Hercs, and sundry?

I would not be even remotely surprised if they still have some operating restrictions on them that limit how low the pilots are allowed to fly.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:39 AM on July 15, 2016

Swords/ploughshares and all that, but until the Utopia is delivered there is a moral case to be made for a country to have an air force.

Yep, I can see that these are amazing and fascinating and a necessary evil, and at the same time step back and think about a truly advanced civilization observing from afar and deciding "nope, not going to visit that planet for another millennium or two." Meanwhile, we might as well enjoy wondering what the limits of human-machine combinations are, in terms of speed and maneuverability through terrain! Maybe there is a peaceful application??
posted by TreeRooster at 7:19 AM on July 15, 2016

Walking in Scotland, up a mountain: loud noise, turned, fighter jet flying below me up the glen. Very cool!
posted by alasdair at 7:39 AM on July 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

The squiggly lines are the defogger heating elements, like on some car windshields but bigger. The explosives for the canopy are inside the bolts holding it on. On ejection, the entire canopy detaches as one solid piece.
posted by procrastination at 8:32 AM on July 15, 2016

I used to go hill-walking a lot in this area of Wales, and always loved to see these. One time three Hercules came in on a slow banking turn below me. I was able to sit there on top of a cliff and look down into the cockpits.

And in the run up to the first Gulf War there was an incredible range of aircraft practicing their low-level stuff.
posted by YoungStencil at 8:45 AM on July 15, 2016

As it approached from behind, there was no sound until it passed, and then holy shit I nearly drove off the road down the hill in my unconscious reaction. Very dangerous.

I once saw a cartoon showing a tiny, cheap car speeding towards the "camera" with a fighter jet screaming along about a foot above the car's roof. The farty little man driving the car had his teeth clenched and his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel as he pushed the car's speed to its absolute limit in his determination to keep pace with the jet. His wife, next to him in the passenger seat, was saying "For God's sake, George, just let him go!"
posted by Paul Slade at 8:49 AM on July 15, 2016

Whether or not those are Gripens, the page for the Saab Gripen is pretty neat. I kind of half-expected a "Build Your Own" page, like they used to have for the cars. (Saab stopped building cars? Jeez, I really don't keep up with this sort of thing.) In the meantime, they've got this thing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:25 AM on July 15, 2016

Procrastination: I'm a former Royal Air Force engineering officer, and I can confirm that the other posts are correct: those lines are miniature detonating cord, which explosively shatters the canopy in the event of ejection.

Manufacturer's Information Sheet (PDF)

Some aircraft, particularly US-designed ones, do use explosive bolts to physically remove the canopy before ejection. The problem with this is that if that doesn't work the aircrew cannot eject, or at least ejection through a canopy is very risky. There is also the risk that the canopy might not separate cleanly.

Explosive cord has its own problems, in that there is a high risk of causing moderate burns to any exposed skin (this is why it is standard practice to fly with at least the helmet clear visor down - this is also a good idea in case of birdstrike) and there is a small additional risk to ground crew.
posted by Major Clanger at 9:32 AM on July 15, 2016 [3 favorites]

I've been up there in Wales and watched RAF Typhoons scream overhead. Really amazing and terrifyingly beautiful to see.

See also: Piss Off Biggles.
posted by generichuman at 12:58 PM on July 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

This explains the chunk of carbon fibre found embedded in the tip of a wind turbine blade in Southern Scotland. The wind farm operator had been complaining about fighters trying to fly under the turbine rotor, the RAF denied this ever happened, and then they got this little wing-nugget as evidence.
posted by scruss at 1:07 PM on July 15, 2016

Procrastination: I'm a former Royal Air Force engineering officer, and I can confirm that the other posts are correct: those lines are miniature detonating cord, which explosively shatters the canopy in the event of ejection.


I stand corrected.
posted by procrastination at 4:33 PM on July 15, 2016