ZM418

Saw this over home yesterday afternoon. (K5, 150-500 @ 450ish, handheld).
We're just s. of Salisbury Plain & quite often see large RAF planes going round us & over the Plain.

Not seen this one before, though.... & thought it might interest the plane-snappers among us. Not mid-Wales quality, Sorry!




Also, was intrigued to see its accompanying small aircaft. What's he doing, following / alongside the big'un?




Just for interest, really.....

Roger.

Thanks for posting Roger.... I too am not a plane spotter. But its lovely when people just post the unusual things they see... I've no idea what is going on, but it's interesting. Who cares if it isn't up to the best standards,, We see what it is...

The aircraft is one of the new Airbus A400M transport aircraft known in RAF service as the Atlas C.1. It fits in size wise between the C130 Hercules and the C17 large jet transport aircraft. Many of the C130 aircraft are slowly being replaced by the Atlas which can carry between 1.5 -2x more payload than the C130.

As it has its rear ramp down and was close to Salisbury plain i'm guessing it was doing qualification training on low level tactical airdrop or re-supply missions...the presence of the supporting Diamond Aviation twin prop chase plane implies it was recording the exercise as part of the qualification process.

The aircraft was supposed to have been delivered by Airbus with these low level tactical missions already pre-certified but due to a very expensive and complex series of problems with the aircraft which led to delays and even possible talk of the programme being cancelled, for political reasons the RAF agreed to take delivery of the aircraft with only airline type route flying capability and the intention of certifying the aircraft for full capability tactical missions once in service.

Eventually the RAF will have 22 of these...I think they've got about just over half that number at present.

Thanks, Karlo for taking the time to pass on some of your knowledge to this non "plane-person".
Most interesting!

Roger.

My pleasure Roger...thanks for uploading the images as its always welcome seeing the aircraft going about their normal 'service' business as opposed to being displayed at airshows.

Regards

Karlo