English plane returns for second survey of the region
The plane that flew back and forth over Westmeath and neighbouring counties for hours in the early hours of November 4 made a return visit to the region two days later.
Online flight records show that the plane, a Cessna Model 404 Titan registered to UK based aerial survey specialists the RVL Group, returned to the midlands around lunch time on Friday November 6 and once again flew back and forth across the region, albeit further south than during the visit earlier in the week. It appears that the survey started in the Mullingar area and moved south across west Offaly and into Laois.
The Westmeath Examiner’s story in last week’s paper generated a huge amount of interest online, and a number of people have been in touch to tell us that the low flying plane kept them awake. It also appears that a significant number of people were still awake as they were watching the overnight news reports on the American presidential election, which took place that day.
One Ballymore resident, who asked that his name not be used, was watching the news with his wife when they first heard plane fly over their home just before 2am.
“It went right over our house at 10 to two and came back seven or eight times before finishing at around a quarter to three.”
The man said that at first he thought it was a garda plane looking for someone as it was flying quite low. He said that a number of his neighbours had also heard it.
The identity of the organisation that hired the RVL Group is still unknown. In a statement issued to the paper earlier this week, RVL said that some of the survey work it undertakes is for environment and government agencies and entities and can only be carried out at night for operational and technical reasons, including the “availability of access to busy airspace”.
“The sensors on board the aircraft collect data in ‘strips’ of varying width depending on the resolution of data required, hence the up and down flying patterns. These ‘strips’ are then joined together to produce a complete survey of the area being studied. Night-time flights are usually collecting thermal data or LiDAR imagery to be used in constructing 3D models of the terrain, often to calculate changes in flood risk by environmental agencies.
“As these aircraft are conducting survey work on a specified area, it is rare that we have to cover the same area frequently. However, return visits may sometimes be necessary to re-capture data or to further investigate issues identified during previous surveys.”