RAF Voyager Airbus A330 flying off to the Atlantic

I heard the noise of a low flying aircraft, but when I looked up into the sky I couldn’t see a plane. I had my camera with me with a telephoto lens so listened intently. I see planes fairly regularly flying over these Cotswold hills so I was intrigued. Then I saw it appear through some low clouds, and tried to focus, but before I could it was completely swallowed up by more clouds. A few seconds later it appeared again flying quite slowly and this time I managed two frames before another cloud enveloped it and that was the last I saw of it.

Having now viewed the image I’ve tried to identify the plane. Apparently it is one of fourteen Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager craft which are used by the RAF as aircraft refuelling planes, as well as other uses as a transport plane for both passengers and machinery. This one is based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, which is only about forty miles away. It is interesting that this plane has been test flown using 100% non-fossil fuels in 2023, and can refuel fighter planes using 43% blended SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel).

In a quick search I immediately found a link to a flight tracking service which recorded this flight exactly, and showed a diagram of its flight path. In fact when I saw it it was just heading off for a flight over the Atlantic to the west of the farthest point of Brittany in northern France. At its farthest point it circled round and round and round, probably a refuelling strategy, before heading back to Brize Norton. (You can see the refuelling pods sticking out towards the ends of the wings)

I found an interesting reference to one of the flights of a similar, though not a refuelling plane in 2014, which nearly ended in disaster. The cause of the problem is cited at the end of this story, which is a cautionary tale for photographers!

On 9 February 2014, a Royal Air Force A330 MRTT Voyager carrying 189 passengers and nine crew from RAF Brize Norton to Camp Bastion (Note: a base in Afghanistan) suddenly lost 4,440 ft (1,350 m) of altitude in 27 seconds and reaching a maximum descent rate of 15,000 ft/min (4,600 m/min) while the co-pilot was out of the cockpit. The sudden descent caused several injuries to passengers and crew, some of whom struck the ceiling of the aircraft. 

The co-pilot returned to the cockpit, regained control, and the aircraft diverted to Incirlik Air Base and landed without further incident. The incident resulted in the grounding of the entire RAF Voyager fleet for 12 days until it was determined that the event was caused by the captain's improperly stowed DSLR camera being jammed between the captain's armrest and the side-stick, forcing the stick forward when the captain adjusted his seat forward.

Yikes!