People across the Channel Islands were stirred, and in some cases shaken, by an early-evening “fly-past” involving a pair of mystery planes.
The two aircraft made a low altitude, high-speed pass over both Bailiwicks at around 6pm yesterday, and left quite a few startled people rubbing their eyes and covering their ears – a multi-tasking challenge that requires great flexibility.
As soon as the twin specks faded into the distance and the roar of their engines subsided, those who’d witnessed them turned to an old acquaintance to find out more – what’s the story, Facebook?
Questions were asked on multiple different pages, prompting hundreds of people to offer their thoughts, with conspiracy theories fuelled by the lack of any information on established flight tracking websites.
This being Facebook, the range of answers that came in was wide, some rather more credible than others.
Some were anxious that the Channel Islands had suddenly become embroiled in the Middle East conflict. Had the Iranians caught the American affliction of being unable to distinguish “old” Jersey from New Jersey and dispatched fighters?
Other concerns were more prosaic, involving upset children or distressed pets. And of course, someone had to bring politics into it, with a suggestion that Reform Jersey were offering free flights to those with a combined household income under £75,000.
Attempts to identify the planes threw up a range of different theories, including many tongue-in-cheek efforts: the planes were as loud as Concorde, but a bit small; perhaps Aurigny Dorniers? Eurofighter Typhoons were a popular, but seemingly wrong, answer.
It all happened too fast for most people to take pictures… by the time phones had been grabbed from back pockets, the planes had disappeared into distance. But a few were successful, including Guernsey resident Erinn Doherty.
In the end, received “wisdom” on Facebook was that the aircraft were French Dassault Rafales. Sightings in Channel Island airspace are not unusual, although the planes don’t usually reach their top velocity of 1.8 times the speed of sound – that’s approaching 1,400 miles per hour – in these parts.
Express has asked Ports of Jersey’s Air Traffic Control tower and Guernsey Ports if any further information is available on the “blink and you’ve missed it” display.