Mach Loop Virgin.

wippers

wippers

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Thinking of going over to the Mach Loop in Wales next Friday (23rd April) and wondered if anyone has an idea of my chances of getting some shots in? Or do the RAF knock off early on Fridays? :lol:

It's a couple of hours drive for me so an early start and also my first time so thought I'd ask first.
 
wippers said:
Thinking of going over to the Mach Loop in Wales next Friday (23rd April) and wondered if anyone has an idea of my chances of getting some shots in? Or do the RAF knock off early on Fridays? :lol:

It's a couple of hours drive for me so an early start and also my first time so thought I'd ask first.
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You can't guarantee anything with lowfly, could be a bright sunny day and see nothing or ****ing down with rain and get a fleet of aircraft. Its the main training ground for the Hawks from Valley, so it more than possible to see one or two of them, frontliners abit hit and miss, but its all down to luck on the day. Friday the traffic usually dies off in the afternoon. Best bet is the Bwlch, good light all day, Cad East not so good as you'll only get bottom shots and Cad West isn't great in the morning due to the direction of the sun, the same as Corris Corner.
 
heres a rough map of the loop. Just keep a look out one the ash cloud info as it is effecting the raf training as well.

Loop.png
 
I was on Cad West last Friday as well, although didnt speak to many people, got there lunchtime but got a few Hawks and Hercs in so was very pleased (although my panning technique really needs working on.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kozicka/sets/72157623818572342/

Only a few there really as had to dump a load of them for being too blurry.





Shot at too high a shutter speed but had literally just got up the hill.



One of my favourites, think they are both waving (so who's flying?!)



I'm hoping to go with friends next week sometime so I hope this volcanic ash settles (no pun intended) by then otherwise will have to scrub the idea :(

Are there any places to camp around the area, was thinking of a B&B but have camping gear so that's a better option for us.
 
wippers said:
Does anyone know if the planes are flying this week at all?
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From looking at a couple of other website I know of theres seems to be no pictures since the flight ban came in. So I would asume that till theres normal flights have started there will be little to no low flying.
 
I've been told that even lowlevel has been disrupted. Maybe Cheesy will be along to confirm?


Kev.
 
Nothing seems to be flying from Valley atm.
 
Is there anything planned for tomorrow? Thinking of heading down as normal flights seem to have been resumed.
 
theres a few pics around from thursday and friday of last week. The planes coming threw is slightly weather dependant. If the loops covered in cloud they will stay high.
 
Thanks again, I'm up so guess there's nothing else to do except go and see :)
 
Thanks, apart from a bit of traffic on the way there which meant we didnt get there until after 12 it was a pretty good day, the weather cleared up, not much in the way of traffic.
We had 3x2 hawks (Think the last 2 times they were Navy Hawks so they didn't go the usual way through the loop) and last of the day was a Harrier that nearly caught everyone off guard as it was coming in so low that I just managed to shout to everyone it was coming in, a bit of mild panic set in then getting ready :D

Would have enjoyed more traffic but got my first Harrier so hope the pics are good.
 
Where did you go Cad West of Bwlch? I might drive up tomorrow or Thursday. From looking at a few websites a 70-200 will be ok? I do have a 1.4x and 2.0x if needed I guess?
 
straycat said:
photos please?
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Got home late so didn't do much with the photos, about the same quality as the ones I posted allready but no one commented on them so thought they weren't that good. I'll be putting the new ones on my flickr page tonight I guess as I'm at work at the moment.

jj_glos said:
Where did you go Cad West of Bwlch? I might drive up tomorrow or Thursday. From looking at a few websites a 70-200 will be ok? I do have a 1.4x and 2.0x if needed I guess?
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Yep we were at Cad West which is easy to find, although the trek up the hill always gets me.

To be honest unless you are really high up then a 200mm will be fine, although being further down the hill (closer to the a/c but further under them) will mean they will go past you faster if you get my meaning. I was further up with a 70-300mm by the fence with the ladder and at 300mm they nearly filled the frame. If you are the same jj_glos from my contacts and OC then I'm guessing you will be taking the 1D so you wont have as good a crop factor as me. I'd guess the 1.4 tc should be fine but if the weather is good take the 2.0. With the 2.0 you will be able to get more head on shots as the planes are coming in at you, although as they are going past it might be too tight for a whole plane shot, guess it depends on the type of shots you want.

It was a bit windy up there yesterday but when the clouds cleared it was quite nice, tracks up seem OK, not muddy etc, you will be sitting around a lot doing sweet fa so bring enough layers/food/drink. Just park at the car park (free parking and usually spaces free) you can see on this link and you will see a signed fence you can go over at the back of it and just follow the path, if you are coming from the North on the A487 you will see people on Cad West on the right hand hill so it's easy to find.

Hope you have a good day, wish I lived a bit closer to it as I would go more often.

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.706685,-3.847575&spn=0.009283,0.019248&t=h&z=16
 
Im on a full frame D3/D3s with a 300/f2.8 and 1.4x convertor (420mm/f4)
This is perfect for the loop. 200mm is way too short for Hawks and frontliners but is grand for Hercs.

Eagle from Bluebell Hill with 420mm/f4 and Ive cropped this, you can see what I mean about 200mm being short
f1503web-1.jpg


Cheers.
 
Hawkeye said:
Im on a full frame D3/D3s with a 300/f2.8 and 1.4x convertor (420mm/f4)
This is perfect for the loop. 200mm is way too short for Hawks and frontliners but is grand for Hercs.

Eagle from Bluebell Hill with 420mm/f4 and Ive cropped this, you can see what I mean about 200mm being short

Cheers.
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Nice shot :thumbs:

Should have mentioned I was on a D90 so a crop sensor, 200mm (300mm in 35mm terms) for me is not too bad although depending on where I was standing I could stretch to 300mm (450mm effective), to be honest my tracking and panning technique is still pretty rubbish so I don't often go 300mm, if I go to 300mm most of my shots are blurry or misfocused.

Where's Bluebell Hill out of interest?
 
70-200 on a crop with 1.4x tc attached will be plenty for cad west....300mm on crop is good but almost too long for the side on shots, but great for the head on's, i've shot there with 300 + 1.4x tc + 1.6 crop = 672mm for the head on shots but didn't even bother tracking them once they were about 30 yards before our location. not that i had any control over what, who or how i tracked....Pot Luck comes to mind with my lack of talent!
 
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