Emily Brown
People in Scotland 'thought the world was ending' as US Air Force jets flew just 500ft off the ground.
Dozens of concerned locals took to Twitter on Thursday, January 20, after seeing two planes making low passes over central Scotland in the late afternoon.
The flights were tracked on the website flightradar.com, and the US Air Force has since confirmed that several of its fighter jets were training at the time, but not before people began to publicly share all their fears about the sight.
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One person said they believed 'the world was ending' and that their life 'flashed before [their] eyes' as the two jets flew overhead, while another wrote: 'Two very low flying fighter jets just flew over central Scotland, directly over my house and I swear to god I thought it was Armageddon. thought my garden was about to blow up.'
A third concerned person commented: 'so two US fighter jets just flew over my area of scotland and EVERYONE thought we were getting bombed.'
Thankfully, central Scotland lived to see the light of day today, at which point the Air Force said the planes had come from the US Air base at RAF Lakenheath.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, a spokesperson for the force said: 'We can confirm that F-15 jets from the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath conducted night terrain following radar operations in Scotland yesterday. This training is required to maintain combat proficiency and entails aircrew flying at an altitude of 500-1,000 feet.'
The spokesperson added that the force takes 'maximum care to avoid overpopulated areas especially during night operations to mitigate noise impacts', but apologised for 'for any disturbance and inconvenience caused'.
George Allison, editor of the UK Defence Journal website, said, 'Essentially, the F-15s were conducting training which is entirely routine. What isn't routine or normal is the flight path through central Scotland. '
Per BBC News, he added: 'It should be noted that the aircraft appeared to be flying in a safe manner and they were in contact with air traffic control. There were no risks to the public, it's just remarkable in that the aircraft were so low and in a part of the UK they're rarely in.'
'In short', he said, 'I'd be willing to bet that they were conducting night-time navigation training and, at worst, they went the wrong way returning to base in England.'
Though the training flights might have caused some disruptions to people's dinner, at least they didn't bring about the end of the world.
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