Glaswegians were left baffled last night by the uncommon sound of a RAF military plane flying low above homes in the city late last night.
The huge Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft could be heard by residents as it performed what appeared to be various take-off and landing manoeuvres at Glasgow Airport.
The plane popped up on flight tracking service Flightradar24 as it flew repeated loops above the north and south of the River Clyde before descending to an altitude of around 600 feet (or less) at the airport and then taking off again.
The huge turboprop military plane was tracked as it flew up to Glasgow from its base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire before entering the airspace above Glasgow area around 10.35pm. It then returned south of the border around 35 minutes later at 11.10pm.
Plenty of residents took to Twitter to share news of the plane's presence over Glasgow last night, with one tweeting: "Big A400 doing low level flying about Glasgow tonight. Flight from Brize Norton."
Another seemed to have had their sleep disrupted by the flight, writing: "Fuel crisis? Then why have the RAF got planes doing laps round Glasgow at this time", along with a sleep emoji.
A third quizzed: "Anyone got an idea why this RAF flight from Brize Norton is circling Glasgow Airport, dropping down to a few hundred feet, but not landing?", with a fellow Twitter user responding with "Training apparently."
They were joined by a fellow bemused resident who wrote: "RAF plane circling Glasgow, keeps dropping to just above the airport then climbs and does another loop. Weird!"
The RAF Airbus A400M Atlas, which costs in the region of €150 million per unit, operates as a tactical airlifter to deliver supplies or personnel.
