A MILITARY jet which circled Dorset and the New Forest several times was carrying out a number of practice manoeuvres.
More than 3,000 people tracked the RAF’s Boeing C-17A Globemaster III on the Flight Radar app at around 4pm on Wednesday, March 15.
A spokesman has confirmed the aircraft, registration ZZ174, was conducting routine pilot training at Bournemouth Airport.
He added the training included visual and instrumental circuits, approaches and touch and gos as well as a landing at the airport before returning to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The pilot circled Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and other parts of east Dorset and the New Forest on Wednesday.
Many residents reported hearing and seeing the aircraft flying very low, a feat down to the design which enables high-angle, steep approaches at relatively slow speeds.
This also allows the Globemaster to operate into small, austere airfields and onto runways as short as 3,500ft long and just 90ft wide.
Bournemouth Airport’s runway is more than double the length at 7,451ft.
The Globemaster III is an American large military transport aircraft developed for the US Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas.
It can transport 100,000lb (45,360kg) of freight more than 4,500nm (8,334km) while flying at altitudes above 35,000ft.
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