LHR (low Herc route) on Friday Morning

[MarkR]

RAAF have advised a pair of hercs will be doing some low level training over a bit of Sydney and surrounds tomorrow morning:

A pair of Air Force C-130J Hercules transport aircraft will conduct low-level flying training on Friday, 30 October, around the Blue Mountains, South Coast and Sydney Harbour.

Taking off from RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney’s north western suburbs at 8.00 am, the Hercules will fly to the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains at 8.20am, then south via the Warragamba reservoir to Goulburn 8.45am.

The formation will proceed northeast through Kangaroo Valley (south of Nowra) at 8.50am, and track to the south of Wollongong at 9.05am.

On the return journey, the formation will proceed north along the coast to Sydney Heads at 9.20am. They will then fly overhead Sydney Harbour and arrive back at RAAF Base Richmond at 9.30am.

During the sortie, the Hercules will be operating down to 75 metres height, but will remain at a higher altitude over built-up areas. This flight is subject cancellation at short-notice.

Training flights such as this allow aircrew to maintain their skill sets, with the Hercules being a key Defence asset to sustain personnel on operations.

[Nigel C]

It could be interesting if they're expecting to find Kangaroo Valley to the south of Nowra...

[Grahame Hutchison]

I didn't get an eyeball on the aircraft along the Eastern Suburbs, however from ADS-B they were A97-468 (WARR01) and A97-448 (WARR2).