Low-flying plane

[BC Dave]

My 13-year-old son told me he saw a fairly large plane flying really low over Penticton as he walked home from school on Wednesday. He said the plane seemed to be flying erratically and he thought it might be having some mechanical trouble. He also said he thought he saw black smoke coming from it. I certainly heard a lot of plane noise over my office intermittently for 15 or more minutes around 3 p.m., but didn't see anything out my north-facing window. Did you observe anything unusual in the skies around that time or do you know what this plane was doing?

[driveangry]

It appeared to me they were doing take off and landing practice/training.

[fluffy]

I did see what appeared to be an armed forces (basic gray/minimal markings) Hercules in the air about that time but didn't watch it long enough to see what it was up to. Didn't see any obvious smoke either.

[Dizzy1]

There was a Forces C130 Hercules in Kelowna yesterday, could have been the same aircraft in Penticton ... they're quite dirty and loud aircraft and the exhaust often can be dark and visible giving the illusion of smoke ...

Here's a picture ...

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Canada-- ... bd155fbe36

And heres a little video showing the exhaust ...