Flight Radar Captures Moment No Plane Was Above UK

A flight radar has caught the moment that there was not a single plane flying above the UK.

With the UK in lockdown and many airline fleets grounded, the skies have been remarkably clearer than usual.

And, on Easter Monday at 11.45pm, the sky above the UK was completely free of planes, as captured in this screenshot from flightradar24 by flight enthusiast Paul McTaggart.

Paul McTaggart/Flightradar24

The only aircraft that can be spotted in the snap is a 'Cargolux Boeing 747 over the North Sea, en route from the US to a European destination', as McTaggart explained to Newbury Today.

McTaggart, who lives near Winchester, likes to track air traffic around the world as a hobby and he managed to screenshot this fairly incredible moment this week.

Speaking to the Newbury Today he said: "I was shocked last night to see this over the UK. I have never seen this before."

Last month, EuroControl shared a video to which showed the drop in air traffic due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The footage showed the 'number of airborne flights' as bright dots, and directly compares what was in the sky on Sunday 29 March this year, compared with Sunday 31 March 2019.

There was around 350 flights on the 29 March 2020, which may sound like a lot, but if you compare that with the near 3,000 at the same time last year, you can get an idea of how big the impact is on air travel.

The clip was shared on Reddit where commenters were actually surprised there were as many planes in the sky at the time.

One person wrote: "I'm kind of surprised that it's still so much," with someone replying that they are probably either 'ghost flights' or carrying cargo."

While someone responded: "Can confirm. Girlfriend is a flight attendant for a major US airline. She's been working throughout this thing, but her flights have less than 10 people on them. She said airports are complete ghost towns.

"I was worried about her travelling at first until I realised that she comes into contact with less people these days when she works than I do when I go buy groceries."

Topics: UK News, Coronavirus

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19