A large-scale search operation in the North Sea has been called off after no evidence of a downed aircraft was found.

The operation began after HM Coastguard received a report at 1:30 pm today of a possible aircraft crash in the area.

HM Coastguard quickly mobilised a comprehensive search effort, deploying a rescue helicopter, a fixed-wing aircraft, the Eyemouth RNLI lifeboat, and two nearby vessels to the scene, approximately 48 nautical miles east of Edinburgh.

The search covered a wide area of the North Sea, but despite the intensive efforts, no signs of an aircraft or debris were discovered.

A spokesperson for the Coastguard told the UK Defence Journal:

“At 13:30 this afternoon (13 August) HM Coastguard received a report of a possible downed aircraft in the North Sea. A coastguard helicopter, coastguard fixed-wing aircraft, Eyemouth RNLI lifeboat, and two vessels that were in the area were sent. A thorough search was carried out with nothing found, and the search has been stood down.”

Rumours circulating during the operation suggested that the aircraft in question might have been a Royal Air Force (RAF) plane.

However, when approached for comment, the Ministry of Defence told the UK Defence Journal that these rumours were incorrect, stating that no RAF aircraft were involved in the incident.

The circumstances that led to the report of a possible aircraft downing remain unclear.

Lisa West
Lisa has a degree in Media & Communication from Glasgow Caledonian University and works with industry news, sifting through press releases in addition to moderating website comments.

22 COMMENTS

  1. Mind you there’s been an awful lot of aircraft activity over the NE today. Good to hear no missing aircraft reported 🤔

  2. A UFO…interesting…maybe it was Russian, I’m sure they would not report it…the theories..the theories.

        • I’m old school so always UFO for me, but that’s the term the Pentagon use I think.
          I’ve looked on news no reports, I’m very curious as to who reported it to generate this level of response.

          • It was a “Flat Earth’r”, thing is they do this all the time when a Plane flies over head and disappears over the horizon .
            I tell you Danny, these people are a menace, even the Coastguard are fed up looking for Ships that have “Fell off”. 🛥😎

      • Is there a poster over there called….I don’t remember exactly now, sounded like akbar, they trolled here for a while, quite a few years ago.

        • There are a fair few who post both there and here, Hugo, Sean, Nigel Collins, Deep32 and a whole bunch more. There are probably way more but once again, their names are just random. I’m currently Andrew Harris if it makes any difference.
          There are @ 5 regulars who just seem to bicker all the time which is rather tedious though.

    • If I can go off on a tangent from your OT. Jane’s reported on the RAN shooting off a SM6 from a Hobart AWD. That’s one hell of an expensive firecracker, but wondering how current and future Aster 30s would compare to the SM6? And if the T45s had mk41s could they then have an Aster, SM6 and CAMM mix?

  3. Just curious, is the photo showing one of contenders for the UKs medium helicopter replacement? Kind of looks familar but I’m not sure what AW model this is or isn’t?

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