Why were helicopters flying over Edinburgh last night?

Edinburgh residents were woken on Wednesday night to the sound of two military helicopters flying low across the Capital.

The helicopters, which are understood to be RAF Chinooks, were spotted flying in from the east, crossing East Lothian before looping around Edinburgh central at around 11pm.

The Boeing Chinook is a transport helicopter sporting two sets of blades.

Picture Credit: RadarBox

Edinburgh residents took to Twitter to voice their concern, with one person saying: “Two black helicopters flying slowly and in tandem back & forth over the New Town with no lights on.”

Another added: “Anyone else see and hear they 2 army helicopters flying low over Edinburgh.”

Wednesday, September 11 also saw military aircrafts cross the Capital in a routine training exercise in the Forth in what has become fairly regular training activity.

A Ministry of Defence Spokes confirmed: “Ex JOINT WARRIOR is taking place across North England & Scotland this week involving multiple helicopters and fast jets from all 3 services.

"Two RAF Chinooks participating on this Exercise passed Edinburgh on their way to Leuchars airfield last night.”

Exercise Joint Warrior is a biannual military exercise organised by the MOD and is the largest of its kind in Europe.

It involves naval vessels, aircrafts and ground based units and lasts two weeks.

This comes after Exercise Tartan Spirit, which is the deployment of two C-130J Hercules aircraft to Prestwick Airport that also happens biannually.

The pilots practise a range of military flying training including formation flying and operational low flying.

A video from one of the RAF pilots was released showing the views of the Scottish Highlands from the plane.

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