People took to Twitter and Facebook to express amazement after a low-flying Boeing 747 rumbled over the roofs of villages including Narborough and Cosby.
The Cathay Pacific jet was flown from Manchester to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground on Monday, passing over Narborough at less than 4,000ft at around midday.
Hannah Elizabeth, who managed to take a picture of the plane, said on the Leicester Mercury Facebook page: "The aeroplane flew ridiculously low over Narborough.
"Everyone was out in the streets and an elderly lady said that in all the time she had lived in Narborough she had never seen a plane fly that low.
"You could see each individual window of the plane."
Bruntingthorpe managing director David Walton said: "It was a Boeing 747 originally from Hong Kong that had just finished its life and was flown here to be taken apart for second hand parts.
"Companies like bringing their planes to the UK because the regulations here ensure there aren't dubious second-hand parts on the market and we've had quite a few 747s come here recently.
"There was a spate of them over the summer and there are about half a dozen here waiting to be taken apart by the engineering company on site here, although this was the first we've had since the beginning of October."
