Top 10 Low Fly Bys caught on tape

[canav8]

I thought you might enjoy this little video. Especially watch the #3 pass and the guy standing there. I believe the aircraft is a Jaguar.
Also turn your sound up. pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dr2ZB36p9Y

[blueldr]

I can do that.

[GAHorn]

Did anyone notice the suidical sea-gull at the beginning of the FA-18 low pass?

Look closely just as the aircraft appears at the left of the screen and watch for a bird that makes a submarine-attempt.

[Harold Holiman]

Did you notice that two Navy flyers have been perminently grounded for their low fly by over a Georgia Tech football game?

Harold

[15A]

It's all fun 'til someone breaks a leg...
But a word of caution
Think twice before you post your own private airshow video... pay-back's a bear

But you have to admit, Uncle Sam has the BEST toys

[GAHorn]

"You can only tie the record for flying low" - LearAviator's motto.

Buzz jobs are so fun. And so deadly. Don't try it at home.

The mark of a true professional is discipline. It takes discipline to avoid stupid buzz jobs.

-George, the self-appointed buzz-job critic who has done stupid buzz jobs and got away with it... so far...

(but I'm working on my professionalism.)

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

The mark of a true professional is discipline. It takes discipline to avoid stupid buzz jobs.

So that makes a smart buzz job the mark of a true professional.

Over the years I've had the opportunity to fly many hours in some fairly loud helicopters basically burning holes in the sky all in the name of training. Some of the best were the six and seven ship UH-1H formations I've lead over my neighborhood or family picnics. Think about the scene in movie Apocalypse Now as the Hueys are coming over the beach playing Wagner from their EW speakers scaring the crap out of the enemy. We were all playing Wagner in our heads but we never broke regulations or FARs. Sure we licked the edge of the envelope but we never sealed it.

Any attempts at flybys have gone by the way side in the last several years. If you think 10" N numbers are identifiable when your low try flying an white A-Star with 20" "Chopper 10" next to a 5'x5' full color NBC peacock or a BK117 the words "MidAtlantic MedEvac" plastered on your door.

The worst buzz job is the one your accused of that you didn't do. In the last year we've had an airport neighbor that calls the airport every time he thinks he hears a helicopter in the air. He happens to be about a mile out on the localizer approach course. He calls to inform who ever answers the phone that we just buzzed his place 100 feet over the roof. I'd like to show him what 100 ft over his roof looks like sometime. If I could only get 5 or 6 Huey's with Wagner playing to follow me all the better.

[cessna170bdriver]

It takes discipline to avoid stupid buzz jobs.

-George, the self-appointed buzz-job critic who has done stupid buzz jobs and got away with it... so far...

I'm not all that disciplined, but almost NOT getting away with it cured me. I buzzed a friends house at the end of a long flying day (spelled t-i-r-e-d), heard a strange "whack!" sound during the pull up, and after landing found fresh oak leaves and small twigs lodged in the brake caliper. I was so concentrating on getting low over my friend and his house, that I never even noticed the tree. Hopefully the statute of limitations has run out on that boneheaded move, and there have been NO repeat offenses.

Miles

[GAHorn]

[...The worst buzz job is the one your accused of that you didn't do. ...

The worst buzz job is the one ... you didn't complete!

I doubt I've spent as much time down low as Bruce ... but I've got 3300+ hours logged on pipeline patrol, much of it at/below 200'... and for hours on end. Sleepily.

The point is: "Low" is a relative term. It's down in the obstacles. Bruce and I both did it as a part of our job descriptions (most of the time.) It's not for the "thrill" unless you're willing to risk your life on it, and it's never appropriate with non-pilot passengers who haven't the judgement/experience to know how dangerous it is and who is, with the most valuable thing they own, trusting the pilot's (NoN)-judgement.

I'll quit preaching... I just wanted to leave this topic on a note of caution to all our friends, whom we'd like to continue seeing "Log-In" every so often.

[canav8]

Guys, get off your soap boxes, I posted this because these flybys were caught on tape. Nothing more. These flybys are cool to watch, Everyone knows that if your in the air, being close to the ground leaves little room for error. I think it is LearAviator that has the moniker "you can only be tied for the lowest pass" or something like that. V/R Doug

[GAHorn]

Guys, get off your soap boxes, I posted this because these flybys were caught on tape. Nothing more. These flybys are cool to watch, Everyone knows that if your in the air, being close to the ground leaves little room for error. I think it is LearAviator that has the moniker "you can only be tied for the lowest pass" or something like that. V/R Doug

No one is criticizing your post.

[blueldr]

Back in the olden days of my wildly mis-spent youth, I was a Master Sergent aircraft crew chief at Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas. I was also a check pilot on the AT-6 and AT-11 airplanes of the Air Force Reserve Unit on the other end of the field.
On one of my week end excursions to the city of the Alamo, I had made the acquaintence of a delightful young Texas lady from down south of San Antonio where her daddy had a great big ranch with a lot of cows. One week end when I was going flying in one of my uncles AT-6s just for the general hell of it, I decided that, since this delightful young lady had been so generous with her favors on week end evenings, I would just fly down to daddys big ranch and let them see how we Air Force aces were keeping America safe for democracy. I figured a hot low pass at about 2250 RPM and 36" of MAP would surely impress them. En route to daddys big ranch I further decided that a nice victory roll on the pull up would be even more impressive.
You have to realize that in 1947 I was only 25 years old and therefore was totally indestructable, not to mention a very hot pilot.
I did make the propeller-howling fast (for an AT-6) pass between the casa and the corral after a couple of circles to give the family time to come out to watch.
The pull up and roll were, naturally, spectacular. However, I noticed that for some reason as I rolled level the windshield was full of mother earth rather than the blue sky I was expecting. I was also very, very low and going like the proverbial stripped assed ape. The scond pullout was REALLY spectacular.
Especially from my point of view.
En route back to Brooks, I admonished myself to practice that type of stuff at a considerly higher altitude in the future.
It was about three days before the pucker string loosened up to where I could even pass gas.
The young lady later informed me that daddy was duly impressed, and, as a matter of fact, had suggested my castration for having spooked his cows.
Actually, I felt sure that she, of all persons, wouldn't let him do that.

[canav8]

You have to realize that in 1947 I was only 25 years old and therefore was totally indestructable, not to mention a very hot pilot.

LOL, I guess that makes you as old as dirt. I am glad you survived. What an expensive way to help pay for the enchanted weekends that you enjoyed the weeks before. Is that how they used to go cow tipping in the old days? lol. I am still a rookie. When I was in my teens cow tipping consisted of hopping the fence in the middle of the night with at least a six pack in my belly, only to find that my feable attempt of cow tipping involved a glorious set of horns from something other then a heifer. Needless to say I got cut up pretty good by the barbed wire that was strategically placed at a height of four feet. Did I fail to mention that I had six pack abs?

[akviperdriver]

[quote="gahorn"]"You can only tie the record for flying low" - LearAviator's motto.

I can tell you from experience, in a fixed wing airplane 50' AGL at 100kts has the same *feel* at 500' AGL at 500kts. The USAF in its infinite wisdom decided some years back that 500' AGL was as low as it was safe to fly a fighter on a tactical mission. Some of you know what I'm referring to when I say "time to die charts", for those of you who don't, it is a time to impact vs. descent angle in relation to time (in seconds) chart. At 500 kts, from 500' AGL in a 90 degree bank turn (as you see, airspeed is irrelivant when the vertical component of lift is zero), the aircraft will hit the ground in about 5.6 seconds... the time it takes for a dropped object (not accounting for drag) to fall 500' in free fall. As a young Lieutenant, this is quite effective at getting your attention!

Now, take that same Lieutenant (who quite possibly thinks he's still invincible) and show him what the vertical velocity compontent of an unrecognized descent angle is... then tie it into the same chart. At 500'/500kts (this is now straight line trigonometry, not Newtonian physics) a 5 degree descent will impact the ground in ~6.8seconds... a 10 degree descent will get him into the dirt in 3.3 seconds and the LT figures out very quickly that he better have a hyper active cross-check between near rocks-far rocks-check lead-check six. Add to that an integrated weapons and sensor system check between each of those checks and wait for said LT to get comfortable doing his job... He will... He does... He gets bored and complacent and as a result, we have some pretty neat videos to watch!

I do give the caveat for the (specifically trained) performers like the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, and their like with the appropriately endorsed waivers... Doing this on your own time is hazardous to your health, your planes' health, and your significant other's sanity.

Now, I've only done some simple calculations at 50' and 100kts, but a rough guess says that most showboating/hotdogs in a Cessna/Piper/GA plane won't be at 90 degrees of bank. Follow me here, in an unrecognized 1 degree descent from 50' at 100kts, the aircraft will hit the ground in ~17 seconds. From that same starting point, a 5 degree descent will hit the ground in about 3.4 seconds. So much for the same *feel* as 500'/500kts...

Keep the dirty side down... with the appropriate terrain clearance That's my two cents...

Cheers!