David Gladwin
Posts: 1963
Joined: 2/5/2002
From: Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Status: online
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Let me save you some time:
As an ex-military pilot with large aircraft display experience, I have to write in to say how strongly I feel about this. So much blood has been spilt over the years because of low level manoevres in both large and small aircraft: crashes as a result of flying that has been unbriefed and unauthorised, or when pilots have deliberately and knowingly broken the rules or display orders, or when pilots have not been competent to fly their machines outside the normal envelope. One of the worst I recall, when I lost a friend, was the Argosy at El Afraq; it was flown straight into a small water tower during an unauthorised beatup with total loss of life, and started to set people thinking about post war "cowboy" mentality that result in normally sane and competent pilots indulging in reckless flying. Then, a few years later, as the support crew to a maritime exercise in NZ, we were in the back of the Nimrod all flying down to Wellington, when, on take off from Whenupai, the pilot, very experienced and senior, without warning or briefing, racked it round in a low level turn over the flight line, a turn that the Navigator Radar calculated by trigonometry left the starboard wingtip about 5 feet off the ground. Near mutiny in the back of the a/c, and all the pilot could say afterwards was that he was "showing the flag", but could not answer how he could possibly judge how close his wing was to the gound in such a low level pulling and rolling turn, and what damage could be done to a large a/c by "rolling G". I've been in a few scrapes in my 42 years of flying, but I have rarely been so angry at the thought of being put at so much risk by a stupid stunt such as this. Low level manoevring is one of the many weapons in the military pilots' arsenal, but, as a manager, I was continually worried about what the junior pilots were up to when away from base, dedicated and very competent young people, whom in wartime we expect to roar around with "their hair on fire", but in peacetime, though training for war, are expected to obey all the rules or else!.
Now, I say all this has a direct relevance to Display Flying. Air Shows used to be primarily military affairs to show off military power, indulge in national pride and entice foreign arms buyers, amongst other things. In later years, more and more civilain a/c joined the show, mainly as a shop window for prospective buyers, but by and large, the slower, the faster, the tighter, the lower, all the better to show off the product and thrill the crowd. But the loss of life in accidents has been unacceptable, and now the rules and regulations governing participating a/c are very, very stringent. We were told at every briefing that the rules are there for the crowd's and our protection, rules that basically lay down the area in which to fly, observance of the "crowd line", and minimum manoevring height, usually 300 ft, sometimes 500 ft.
Generally, yes, display flying, even in a large a/c is very exciting, you're chosen because you can fly well, you're specially trained and thoroughly briefed, and ordered never ever to go outside the profile, or else, again. But there is a small element of risk, because you're flying outside the normal envelope, but the orders and briefings are supposed take care of this. I've mentioned in a previous post the old display adage, "The better it looks to the crowd outside, the worst it probably is inside the cockpit!" I can vouch for this, having been on one display, pushed towards the crowd line by a 25 knot crosswind and tailwind in a low level turn, and my copilot informing me about the angle of bank and low airspeed in no uncertain terms!
Specifically, therefore, having looked at all the video and read the posts, its my opinion that this pilot was totally out of order and wrong to do what he did. He may be the best pilot in the world, (I've flown with a very few who have naturally "good hands"  , he may have been briefed and authorised for this show, but not, certainly not, to execute this low level turn clearly well below the display height in a manoevre that broke the law and put the crowd, his crew and himself at risk, just to show off; that's my opinion anyway.
Not just me then !!
Regards,
despairingly ,
DG.
< Message edited by David Gladwin -- 10/15/2007 6:36:22 AM >
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RE: Is this legal? - 
