We can bat this story back and forth ad infinitum and the correct answer (if such a thing exists) will elude us all. A manoeuvre such as this can be done safely and correctly. The
PR aspect has value and merit however we live in a world of increased and often unwarranted concerns over our own health and safety.
Our existences are becoming increasingly sterile and joyless.
So...we find solace and thrills in other avenues of life and the smile and euphoria that this feast of aeronautical celebration brings is removed from us and a collective guilt and slap on the wrist is inflicted upon those who dare imbue a little colour to an otherwise bland day.
Get it right and you reap the rewards, get it wrong and you'll pay with you life. I've seen or heard of too many of these incidencies going pear shaped with fatal consequences. Many of them were wreckless and foolhardy and just plane stupid.
I don't think this one falls into those categories but at best was unwise not because the execution lacked any intrinsic skill or forethought per se but more perhaps because it was presumptuous. Permission should have been sought from the correct authorities and management. It is hard to see that it would have been denied.
It is a set piece manouvre and can be done in a straight forward manner.
Tex Johnson got away with something a little more daring and the rest is history. God Bless Him...
