I think the camera man was a little taken aback too.... there are two people uttering the expletive.

Turn a naughty boy into good PR. That was some beat up, youngsters will sit up and take notice. The boys are doing the business out there, get footage out and use it to OUR advantage. The people I work with were IMPRESSED, not upset; seeing it as a supreme piece of flying skill.....:ok:

Even if it was a Harrier pilot.....................

edited traffic limit exceeded

Was with the mighty cat in a Thumrait sun shelter about 5 years ago when a VC10 tanker did a low level pass and scattered everyone in the shelters. Seen plenty of fast pointy things beat up airfields over the years but that guy, who ever you are, had balls. Respect :cool:

Alright then, I'll be the killjoy. In the spirit of King Harold, it's all a bit of a laugh until something goes wrong. Specifically, I imagine the DZ mates at South Cerney were suitably amused as well until their oppo got decapitated by the Herc ramp. There is absolutely zero margin for error, and in a similar vein, when 2 Army guys stoofed a Gazelle in while low level wazzing an armoured convoy in GW1, they survived, but Cat 5'd a critical operational asset. Imagine the furore if this was instead the actual video of us losing a Harrier in that Theatre. A bit of fun is a bit of fun, but either I have been on too many BOI's, or I have too much imagination to be able to dismiss this as "fun".

Two's in
Let's just say the Harrier was "below the glidepath - not correcting" on his approach, hmmmm? A hint of pot to kettle, perhaps? The Sth Cerney incident was a particularly nasty and awful conclusion to a 'DZ inspection' and not condonable by any stretch. I remember reading about the F14(15?) crew that thought they would moon at FL 300+ and whilst off O2, inevitable hypoxia set in with fatal results. Let's not get too sanctimonious about this. Give a lad a Ferrari and tell him to pootle down to Tesco and he will, most of the time. Occasionally, however, he might want to explore his, and the machine's, limits more freely.
Zeibart

I seem to remember having my hat, and seeing all the audience's headgear flying off as well, at my passing out parade at Swinderby August 1992. 3 Tornado's on full afterburners blew everything all over the shop.

Crock of sh*t...

I was there, albeit as a stude on Chipmunks however, I do remember the three ship fly past you're talking about and nobody lost their hats. There was only one parade that month & I watched it from the cockpit of a chippy as I waited for the nod for my first solo.

Nothing special other than a a formation flypast followed by 3 single passes. Stop bull****ting!

Zeibart, ... and that makes it OK then? Like many, I have ooooo'd and aaaaah'd at daring and incredible feats. Right up until the point in May 1988 when I saw a very close friend throw himself and a Harrier GR3 into the Ems canal.

Utterly, utterly pointless.

I'm sure he didn't mean it.

Be Carefull Out There
 

The parents, relatives and friends of Private **** who was mown down by a Hercules flown by OC Flying JATE on 4 Aug 1994 at South Cerney would probably disagree with most of the above.
Whilst we still have to have fun, there do have to be limits.
As soon as we decide to ignore the written limits we are only limited by our own self imposed ones - which are likely to creep downwards.
There is no answer; but I would suggest to the moderators (Scroggs!) that one should not get into the game of encouraging potentially dangerous flypasts!
One might end up in Court!!!!

Edited by me for post Pub Sp & Gr.

And appealing to the Moderators is going to stop a low fly past is it?

Especially from Scroggs!;)

Spurs armed and clanking...

Appealing to Scroggs?
Hmmm, I think not!

But I think that a public reminder that this pilot was charged with MANSLAUGHTER may be a consideration for those who choose to overfly people at silly heights for fun!

The fact that the wacky aviation shrink persuaded the jury to declare a not-guilty verdict when it came to trial may provide security of mind to those who choose to do this in the future - I'm sure. The man concerned was a very good hands on pilot and did not have murder on his mind at the time - I suspect. I think that he "assumed" that his victim would jump off the vehicle rather just 'moon' at him.

The boy died for his bravado and the Sqn Ldr's career was ended. Some would say that his liberty should also have been ended.

Oh, and by the way RUDEKID, what do you suggest?

Certainly not wanting to start another angle to this thread but, having been a military FJ pilot for the last 8 years, I have recently become more involved with civilian aviation and I'm utterly appalled at the lack of discipline that some of those guys (but not all) display.

Not trying to shift the focus, or assuage any responsibility, but there's an AWFUL lot that goes unnoticed in areas of aviation that have no interest to the media.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mQDkqWuugEw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ygh5dGuCW...elated&search=

http://youtube.com/watch?v=z2nciYBpp...elated&search=

Bet the locals are well-chuffed with the last one........

The 757 one was like the RNAF one that displayed at Waddington this year, that WAS impressive, nowt wrong with that low level fly past.:D :D :D

Okay, let's cut to the chase.

Playing games of chicken between fast moving vehicles and people should be left to Chavs on railway tracks. - IMHO.

Gerrit?

Forgive me, I'm not a pilot, but I have certainly played a lot with aircraft in my time as a MAOT. Out FACing one day on SPTA, and had a lot of fun with a Tonka beating us up at VERY low level. On another day, an A10 doing the same thing (difference was, I knew the Tonka was coming!). On another day, a Puma beat us up at no more than 15ft. Excellent fun, and I can see some training value for the aircrew with such low level flying in a military environment.

I can contrast this with those idiots "train surfing" who get surprised when a bridge spoils their whole afternoon. Or those that think the 25KV overhead lines are handrails as they mount the train roof.

Not the same to me, but I guess there are limits, which like all rules, get broken from time to time.

Guess I was unfortunate that the Harrier story broke at the same time as my thread!

I was really hoping for more stories like the VC-10, F-4 ones related earlier dealing with the background or events surrounding getting a bunch of military aircraft over a particular place at a particular time...........it's interesting reading folks, but if anyone has got any more stories, would be great to hear them!

Thanks

Gareth

At those passing out parade flypasts which blew hats off etc, did any senior officers have their 'syrup' blow off ?:)