Joke
Well he could ask for special VFR …..what is the min alt for that?
Joke Over
Hat, coat, door!

Lucky it wasn’t an Airbus. (see Habsheim) :ooh:

Unless you were a passenger or crew member and something went wrong....birdstrike or such...

From the video posted, the flight path was never within a mile of the approach path, nor the runway. I have landed on that runway a couple of times, and walked through town. That was a low pass westbound along the harbour, and for all intents "over" the built up area of town. That town would be about the eleventh largest town in Iceland, so a built up area by Icelandic standards.

A few thoughts that come to my mind:

-When flying low level speed is life. With 250 Knots you can pull on the yoke to get out of trouble immediatly. Low and slow is way more dangerous. Low and slow and idle descent (like Habsheim) can get you really fast into trouble.

-Overflying your hometown is extra dangerous. It is hard to check the airspace/speed/instruments when you know every street down there. And it is so tempting to go a bit lower or use some extra bank.
Many years ago my captain had to over g our C160 Transall to pull up over his hometown. Instead of 60 degree bank we were suddenly at 70 plus and he allowed the nose to drop a bit. (Of course no indication of any bank here..)

-The last flight before retirement is, well at least special. I remember an incident when a german Tornado pilot wrecked his landing gear on his very last landing. Trying to make it "special" because every one was watching.

-I read a study on the fear of flying. Can't remember the exact numbers, but about somewhere around 30 percent of our passengers are quite happy when they are safely on the ground again. Not to mention people that are really scared to fly and just endure the flight.
What is fun in the cockpit might cause some issues in the cabin.

So for me its a nogo and not fair to our paying customers.

So the options in your world, are either do nothing (turn a blind eye) or report the pilot to the police?

You can't possibly think of any internal processes which might be available and used at all? And if you can how do you know they weren't used?

From a friend inside the company, the CDR got ATC approval for this slight ¨detour¨ (details wrt the actual clearance not known..), but he had not been authorized by the company...

Sorry, that doesn't wash with me. That can happen at any time anywhere, as we have witnessed countless times.

Completely different scenario!

An entry in my archives about an event from almost seven decades ago:

My junior school (Worple Road, Isleworth) was located under the approach to Heathrow’s runway 28L (as it was then designated), about 5 miles distant, which meant that airliners passing overhead were flying approximately 1500 feet above ground level. Most of the children paid no attention to the machines droning over the school – they made little noise apart from the occasional jets, such as the RAF’s Comet 2s (BOAC’s Mk 4s were not yet in service), Air France’s prototype Caravelles and Aeroflot’s Tu104s. The B707 had yet to scream through British skies.

We plane-spotters watched them all, noting down registrations of course. Even indoors we could identify aircraft types by the timbre of their engines. The crackle of Wright Turbo-Compounds was the signature of Super Connies, while Merlins meant Argonaut or York. The sleeve-valved Centaurus engines of BEA's Elizabethans emitted a distinct low-pitched drone. Very common was the whine of Dart-engined BEA Viscounts.

One spring morning in 1958, during break, we spotters in the playground identified a distant approaching aircraft as either DC4 or Argonaut (the airframes were virtually identical). Unusually it was flying much lower than normal. As it got closer the narrow frontal area of its engine nacelles told us ‘Argonaut’ and soon the growl of Merlins confirmed the identity. By now, other children were taking interest. The noise of kids at play gradually subsided as one by one they stopped their games and stood rooted to the spot watching the BOAC aircraft roar past, the eyes of a couple of hundred temporarily silent and motionless children following its progress. The aircraft did not appear to be in trouble. All four props were turning and it was not descending. I noted the registration, of course, but sadly this snippet of data has since escaped my memory. We all watched as the aircraft sedately flew on towards Heathrow and gradually the other children lost interest and resumed their playground activities.

There was no subsequent reference to the incident in any of the media and I wonder if perhaps the crew of the Argo were just having a bit of fun. In those days pilots had more latitude about how they flew their aircraft. A repeat performance today would probably result in a no-biscuit interview of the crew by their managers.

Not wishing the P1 ill for making what will probably turn out to be the biggest mistake of his career, but where I fly (UK) if I hired a light aircraft and flew over my local town solo as demonstrated in the video, I would expect to have my licence suspended and face possible prosecution. To do that in a 80T jet on a revenue flight is so wrong on so many counts that you wonder about the pilot’s mental state to even consider it - the days of ‘sightseeing’ in a company jet are long gone and the QAR/FDR will tell all.

Reminds me of the Britannia Airways B757 detour down Congleton high street.

If my memory is correct a stunt to celebrate the FO's child's birthday. Several thousand (maybe press exaggeration) phone calls to the various authorities declaring an aircraft about to 'crash'. CPT was either sacked or encouraged to resign, FO wrist slapped/warned - who knows, somebody here maybe.

Yes but flying low level almost directly over the largest fishing/processing port in Iceland with hills nearby that literally have millions of seabirds flitting around them is loading the dice somewhat?

DISCORDE .. We must be from the same area as I lived in Brantwood Avenue and it was the constant stream of aircraft over the outer marker in Redlees Park that got me interested in aviation. I must have been later than you it was 707s, Tridents Britannia's and the like (and good old Edgar Raffles).

I do recall an airshow at Barton in (perhaps the 90s) when an Air Two Bob 757 did a flypast down the runway at about 250 feet. I am pretty sure that was well arranged as ATC must have given it vectors from T/O at Ringway to Barton and them to climb out and set off for its destination.

They were a fair distance south of those plants. Furthermore, I guess the Captain, who lives there, is very much au fait with the area than, with respect, you are. .

Anyway it is not within the pilots jurisdiction to make that risk assessment. Thats up to company management. His actions are in no way justified.

What do you call a fair distance ? there is plenty birdlife there, all year round.
https://www.natt.is/is/dyr/fuglar/mi...vestmannaeyjar

Also, he does not live there.

I've landed at my "home" coastline airport, didn't think a moment about the seagulls I've cursed a zillion times on the ground.

I don't know a lot of skippers that can identify a woodpecker by the sound it makes. Let's not overestimate our ornithological abilities shall we?

It was a very benign fly past. I understand that today's generation see it otherwise. I'm of the old generation, one which has (and I have personally) seen a lot more "adventurous" flypasts (yes, some with pax). For me this was a non-event. Leave the guy alone. He's retired now and won't be doing it again anyway. As for his living there or not, it was reported that he was a "native of the area", so obviously knew it well. Why otherwise would he have bothered in the first place? ATC was informed. Passengers were informed. There were no airshow or excessive type of maneuvering. Just leave it alone guys, no one is asking you to do it! Let's put it to bed now, where it belongs.

This is "Boys will be boys...." level excuses.

I think "today's generation" is likely a bit more in the right for not wanting to take pax on an ego trip joyride. Hopefully "your generation" is now mostly retired or put to bed.

:) I'll take that on the chin, but in this particular case I do honestly think there was nothing inherently dangerous. Going to bed now! ;)