These Fly-bys Were Both Badass and Dangerous

[Applause] military flybys are an American sporting institution and are usually timed so the Roar of the engines overhead the crowd happens right as the final strains of the national anthem are fading away military instructions Define a flyby as quote one straight level pass and not to involve aerobatics or aircraft demonstrations end quote aerobatics is defined as quote an intentional maneuver involving abrupt change in an aircraft's attitude an abnormal attitude or abnormal acceleration not necessary for normal flight end quote an abnormal attitude is a pitch attitude of the aircraft greater than 60° above or below the Horizon Andor the angle of bank than 75° in reference to the Horizon the altitude limit for flybys was 500 ft above ground level but after 9/11 that was raised to 1,000 ft the air speed limit is defined as quote unquote not supersonic but most commands further limit their Crews to no faster than 350 to 400 knots Done Right flybys are thrilling and inspiring done wrong they can be dangerous hazarding people in property and career ending for the aviators involved September 30th 2000 a college football game with with the Naval Academy Mid Shipman hosting the Texas Christian University horn frogs at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis Maryland a little background here I was stationed at the Naval Academy at the time and friends with the naval Academy's operations officer who was also at Tom Cat Rio he was in charge of coordinating the flybys with the squadrons involved he told me his General guidance to the aviators was to be safe but also to do their best to motivate the home team and the fans the TCU game that year was the second home game of the season the flyby for the the first game against Temple was done by two vf43 PUK and dogs tom cats that passed over the stadium low and fast and loud right on Q the fans loved it the pilot for the second game flyby was a Marine Corps Major who'd flown harriers on active duty and was now a reservice attached to the fa18c Squadron based at Andrews Air Force Base just outside of Washington DC I knew him and had actually flown in a tom cat dog fighting against him in a Harrier off the coast of North Carolina one time he was a good pilot like all of the crews who perform flybys at Navy games the major was a Naval Academy graduate he happened to be in the stands for the first home game and during his coordination with the operations officer he mentioned he wanted to make his pass even more thrilling than the Tom Cats at the home opener the opso response was go for it I attended this game along with my wife and two sons we lived on the Naval Academy campus at the time which is walking distance from the stadium and we always had season tickets during the four years I was on the faculty there or seats were in the stands behind the West End Zone which gave us a great vantage point for this flyby like all Naval Academy flybys The Hornet held over the mouth of the Severn River while waiting for the call over the radio from his ground controller located on the sidelines the pilot had set up a GPS waypoint at the 50 yd line and he figured the push time and speed based on the normal length of the national anthem and the distance he had to travel to get there right at the final note Air Force B let's welcome maker M I'm usually sporting a short beard but I still shave around my cheeks and neck and like all of you out there who shave I want a razor that's designed to minimize Nick's cuts and irritation so here's a secret that goes against what the sh saving industry has been trying to sell you for the last few decades you don't need a razor with up to half a dozen blades you just need one with a single really good Blade meet the sponsor of this episode Hensen shaving Hensen shaving is a family-owned Aerospace parts manufacturer that has made parts for the International Space Station and Mars Rover now they're bringing Precision Engineering to your shaving experience you see the folks at Hensen shaving realize that a bad shaving experience isn't so much a function of how sharp a blade is but rather because of how much it wobbles think of your razor blade as a diving board the longer the board the more it wobbles a Razor's micro wobbles are what lead to more Nicks and cuts Henson solves this by minimizing blade extension addressing the root cause of bad shaves not the blade itself but the extension the reason other shaving companies haven't fixed the problem is they don't have the technology to do it hensen's Aerospace background allows them to create a razor that offers a vibration free and Incredibly Close shave visit Hensen shaving docomo to pick the razor that's right for you and use the code Ward you get two years worth of blades free with your razor just be sure to add them to your cart that's 100 free blades when you had to hn s o n shav v.com and use the code Ward here we see the Hornet still descending as it passes over Taylor Avenue that runs perpendicular to the field to the east he's still descending as he enters the bowl of the stadium and passes below Press Box level at that point I felt like the was going to fly right into my lap as he reaches Midfield the pilot has full afterburner staged and he makes an aggressive nose High pull and rolls left pushing the limits of what defines aerobatic flight you see the evergreen trees at the bottom of the frame here we were seated in the stands in front of those and as I watched The Hornet Roar overhead at full power I saw the trees Bend towards us from the force of the Jet's exhaust we could feel the heat of the afterburners and smell the jp5 fuel after the exhilaration War off we realized just how dangerous the flyby had been and I wondered what was going to happen to the pilot you see the thing about Naval Academy home football games is it's a safe bet that either the chief of Naval operations or the comedon on the Marine Corps or even the secretary of the Navy is in the stands at any given game I figured the major would lose his wings for sure but later I heard that he had only been grounded for a couple of weeks and later he chose to retire from the reserves and while the Hope was that a badass flyby would motivate the Navy Team to Victory they wound up losing to TCU 24 to nothing November 7th 2009 Georgia Tech was the home team in a football game against Wake Forest at Bobby DOD stadium in Atlanta Georgia the flyby was conducted by a section of super hornets from Strike Fighter Squad 136 based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach Virginia [Music] the two super Hornets passed over the field southbound with gear and flaps down but the tail hooks up for some reason at 200 ft well below the minimum allowable altitude of 1,000 ft the flyby generated massive social media coverage most of it very positive a Georgia Tech fan tweeted quote however much of my tax dollars went to that I'd gladly give it again for the same purpose it was all caps in incredible end quote in spite of the Public's enthusiastic response the vfa 136 commanding officer convened a field Naval aviator evaluation board also known as a phab on both the lead and Wing pilots during the proceedings the lead pilot claimed that his low altitude was a function of him referencing his barometric altitude instead of his radar altitude the board and the chain of command above the Squadron accepted the explanation and chocked it up to what the report described as quote unquote an honest mistake however the ultimate Authority the two- star admiral who was in command of Naval Air Force Atlantic rejected the findings of the board and subsequent reviewers saying that quote the arguments written by prior endorses that the lead Pilot's actions were an honest mistake are not persuasive he is a senior very experienced department head who placed his aircraft in wingman in a very dangerous position end quote the airlant commander also said the wingman's complacent response to the altitude transgression and lack of situational awareness were quote unquote unforgivable both Pilots were were allowed to keep their wings but were removed from a flying status November 20th 2010 Iowa football at home versus Ohio State at kick stadium in Iowa City Iowa an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel led a four ship formation of t-38s out of Vance air force base over kinnick Stadium the flyby traveled in a southbound Direction clearing the scoreboard by only 58 ft which is well below 1,000 ft at an air speed well above the maximum the squadron's instruction permitted couple of things to also note it was the lead Pilot's final flight before retirement which has historically been a recipe for high risk and potential disaster in military Aviation during the subsequent Air Force investigation the lead pilot who had both a distinguished career and a history of disciplinary problems which included showing up late missing a flight briefing and failing to notify a superior about an absence claimed that he had descended to avoid civilian air traffic and then lost track of his altitude because he was busy with other tasks which wasn't a great excuse because monitoring his altitude while flying over 70,000 fans was his primary task at that point the other three pilots in the formation told investigators they had no idea they were so low until they passed over kinck stadium and all of them were upset that the flight lead had put them in that position as a result the investigations finding that the lead pilot was guilty of quote gross errors in judgment end quot the wing Commander demoted the pilot to Major and recommended a court Marshal the pilot ultimately reached a legal settlement with the Air Force and accepted a fine and retirement at the Lesser rank rather than going through a court Marshal three other pilots in the formation as well as the two stationed on the field as controllers were reprimanded but allowed to remain in a flight status November 14th 2021 the NFL's Tennessee Titans were hosting the New Orleans Saints at Nissan field in Nashville Tennessee four helicopters two ah64 Apaches a ch47 shinook and a uh60 Blackhawk from the aviation unit attached to the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell Kentucky flew southbound and then turned towards the West once they passed over the stadium which took them in the direction of downtown Nashville the formation flew across the field below the level of the upper deck however the rules for rotary Wing aircraft are more permissive than those for fixed Wing aircraft the faa's instruction reads quote helicopter operations may be conducted below the minimum altitude set for fix-wing aircraft because they have unique operating characteristics the most important of which is their ability to execute pinpoint emergency Landings during in power out emergencies end quote in response to the publicity that was generated by the flyby the Army seemed to slow roll the issue responding at the time that command officials had directed a preliminary investigation to the event it's unclear if any action was ultimately taken against the air Crews involved in the flyby [Music] so the next time you're at a sporting event that has a flyby think about everything that went into it and remember these four examples of those that were thrilling yes but also potentially dangerous all right that'll do it for this episode if you're not already a subscriber become one so you don't miss anything going forward and if you'd like to help the Channel please consider using the super thanks the hard icon below or become a patron at patreon.com Carol and in the meantime I look forward to talking to you again very soon [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Ward Carroll

Views: 178,730

Keywords: Ward Carroll, military flybys, F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet, football games, college football, NFL, Top Gun, DCS World

Id: Ehl5rvitmvg

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024