Posted on 10/12/2006 7:15:56 AM PDT by rawhide
Defence bosses dismissed footage of British soldiers apparently playing "chicken" with a low flying Harrier jump jet as servicemen "letting off steam". The 15-second video of the daredevil game was apparently filmed at Kandahar air base in southern Afghanistan.
It showed one soldier standing with his back towards the horizon as the £40 million war plane approaches at high speed.
The Harrier, capable of speeds of up to 660mph, can be seen and heard approaching as his colleagues behind the camera egg him on.
But as it thunders just metres overhead the soldier glances over his shoulder and dives to the ground, shouting a string of expletives.
It is not clear if the plane was taking off from the air base or deliberately flying low over the group of soldiers.
The footage was published on the internet video sharing site YouTube.com by a 44-year-old former RAF serviceman.
An MoD spokesman said: "The Harrier provides excellent support to our guys on the ground but we do not recommend that they fly that low so we will have a word with them.
"The soldiers in Afghanistan are under pressure and this is them letting off steam."
The Harrier is used by the RAF for the close air support of ground troops tackling targets such as enemy positions, tanks and artillery.
Yesterday, Brigadier Ed Butler, the outgoing commander of the British task force in Afghanistan, paid tribute to the work of airmen in the conflict.
Aircrews have been supporting all of the international forces in southern Afghanistan and last month dropped nearly 500 bombs and rockets.
The air campaign is the RAF's largest bombing operation since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
There are two RAF squadrons currently serving in Afghanistan including 1 (Fighter) Squadron, based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland.
I'd pay for that.
for those in Rio Linda: Like it wasn't staged -- like everything else you see on video?
fantasy-reality-blur alert.
OUTSTANDING!
Hey I don't see anything so terrible about that, although I hope that soldier had some ear plugs as that Harrier went screaming overhead!
Wouldn't you just love to see Comrade Chia Pet in Pyongyang hitting the deck like that as one of those Harriers was coming in at tree top level?
C'mon, it missed him by at least 50 feet. :)
There's a picture out there of a reporter doing a stand-up talking about the Spitfire fighter, and in the distance you hear the drone of an engine...and then the guy suddenly drops to the ground and the Spit howls over the guy balls-out at about 300 mph, maybe ten feet off the ground. Now THAT'S low.
}:-)4
The Harrier ...
Most excellent design ever created ....
For the conversion of fuel to noise.
Can you do a translation for us? Sounds like, "tough it out," but it's not.
The plane was 20 feet or more to the guy's right ... which does nothing to alter the fact that this was cooler than all getout.
Back in the day, a couple of guys in my squadron were flying a "low level" training mission in F-4's, they decided to take it down "on the deck" and were flying at only 50 feet ( 300 was standard for a low level). As they popped over a ridge, they caught sight of a picnic table with a spread and family having a picnic RIGHT THERE. The WSO looked back in the mirrors and saw the table go up and over and watched the family get blown around by the jet wash. No one got hurt but they were not amused....
When I was in the AF we would make our way to the end of the runway and lay in the grass next to the landing runway. Yes, beer was involved.
the rooster tail is funny.
I remember that video. Now that was scary (and funny).
The speaker is a Northern lad, hence "tough it out" sounding very similar to what he actually says...
Please do. I'll tough it out. ;)
Most excellent design ever created ....
For the conversion of fuel to noise.
The EA-6B still has my vote.
ooops!
THESE are kind of folks I want for allies in the WoT! G-d bless 'em all.
They've had the same problem at the Buffalo Airport with kids lying at the ends of the runways.
I'll betcha these guys have been doing this sort of thing for a long time. It's certainly safer than flipping off a train while on the train tracks.
Sorry...NOTHING beats the F-4 Phantom II for that. Two J-79s at full afterburner on a low 450-knot airshow pass is just one of the most amazing walls of sound you'll ever hear. Raw, brute, unadulterated power, and a total triumph of sheer thrust over aerodynamics. :)
Old "Double Ugly" is the third-loudest airplane I've ever heard. #2 was a B-1B in full afterburner, and #1, by a mile, was the Concorde.
}:-)4
No worse than standing on the exterior flightdeck catwalk of an aircraft carrier while they are launching planes. Done it dozens of times. No big deal.
Sweet.
I wonder if the guy in the foreground had to clean out his drawers afterwards.......
Hold mah beer and watch this!
F-111 did pretty well making noise although the SR-71 was a tad bit louder.
It seems that boys will be boys... Even these days.
A Navy friend tells me of something similar they used to do on aircraft carriers.
When the catapult is released to thrust a jet down the runway, below deck there is a piston that drives the catapult. This piston hurtles forward to perform the launch, stops a few feet from a wall, and then is pulled back for the next launch. The challenge is to stand in front of the piston as it accelerates towards you at enormous speed, knowing in your heart it will stop a few feet from you, but have the guts to stand there and not flinch.
This could be just a sea story. Any confirmation or refutation gladly accepted.
Best friends employing the latest relaxation technique.
The Phantom II is proof that if you strap big enough engines on a brick, it will fly.
The Harrier remains the single loudest SINGLE engine aircraft that I have ever heard.
Loud enough to make you puke.
And on the other side, the jihadists let off steam by picking fleas off each other.
"The Harrier remains the single loudest SINGLE engine aircraft that I have ever heard.
Loud enough to make you puke."
Once saw two squadrons of F16s on the runway at the same time. Around 32 aircraft lined up 4 across and all taking off on afterburner. Then they did a mock attack of the airbase. Best airshow I have ever seen.
Being married to a former Harrier pilot I can tell you - you can take the pilot out of the Harrier, but you can't take the Harrier out of the pilot. :)
Yep, that one is awesome. That guy nearly got a Rolls-Royce Merlin in his ear. Here 'tis:
Then you need to look at the B-58 - four J-79s. Worst noise though was from the Jaguar - not for loudness, but they have the worst whistle I've ever heard at idle. Dogs for miles will roll in pain.
Ooorrraaahhh!
great for airshows, though.
In the words of the reporter in the video ...
"F#&K ME!!! F%$K ME!!!"
Funny video.
No doubt.
Sadly, the Hustler was a little before my day, I've never seen one fly at an airshow (I don't think there's any flyable ones left?). I've seen a B-1B, which was simply astonishing; no plane that large should be able to do what the Bone can do. They had that beast down on the deck yanking and banking like an F-16, and the takeoff, four engines on full reheat...wow.
I used to work near Dulles, at the intersection of Virginia 28 and the Dulles Toll Road (next to the Dulles Hyatt, for those that know the area), about 1-1.5 miles east of the north end of the two parallel north-south runways. The Concorde flew out four days a week, and if it was taking off southbound on 19L, when they ran the engines up, you had to yell to be heard in the parking garage. The windows in our fifth-floor office rattled and buzzed in their frames when it started its takeoff roll. I never understood, when I was a kid, why people at JFK were complaining about the Concorde, but after working near IAD for two years, boy, did I understand. 747s were just mere background whispers of noise compared to the Concorde.
The one thing I've never heard, and I wish I had, was a C-5. I've always heard that C-5s have a really nasty nails-on-a-chalkboard screech that sounds like nothing else in the air.
}:-)4
C-5s never really bothered me, until they were banked on their finals over my shop, and you could see across the tops of the wings. Then you listened real close to the engines to make sure they were still running. It didn't seem so screechy to me - sounded like God's electric razor with the buzz that it made.
I was recruited to fly Harriers in 1989, and performed well on my tests, but failed the vision test. Those guys are strict.
Must. Not. Make. Any. Comments. About. Vertical. Landings...
LOL! THAT was funny!
Bookmarking.
that's kewl
Cool stuff. For many years I worked on the Nellis Range complex as part of a EW and SAM simulation training unit.
We would get 'bubble checks" on the radars/simulators - low enough to pull up the dust. Mooning the RF4Cs was a lot of fun as well.
Also driving down Nev state Hiway 375, North of Rachel, NV, we would get 'boomed' by all kinds of fighters, so long as you leave the windows down (and pull over if possible), it can be great fun - sorta.
Ah, back in the day, airplanes, desert and not a whole lotta rules.
And don't even think about Vector in Forward Flight...
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
LOL.
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