Jumbo jet pilot sacked for ‘fly-by’ at 28 feet (B 777-300 ER)

Times of London ^ | February 25, 2008 | NA

[MindBender26]

Actually, a barrel roll in 787 at 500 AGL would be no problem. It’s about a 3 g maneuver at most, and that is well within a 787's tolerances.

[Old Professer]

“Chris Pratt, the chairman of Cathay Pacific, is said to have been among the VIP passengers who were on board the £100 million plane, a 777-300ER that had taken off from the plant in Everett, Washington, en route for Hong Kong, where the airline is based.”

Yep, flying that close to the dirt and soiling your boss’ Fruit of the Looms is gonna get you grounded.

[HereInTheHeartland]

One of your snot nosed jockeys did a circus stunt fly by of my tower. I want some butts and I want them now.

[3Lean]

I would look upon this as avoiding a negative reputation concerning the judgement of their pilots. People don’t want fighter aces flying them from point A to point B, they want stable, non-impulsive pilots. I understand your point about this pilots skills and length of service, but a bad reputation for an airline is incredibly difficult to shake, just as the folks at Northwest...

[Old Professer]

Touch and blow?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Flying below 10K in excess of 250 knots would get you in more hot water with the FAA than the fly-by and as fly bys go this was pretty tame.

[Interesting Times]

Is there an actual photo of that? I don’t know whether the pic has been colorized (of the actual event). I figured that was what you were linking to.

The entire story is worth reading. It's a cautionary tale that traces the conditions that led to the demise of a top-level B-52 pilot and three other USAF field-grade officers.

The original photo is available elsewhere online, as is video of the crash.

Boy, turning a -52 up on one wing. Yikes.

It didn't stay that way for long.

[HardStarboard]

>>>He should have did a barrall roll<<<

I did one of those once - right off the bar stool onto the floor.

[HereInTheHeartland]

That crew didn’t suffer much when they died. Wow...

[CarryaBigStick]

A properly executed barrel roll is a 1 G maneuver.

[exit82]

At a salary of 250,000 pounds/year, the airline was probably looking to replace him with a cheaper pilot.

I wonder if he just chuckled like Maverick did, as he buzzed the tower.

[Squidpup]

Bump for later viewing

[HardStarboard]

>>>It doesn't sound like there were passengers on board.<<<

Only if you don't consider the Chairman of the Board of the airline a non-passanger.

>>>Chris Pratt, the chairman of Cathay Pacific, is said to have been among the VIP passengers who were on board <<<

[Cyman]

Goose is gone

[Broker]

This pilot is near retirement age, fully vested and most likely still glad he “flat-hatted” the tower.

Fast-forward. He can easily take his credentials to a Gulf National airway and forgetaboutit.

[azhenfud]

I watched a real life gear-up T&G of a single engine prop plane that morphed into a full stop.

The runway asphalt welded the exhaust tubes completely shut, but when the wooden prop broke, the two pieces wound up under the plane and acted like skids so the belly of the plane was spared.

[mcshot]

I didn’t realize that was at Fairchild as having been stationed there I should have remembered. That pilot(?) should have been kept chained to his desk.

[Bird85]

Check out this fly-by. I wonder if this pilot was fired!!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/838897/tap_airbus_a310_low_pass_turn_portugal_airshow_2007_evora/

[mcshot]

I saw a post from the PD within last few weeks.