Sorry, that record is still held by Bill Buckner..
Posted on 04/11/2008 11:40:34 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair
Three F-16s roared toward Fenway Park, flying wingtip to wingtip. Suddenly a fourth F-16, trailing behind the formation, caught up, flew under the three F-16s, then looped up and over the formation to take its rightful spot for a perfect V formation.
The maneuver, performed during the Red Sox Opening Day game Tuesday, came just as the Boston Symphony Orchestra finished playing the national anthem. It elicited roaring applause and cheers from the full-capacity crowd, which clearly appreciated what it thought to be great showmanship. But as it turns out, the maneuver was improper and the Vermont Air National Guard grounded the pilot this week.
"I understand the crowd liked it, but you won't see it again," said Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd Goodrow, a Guard spokesman.
The pilot, whose name was not released, conducted the maneuver to slow down after he raced to catch up with the formation already in progress, Goodrow said. But the pilot, he said, was flying at an altitude too low for such a maneuver: about 1,100 feet, rather than the sanctioned 5,000 feet or higher.
"Our highest responsibility is safety," said Goodrow, although he quickly added: "At no time during the flyover was anyone in jeopardy. . . . He's a very professional pilot, and he was in control of the plane at all times."
He also emphasized that the maneuver was not acrobatic, as it has been characterized by some spectators.
The pilot's sudden maneuver concerned at least one fan, Gina Reitano, a 39-year-old Fall River resident who sat behind the bullpen on Opening Day.
"I thought that maybe he was having trouble with the plane," said Reitano, noting she has seen four other flyovers previously that didn't include such a dramatic maneuver. "I didn't think there was any imminent danger but just that maybe something was wrong."
"The people around me were drunk so they just went, 'Whoaaa,' " she added.
John Blake, Red Sox spokesman, said the team fielded no complaints about the maneuver and hasn't had a chance to talk to the Guard about it.
"I'm not an expert on flyovers," Blake said. "If something was amiss, I wouldn't have known."
The pilot will go through remedial training before being allowed to fly again.
Looks like it was just a barrel roll behind the formation, not much to get excited about.
Just bled energy in a High angle of attack maneuver. They do it all the time
Being someone trained in the field of aviation, I must bring up - as I usually do when I see a news report concerning aviation - that these newsies don’t know Jack Squat about aviation. The more I read the news, the more I think the same about every other subject concerning the news media.
My favorite part of the story is when they grabbed the experienced fighter pilot out of the Fenway crowd and asked for her expert opinion on the maneuver.
Did the pilot act inappropriately in executing that maneuver below 5000 ft? According to his commanding officer, he did. That’s the only opinion that matters in his case.
Nice move! Now he’s got to go to a military version of defensive driving school.
Not in front of a crowd, apparently.
“So I went ‘Whoaaaaa’ and we both went ‘Whoaaaa’.”
Whoaaaaaaaaa - DUDE! Where’s my car??? So dude, you went whoaaaaaa, the other guy went whoaaaaaa and now I’m going like whoooaaaaaaaaaa man, whoaaaaaaaaaa!
This phrase was uttered by me after my car had been towed by Fry’s Towing of Boston. My friend said, “Park here, they can’t tow an ENTIRE lot of cars.”
Well, Fry’s towing towed an entire lot of cars!
That was the most expensive night out I had had EVER!
Any other Boston people been towed by these friendly guys?
On March 10, 1994, Holland commanded a single-aircraft training mission to the Yakima Bombing Range to provide an authorized photographer an opportunity to document the aircraft as it dropped training munitions. The minimum aircraft altitude permitted for that area was 500 feet (150 m) AGL. During the mission, Holland's aircraft was filmed crossing one ridgeline about 30 feet (10 m) above the ground. Fearing for their safety, the photography crew ceased filming and took cover as Holland's aircraft again passed low over the ground, this time estimated as clearing the ridgeline by only three feet (1 m). The co-pilot on Holland's aircraft testified that he was forced to grab the controls to prevent Holland from flying the aircraft into the ridge while the aircraft's other two aircrew members repeatedly screamed at Holland, "Climb! Climb!." Holland responded by laughing and calling one of the crew members "a pussy".
Yeah all we get is level flight and a 3g turn. I like to see yankin’ and bankin’ while lighting the fires...
Another way of saying he got his peepee whacked. Not a dangerous or unusual manuever for fighters but should not be done that low over an urban area.
As Bobby Knight said, most of us learn to read and write in elementary school and move on. Journalists, apparently not.
And drunk before the National Anthem was even over. Impressive.
Fenway Park full of drunks? I’m shocked......not
Drunk by 1:00PM, just another opening day at Fenway.
Nothing to it. If speed brakes won’t slow you down enough to join the formation, a barrel roll over the top will. I think the pilot deserves kudos.
Which highlights a particular peeve of mine.
When did the various conjugations of the verb 'to go' suplant the words 'said', 'say', and 'says'?
Listen for it and it will drive you mad. You'll even hear it from supposedly educated people;
So, he goes, "My father said..."
Then I went, "I don't care..."
As nails on a chalkboard to me.
Awesome. He did a classic “barrel roll’ maneuver”. Boelke would be proud....
If that was a perfect V, someone needs to improve their penmanship.
Yep,we all learn that slogan as we learn to fly for sure..
but what about Chuck Yeager and lots of others that disprove that??/ Congrats to them!!!
As a flight surgeon in the AF, I rode in the back of an F4E for my flight time. The pilots used to gauge how good a job they were doing in getting our attention by looking in the rear view mirrors at the top of the cockpit and seeing how dilated our pupils were.....
No comparison.
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