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.
I think the real issue was his being late for a unified formation, and out of uniform formation.
He either was disorganized, late or did something out of line which caused him have to resort to the move because he was carrying much more speed than the formation he was supposed to join.
The air force frowns on pilots who fail to be part of a tight unit. It shows a lack of discipline and professionalism.
I can see why the Wing Commander had the lad placed on review.
Ping, for your consideration. Don’t miss the link in #12.
No, they stopped this guy. Maybe it was a one time thing...maybe not.
Word! That was the sloppiest “V” formation I’ve ever seen and the solo pilot never did form-up with the main flight. Definately NOT the Blue Angels.
Exactly. That fly-by 'routine' was a clusterf**k. If I were the Wing or Squadron CO, I would have 'counseled' the flight lead also.
/jasper
well hot damn, THANKS!
It’s words borrowed from another language.
Soigo lemme have the taco, anegoes noway, soigo get the managa, anegoes noway again.
Soigo
Anegoes
Anenegoes
No wum sain?
A smokin’ hole in the ground is a small price to pay for a sh!t-hot maneuver.
You try something like that one more time and you’ll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog sh** out of Hong Kong!
At least since the early 1970's - - - I can remember some teacher-type complaining about it when I was a kid. I just looked at her and went "Huh?"
It's been about four solid decades now, so I think it's pretty much become a standard usage.
Self-ping
Who’s Jim Leeland? I know of a Jim Leyland...
bflv
As a Tigers fan I should know better. Guess I'm trying to forget everything about this season already..even the guys name ; )
The infamous Yakima Range photo shoot, where he cleared a ridge line at only three(!) feet is at about the 4:30 point in the compilation.
I’ve got nothing against Leyland, as he won a championship down here in Miami. You guys also did well in giving us Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller for a washed-up D-Train (pains me to say that) and a bat you didn’t need in Miguel Cabrera. Great job!
The Marlins are Detroit South this year. Our pitching isn’t totally horrific, and our bats are swinging hard.
The reporter should have said “aerobatic” not “acrobatic.” Also there's a difference between a barrel roll and an aileron roll - an aileron roll maneuver is around the roll axis of the aircraft whereas a barrel roll is around an inside circle .....
Not familiar with Fry’s, at least not that I can recall! I did park in Cambridge one nite though and wasn’t sure if it was a tow zone, I asked the front desk clerk of the hotel I was entering if it was ok to park down the road in front of such and such a business,,,he said yeah, it was cool. Well, it wasn’t “cool”, when I came out a few hours later the car was gone, after calling the cops I found out it had been towed and was impounded pending me dropping $120. to get the vehicle back, also a $50 ticket plus a $30 cab ride from Cambridge, yeah, it was cool!
“Holland responded by laughing and calling one of the crew members “a pussy”.”
I just love eloquent people!
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