Low Flying

[Dj To Rule]

Stumbled upon this on youtube.

[ProudPilot]

Hmm,

That looks dangerous... and incredibly fun. Granted I'm thinking that the FAA would find that "reckless."

[cmsuav8r]

One false move and they are toast.

[CFIT99]

you think they're 500 ft from that boat????

[JordanD]

Might be stupid as all hell but it's fun to watch other people do it. I guess technically they are over open water. But the FAA (over here anyway) can probably pull the careless and reckless thing whenever they want.

you think they're 500 ft from that boat????

Which brings up another point.... nope.

[t-cart]

The feds will bust your ass over here for that, if you don't bust it first.

[jhugz]

Stealing a quote from another poster on this forum but:

"I have just lost a little faith in Darwin after watching that video."

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by t-cart

The feds will bust your ass over here for that, if you don't bust it first.

About a year and a half ago, a pilot did nearly the same thing at night.....buzzing a friends boat over Lake Pleasant, northwest of KDVT, AZ. The 10,000 hr ATP pilot with a few type ratings and his passenger were killed upon impact with the water. Much of the aircraft remains submerged in the lake, where depths can range to 120+ ft.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?...07FA160&akey=1

[t-cart]

Originally Posted by MikeD

About a year and a half ago, a pilot did nearly the same thing at night.....buzzing a friends boat over Lake Pleasant, northwest of KDVT, AZ. The 10,000 hr ATP pilot with a few type ratings and his passenger were killed upon impact with the water. Much of the aircraft remains submerged in the lake, where depths can range to 120+ ft.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?...07FA160&akey=1

A sad reality of the dangers involved.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by MikeD

About a year and a half ago, a pilot did nearly the same thing at night.....buzzing a friends boat over Lake Pleasant, northwest of KDVT, AZ. The 10,000 hr ATP pilot with a few type ratings and his passenger were killed upon impact with the water. Much of the aircraft remains submerged in the lake, where depths can range to 120+ ft.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?...07FA160&akey=1

I've done a fair bit of low level bird survey, and it doesn't leave much room for error, it is pretty fun though.

[Joe Gremlin]

k' time to fess up. As some here may know, pulling rags was my first pro flying job and I did it for 3 or 4 years (don't really remember exactly how long and don't care to remember). The guy I worked for had a bad attitude about some things but a really good attitude about other things.

One of the things he was good about was proficiency. If I wanted to take up one of the planes and go practice maneuvers like low level steep turns for a 1/2 hour every week or so, it was A-ok. And as it happened, our home drome was located right beside a fairly large tract of march land and sparsely populated inland waterway.

So there were many times when I'd finish a day of work, wash the plane at 6:00 (he liked the planes to be clean) and then go up over the marsh for 20 minutes or so to 'dry it off'.

There were many times when I'd go down to 75' or so and follow one of the creeks, trying to stay over it as it twisted and turned through the marsh. Challenging and fun.

As it happened, our MX facility was located at an airport about 15 miles away and required a flight across the previously mentioned marsh. So quite a few of the trip to/from MX I had to do were done down somewhere between 50' and 'grass level' over the marsh portion of the trip. Although that was usually done on the trip from MX rather than the trip to (I mean I'm not totally crazy). There was just something about the seat position in a Pawnee that made it really fun to go down to 25' and watch the scenery move past the windscreen at 105mph.

Oddly I don't think I ever took the 172 down that low or anywhere near that low. I just didn't trust it down in the dirt for some reason. But there was something about the view from Pawnee and Supercubs that was irresistible down that low.

That being said, I'm older now and much more conservative or nervous depending on how you look at it. So I don't think I'd be comfortable in ANY plane down that low. As irresistible as it is, it just ain't worth die 'n over. It was fun when I was young and stupid but it just ain't worth it now and I consider myself lucky to still be alive having done it. IOW, you kids do as I say, not as I did.

[Mikey_G]

Originally Posted by ppragman

I've done a fair bit of low level bird survey, and it doesn't leave much room for error, it is pretty fun though.

Speaking of birds, imagine having a bird strike at that alt and losing the engine...

[Adler]

what if...he had floats. It's possible.

[Joe Gremlin]

Originally Posted by HH-60CC

Speaking of birds, imagine having a bird strike at that alt and losing the engine...

Don't bird strikes cause power loss in piston engines all that often?

I can see it in turbine engines, but the most I'd expect is plugging up the cowl opening/overheating if that from a piston engine. And let's face it, if you're down that low, you're probably sitting behind a piston engine. Que a plethora of low level jet youtube posts...

[Mikey_G]

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

Don't bird strikes cause power loss in piston engines all that often?

I can see it in turbine engines, but the most I'd expect is plugging up the cowl opening/overheating if that from a piston engine. And let's face it, if you're down that low, you're probably sitting behind a piston engine. Que a plethora of low level jet youtube posts...

Well then I digress to higher experience. Of course, I fly on a bird that has 4 engines so if one goes out, we have 3 good ones to bring us home.

[t-cart]

They really do stink when you hit them with a radial.

[ctab5060X]

Originally Posted by t-cart

They really do stink when you hit them with a radial.

Not if they are sucked onto the oil cooler!

Engine actually ran cooler than it had been earlier in the night.

[ctab5060X]

Originally Posted by Joe Gremlin

Don't bird strikes cause power loss in piston engines all that often?

I can see it in turbine engines, but the most I'd expect is plugging up the cowl opening/overheating if that from a piston engine. And let's face it, if you're down that low, you're probably sitting behind a piston engine. Que a plethora of low level jet youtube posts...

I used to fly low level doing mosquito abatement for many years. Hit so many birds that I lost count (including the one bird I hit three times).

Of all the bird strikes I had (averaged about 3-5 a year if I remember correctly), I only had two that came close to an engine. One was a Mockingbird that went down the oil cooler air intake on a Beech 18, and the other was an owl that smashed the lower front of the cowling on an Aztec.

[juan valdez]

Originally Posted by CFIT99

you think they're 500 ft from that boat????

Vid claims this is in turkey. Not sure of the rules over there.
Looked liek a really dumb idea, but as already said, really fun. If you walked away.

[touch-n-go]

Originally Posted by juan valdez

Vid claims this is in turkey. Not sure of the rules over there.
Looked liek a really dumb idea, but as already said, really fun. If you walked away.

My skptical side keeps thinking that may not really be Turkey. Those people sound like they are speaking with American accents. Proberbly just saying its Turkey so they won't get into trouble with the FAA. Just a thought though.

[Douglas]

I figured they weren't going to crash...since it wasn't labeled "horrible airplane crash!!!1", but that kept me nervous for them.
Many pilots don't understand how hard it is to judge the height above water until they try to land on it.

Looks cool, and a yee-haw time, but ultimately extremely dangerous and something not to be imitated, IMO, with passengers.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I figured they weren't going to crash...since it wasn't labeled "horrible airplane crash!!!1", but that kept me nervous for them.
Many pilots don't understand how hard it is to judge the height above water until they try to land on it.

Looks cool, and a yee-haw time, but ultimately extremely dangerous and something not to be imitated, IMO, with passengers.

Yeah, its not really that hard, you just have to keep your scan going even in VMC.

[RICHARD5]

Originally Posted by MikeD

About a year and a half ago, a pilot did nearly the same thing at night.....buzzing a friends boat over Lake Pleasant, northwest of KDVT, AZ. The 10,000 hr ATP pilot with a few type ratings and his passenger were killed upon impact with the water. Much of the aircraft remains submerged in the lake, where depths can range to 120+ ft.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?...07FA160&akey=1

A buddy of mine was on the lake and saw that happen0. The accident was the final outcome of a string of buzzes, each lower than the last. I don't recall if the pilot had been drinking but his pax and the guys on the boat were all whooping it up.

[juan valdez]

Originally Posted by touch-n-go

My skptical side keeps thinking that may not really be Turkey. Those people sound like they are speaking with American accents. Proberbly just saying its Turkey so they won't get into trouble with the FAA. Just a thought though.

I def agree. Hence why I said 'claim'.
Same as with the bonanza guy who was real careful not to post his n number. or maybe he did since someone did track down who that was, I can't remember now.