Top 10 Low Pass Flybys

[Larry Wong]

Subject: Top 10 Low Pass Flybys

These will certainly cause a sharp intake of breath!!

Click here: Biertijd.com // Media » Top 10 Low Pass Flyby's Of All Time

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=19448 

[Gene O'Keefe]

Wow !!!! the #1 Blue Angel over the water was awesome....how cool to have been there in person.

[SteveMoon]

AWESOME!!! How did the guy in #3 not duck?!?!?!

[Steve Helmick]

I'd much rather see the top 10 piston engined low flybys. Nothin' like a big IC engine bellowing away.  Not much is better than being buzzed by the Bardahl P-51 racer with Mira Slovak at the controls. Certainly not to be beat by a jet...or an electric, for that matter.    Steve

[Doug Moon]

In the early 90s I was in college at Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches TX.  There was a airshow there every year.  I went every time.  A few war birds and some other general stuff.  Nacogdoches is not a big town so getting significant planes there was hard for sure.

Well, one year the airshow just so happened to fall on the same weekend as the Special Olympics that were being held on the campus.  This attracted some of the more prominent war planes to make an appearance and few flyovers.  Cool huh?

I was working at Pizza Hut at the time as a delivery driver and I had that Saturday afternoon shift.  I had seen several large planes floating around all day near the campus and it was really cool.  I got a call to deliver some pizza to some guys I knew on campus.  I hopped into the late 80s/early 90s model RX7 my brother had so graciously loaned to me while he was living in HI and headed toward campus.  There is a long road that travels on the outer edge of campus towards the dormitories.  To your left about 100 yards would be a ridge of trees that are about 50' tall and laid out in perfect rows.  They are part of an old pecan orchard from what I hear.  To your right is the wide open field where the Special Olympics are going on.  These fields are quite a bit lower in elevation then the road.  They are groomed for sports use but it is a flood area so it is very low.  As I am creeping along in the RX7, radio off on purpose so I can listen for flybys, I begin to hear a very low rumble.  I am thinking cool something big is on the way.  I am looking to my right out over the field when all of a sudden from my left comes the biggest meanest loudest baddest B-25 you have ever heard or seen!  I jerked my head to the left to see two massive radials staring me in the face as the came over tree tops and diving just a few feet above!  I nearly drove off the road.  I jerked my head to the right to see that thing diving down lower to buzz the field.  I was directly under him as he came out from the trees.  And he passed he was diving to buzz the field.  As i looked to right it appeared we were about the same elevation.  He started to bank to the left and I could see those huge rudders kick in and it started to side slip a little.  I had the perfect spot to see that.  It was so cool!  It scared the crap out of me and at the same time it was so totally AWESOME!  The kids at the field were going nuts.  Some happy and others scared but it was really cool.  He pulled up and off to the left and brought it around one more time for another.  Everyone was cheering the second time by myself included.  At that point I had pulled over to watch it all unfold.  It only took a few minutes to happen nearly 20 years ago but I remember it like it was yesterday.

[Clayton Berry]

But, what kind of pizza?  I don't do mushrooms or anchovies.

When I was flying radio, we were flying at a guy's private runway in basically what was his backyard.  A local guy, Kirk Wicker would come by now and then.  A Cap 21, I believe.  He took off, flipped over, and came by with his rudder about ten feet off the grass.  Then went vertical right in front of our faces.  I was impressed, but also scared.  This guy doesn't need to risk his life to entertain me...  A guy Pete Rawlings asked if I had ever done wheelies on my motorcycles.  Well, yeah.  Well, Kirk is just as comfortable as you were.  He knows what he's doing.

Years later I let Kirk take my little boy Lee up in a Cub when he was about 7 after an airshow in Bealton, VA.  Push the stick forward, houses get bigger.  Pull back, and the houses get smaller.  He had a great time.  About 40 minutes.  I have some of it on video around here somewhere.  Wife was pissed.  Then again, we never did wheelies together on the Triumphs or the BSA.  I always suspected there was something missing in our life together.

Kirk lives nearby - perhaps it are time for us to do a little aerobatics.  He says he can make me puke.  What a strange thing to say or even hear.  Perhaps I'll figure out how to translate the VHS of when his prop came off at an airshow to a youtube video.

[Annette Elmore]

How about this one?

Sorry for the swearing!

http://www.airlinetv.net/view_video.php?viewkey=cc25a6f606eb525ffdc5

[john e. holliday]

That was close.   Wonder what would happen if he hadn't ducked.

[Mike Scholtes]

I was there for the Blue Angels show, and yes it was cool. If there is a more spectacular place to see the Blue Angels than over San Francisco Bay from the Marina Green, I don't know what it would be. The rooster tails are common when they pull vertical. The only problem is the 50-50 chance of being socked in with our famous fog, but the last two years were perfect.

[Frank Imbriaco]

Great  video!
The Atlantic City , NJ Airshow is an annual event held in August. The many acts  on hand perform  just parallel to the beach and boardwalk. The crowd estimate this year was 500,000 +  That's no misprint ! Anyway, the Thunderbirds did some low fly bys; one was supersonic with the tail cone ring in plain view. Scared the crap out of us ! At least a half dozen times, one would breakaway and come back out of no where and WHAM! - knock us out( and our eardrums) with a low flyby from behind. I witnessed   several people running out from the casinos   with a  " what the hell was that " expression . Dumb bastards, losing $$$ when they could have been enjoying the show !

Best part ? It's free, worst thing is the traffic coming in and out of AC.