Posted on 03/22/2010 5:58:30 AM PDT by rawhide
Two Navy fighter pilots have been grounded for their low flyover at a Georgia Tech football game in downtown Atlanta in November, according to several media reports.
The aviators, identified by the Virginian-Pilot newspaper as Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman and Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon, are both Tech graduates. They flew F/A-18 Super Hornets a few hundred feet above Bobby Dodd Stadium after the national anthem prior to the Tech-Wake Forest game on Nov. 7.
Navy rules require flyovers to be done at 1,000 feet or higher, according to NavyTimes. The Navy assigned Fryman and Condon to non-flying jobs. Several videos of the flyover are posted on youtube.com.
"Fryman failed to provide effective [crew resource management] for his flight lead and allowed an unsafe flyby to occur with nearly tragic consequences," Rear Adm. R.J. O'Hanlon wrote in documents obtained by Navy Times. "Despite his spotless record, his complacent, passive response to a major altitude transgression is unforgivable in my view.
"Continued aviation service involving flying is not in the best interest of Lt. Cmdr. Fryman or the United States Navy."
O'Hanlon also wrote that Condon ignored low-altitude warnings.
A Navy evaluation board, however, found the pilots' lapse was neither intentional nor malicious, the Virginian-Pilot reported. The board recommended putting both pilots on probation.
The board concluded the pilots chose to use barometric altitude measurements (feet above sea level) instead of radar altitude measurements (feet above ground level) but failed to adjust their warning systems accordingly, the newspaper reported. By the time the alarm sounded, it was too late to correct the mistake.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Bad altimeter setting!
Cool, id want to see them low enough for me to smell the jet exhaust.
The sounds, and smells, of FREEDOM!!!
FYI
Female freepers need pictures of the pilots in their flight suits to determine guilt or innocence. :P
I’ve been out on the San Francisco Bay on my sail boat when the Blue Angels are doing their show and they come in really low, just over the masts of the sail boats!
LOL reassign them the the motor pool.
and I believe that was the major's last flyby, at least in a government owned vehicle...
What were the "nearly tragic consequences"?
Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-6c0on4nOQ&NR=1
Yeah, they are low but this Airmen has complete trust in Navy pilots!
He-He! That was a fly by! Looked like a thousand feet to me.......
Awe, they were at least a grand agl........
I remember that. I was out there from 1984 to 1996. I think it was 1992 or 1993 that I was out on the Bay for their show.
USS Ranger/H-model BUFF
Looks like he’s about to ditch. Do they normally cruise in level flight that nose down?
Maverick and Goose would be proud! Too bad the pilots lost their wings.
Yes. The aerodynamics of the wing shape are such that at slow speed they adopt a slightly nose-down attitude.
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