A bit too close for comfort.
Once out of the burn unit, they may want to get their hearing checked.
Posted on 06/20/2002 11:10:12 AM PDT by mikegi
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A fighter plane flew too low at a military airport in central Sweden on Thursday, burning six visitors on the ground, three of them seriously, an air force spokesman said.
Radio reports said the Swedish-built "Viggen" — or "Thunderbolt" — jet swept just 10 yards above the group in the airport near Uppsala, 40 miles north of Stockholm.
Officials did not say how low the plane was flying, but a news release from the air base said the group of seven people were watching a jet exhibition 75 yards from the runway. One of the injured was a pilot in the Italian air force on an official visit, it added.
Christer Ulriksson, a spokesman for the air force's F16 wing in Uppsala, said the injured were three men and three women, all in their 20s. Three suffered serious but not life-threatening burns, he said.
Hospital spokesman Claes Juhlin later said that one was in "very serious condition," one had been released and the other four remained in the hospital for further treatment.
Ulriksson said the distance they were standing from the runway did not violate airport rules, but was "inconveniently close."
It was not clear why the plane flew over the group at such a low altitude, Ulriksson said.
"We do not know why. But we know the members of the group were acquainted with the pilots of this wing so he may have wanted to give them some sort of extra salute," he said. Police have started an investigation.
Sure, he flipped them the bird.
A bit too close for comfort.
Once out of the burn unit, they may want to get their hearing checked.
...what possessed this pilot to think he could get away with inhaling a half-dozen people unscathed?
"Calling Dr. Moe, Dr. Larry, Dr. Curley ... please report to the psychiatric ward ... beware of low-flying Swedish meatballs.
Wlat
Much closer than you want to be...
Hey, RBA - did you ever work on GE's??
This is definitely not afterburner - just burning.
You play with fire, you get burned. And, why are they reporting in yards and not meters?
That is exactly what I thought too. It must have been terribly loud. Their hearing can't possibly be the same anymore.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
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