This is a video of the incident http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7hpVH1IAQM I dont even know what to say about this.
It's not against any laws so what is it that she did that was so wrong? Just because no one told her "not" to do it doesn't mean she can't.
and if she had fucked it up slightly and crashed? Sure his boss (who was on board) would have been REALLY pissed not to mention all the people whos houses would have been destroyed. Thats if they wernt killed
Cathay is the airline. Ian is the pilot. A friend of mine at Boeing told me about it and sent this article: Sad that it's a matter of bureaucracy. Probably the coolest thing to happen at Paine Field in a while. ____________________ Notes: Parry, Simon. "Top British pilot fired for performing 320mph 'fly-by' just 28 feet from the ground - in a jumbo full of VIPs". Daily Mail. February 25, 2008. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...ews.html?in_article_id=518448&in_page_id=1811
I bet he'll land a job as a stunt pilot. If he can do that on a 777, he can do a lot of things with a small plane.
tiassa did you read the last 2 lines of your quote? Who cares who aproved it, infact the person who aproved it deserves to lose there jobs to. We arnt just talking about taking the executives car for a fast lap around the track where they only life at risk is the drivers. He put the lives of everyone in that plane at risk as well as the lives of everyone near bye There is no place for idiots like this whatever the "old boys club" might think Imagin if this artical was about the plane crashing, what would your opinion be then?
he was flying at 500k/hr at less than 10m off the ground (with the landing gear up, not sure if this bit is a good or bad thing) You think thats safe?
That was really cool. However, that was extremely risky doing that with a multi million dollar aircraft, over a populated area. The Air Force does shit like that with B-52s, and B-1Bs all the time...in sparsely populated areas. In fact, here's a vid of a few them flying lower than the Cathay Pacific pilot. It starts out with a French Air Force KC-135r (which is a flying gas tank). The bottom of his engine nacelles couldn't have been more than 20-25 feet (7-8m) off the ground. Take special note of the 5th or 6th airliner (a Portugal airlines Airbus A310); it was definitely lower than the Cathay Pacific plane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmDlbYVR9fM
Air traffic control approved it. That counts for something. Theoretically they knew who they were talking to. Theoretically they knew how many hours he had. What would I think if he crashed? "Well, that's the last time Traffic Control approves a buzz." And like the other senior pilot said: if no one else had known, there would have been nothing said. For some reason, though, the company felt they needed to fire the guy on bureaucratic grounds because someone posted it to YouTube. That last quote puts me in mind of a Belle & Sebastian song. Not quite the same, but still: The others were shocked at this shameless disgrace At the end of an honoured career. He paused in the silence to pull down his tie, And observe the melee. ("Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It") What? We're an aviation town, Asguard. We're used to seeing big planes at low altitude. They take off and land at Boeing Field right next to the freeway. My Floyd moment came at the Roger Waters show in 2000 at the Gorge Amphitheatre. Click the link and look at the picture with the stage. For the In the Flesh tour, the word was that for outdoor shows, you needed to be there on time. Nobody would say why, they just said make sure you're there before the show starts. And, seriously, we couldn't have imagined why. I mean, there are always small planes passing at 500-1000 feet. At least one or two. So we didn't think a damn thing about it when we saw the lights down the river. And then Rog emerged and did an MC Atmos bit, "The band is almost ready ...." Everyone cheered and laughed. A moment later, the band walked out and began acting like they were tuning their instruments. Suddenly, a freaking camouflage-painted 727 leaps up from behind the stage and buzzes the crowd at about 150 feet; the pilot punched the throttle as he went over, creating an enormous burst of sound that was the first note to "In the Flesh". People screamed. People went freaking nuts. It was the goddamn coolest thing ever. Absolutely freakin' ever. It was insane. The blowback? Neighbors complained about the noise and some frightened livestock. The rumor was that they told Rog to not come back to the Gorge. For Dark Side of the Moon, he played Key Arena in Seattle. Fine. No fly-by, but, hell, no four-hour drive, either. And you know, if the plane had blown an engine and spit parts all over the place and crashed in the parking lot, it would have sucked. But it still would have been the coolest goddamn thing ever. The guy standing next to me just fell over and started convulsing. While a friend of mine who had seen such things before attended to him, I asked his mate, What the hell did you give him? "Nothing, man. Like, he's our driver." Sometimes, man, you just do things. Air Traffic Control said it was cool. Everyone on the 777 thought it was cool. Everyone on the ground thought it was cool. Cathay Pacific thought it was cool until the video was on the internet and praise wasn't universal. So maybe he should have stuck his head into the cabin before take-off to ask his boss for permission. It sucks as it is. But that's how it goes. He'll probably land on his feet. Maybe he'll get a book deal.
I'm going to have to agree with you here. If ATC approved it, then certainly someone else besides the pilot knew it was going to happen. If you take a look at the vid I posted above, you'd know that low fly bys aren't uncommon. Exactly. Was the 777 full of regular passengers, or did it have special passengers or something?
Tiassa maybe it was a cool stunt until you think about how many "cool stunts" end in disasters Wow air trafic control aproved it? They should be fired, infact every one up the chain of comand on both the airline and the air trafic control who aproved of or was involved in this or any other incidents of the same kind If the plane had crashed into a shopping center or apartment block 100's could have died. Being an experianced pilot only makes this worse. Do you think speeding drivers should be let off unless they happen to crash? What about drunk drivers? Street racers? What about an engernear who doesnt bother to do the required safty inspections? This is WORSE than a street racer because of the potentual for disaster Just because it HASNT caused an acident doesnt mean that it should be ok So maybe the guy was crusifide by a beurocrat Oh well, he deserved it, as does the co-pilot (unless he protested), and everyone else involved The millatry may do this, but even THEY have to obey civilan safty rules when in civilan airspace. Its the job of the goverment to a) assess the risk to everyone invovled of certian actions and b) act to limit the danger to people invovled in actions This especially goes for transport like air transport because the risks have such a high risk of large scale morbitity and mortailty if something goes wrong
He clearly managed it without injuring anyone, so yes, it was safe. The only thing in question is your unqualified perception of safety.
Watch the video that I posted (which you obviously didn't). They have planes as big as the CP 777 doing fly bys over crowds at air shows. Those planes also got approval. Maybe it's just me, but airliners flying low like that around crowds of people is a much bigger risk than what the CP pilot did. Watch the video I posted before you make any more assumptions please.
Wow everyone was okay and no damage was done, that doesn't make it necesairly safe. When you pay good money for a ticket you wan't to go from A to B with as little risk possible. If you want to do stunts Youbuy a ticket on a stuntplane
It was a maiden flight. Among the passengers was the guy's boss. Who toasted him after landing in Hong Kong. • • • Like I said, we're an aviation town. We're accustomed to maiden flights and all sorts of hijinks. Have you ever been buzzed by an F/A-18 Hornet at 100 feet? I have. It's ... it's ... I can't quite describe it. It's soul-rattling. And I love it. Literally, one-hundred feet above my head. A coincidence, really, that we found that place to watch the show, because one jet does a high-speed pass at low altitude, and it comes right down the fucking street. A few feet to either side depending on the wind, but the first time I experienced it, he came right smack over the middle of the street. (As a side note ... in a war, if you hear them, you're dead. It's insane.) Literally, we're used to it, Asguard. Automobile drivers are not subject to the same stringent training airline pilots are expected to endure. Different issue. The day they play chicken or some-such with Triple-Sevens over Seattle, I'll answer that question. Maybe in Australia, but this is the United States of America. We have long reserved our right to be complete morons about things. And on the moron scale for shit we do, Asguard, this doesn't rank very high. I'm waiting for someone to try to roll a 777. I don't know if it's technically possible with that plane, but if it is, someone will eventually try. And even though the pilot will probably lose his job and his license for succeeding, the people at Boeing will throw a goddamn party. And we'll all be raising a glass with them. We do not reserve the right to crash a plane for being drunk at the controls (happened). We do not reserve the right to crash a plane for being poorly-assembled (happened). But we do reserve the right to crash a plane for other really stupid reasons. Like buzzing the tower, or the Gorge Amphitheater. At least until it happens. That, sir, is the American way.
Tiassa: "I'm waiting for someone to try to roll a 777. I don't know if it's technically possible with that plane, but if it is, someone will eventually try." A barrel roll is easy in any airplane if you know how. Properly done, it doesn't put any great stress on plane or pilot. But witnessed by the wrong people in the wrong aircraft/airspace context today, a witch-trial is likely to ensue. There was nothing reckless about the "fly-by". It was definitely not a 500-knot low pass. The airspeed was most likely exactly 250 knots. Heavy jets are not certified for higher speeds at low altitudes for a host of reasons including controllability and birdstrike risks. Look at the attitude of the aircraft in the video. Like a boat travelling slowly through the water, the nose is high, because the vessel is plowing along relatively slowly. The pass was flown as cleared by ATC, officially as a go-around- a maneuver that occasionally is imperative for flight safety. On this particular flight, the primary reason for the maneuver was recreational, which should be no crime. Although our culture is becoming less and less permissive of it, joie-de-vivre is a worthy reason and purpose in aviation. I deal with this increasingly-common public and official attitude of officiousness, jealousy and schadenfreude often, and I've been severely under the gun for it on several occasions. The pilot will not entirely "land on his feet", because this isn't over. The FAA is full of wolves who will now attack his judgement as an aviator, and attempt to slander him as a reckless person, and stigmatize him with a regulatory violation and suspension of his certificate under CFR 14 91.13 and other subjective regulations like it: I've personally been through the experience twice. All professional pilots know that our culture in the USA is changing. It is increasingly becoming persecution-inducing to do things with an aircraft -even maneuvers completely within operational limitations- that are done, or may be publicly perceived being done to "show off". There is a tremendous difference between impulsive, ego-driven showing-off, and the professional, safe demonstration/sharing of the joy of flight. The official attitude in the USA is increasingly expressing a sentiment that pilots contemplating any maneuvers not necessary for training, or not necessary for traveling from "A" to "B" must seek a lot of not-fun, hard-to-get regulatory waivers. In other words, we must bow and scrape to higher authorities who are increasingly interpreting the rules to mean nothing may be done by a serious pilot in a serious airplane for the sheer fun of it, unless under the direct supervision and restriction of authorities. Somebody mentioned Pink Floyd in this context, and there are strong parallels with some of the social commentary in works like The Wall. Aviation authorities wield powers over pilots that are very unlike the powers cops and courts hold over groundlings. If you don't fly for a living, it's hard to understand. There is no institutional tradition of due process, or trial by one's peers. Reputations can be and are ruined every day, when an aviator is targeted as having stepped over an imaginary line between the sterility of utilitarian purpose, into unforgiveable passionate behavior. In other words, showing feelings. While the ongoing mutations of our culture increasingly punish aviator passion, passionate inquisition of trespassers against the curb-your-enthusiasm culture is highly encouraged in official circles. If you want to get promoted in the FAA, just go out and wreck some pilots' reputations- find some members of the press and public who harbor ignorances, jealousies and fears about aviation to exaggerate claims, and hurt the errant aviators in every way you can, beginning with attacks on their character and judgement. I've been through it, and it isn't merely unpleasant. It hurts the soul: I've had my flying licenses suspended before, not for doing anything reasonably construable as presenting any greater danger than flying obediently from "A" to "B". I've had my wings clipped for showing feelings. "Feelings of a most human nature". More unforgiveably, showing "feelings of a transcendental nature". This will not do, before the sick judgement of a feverish society. I try not to think about it too much. When this weather breaks, I'll climb way up a quiet blue corner of the sky, flex my wings, and smile at the whole jealous world tumbling around me. Then I'll swoop down in a screaming low pass over our little private airstrip, in honor of my brother aviator, formally of Cathay Pacific. Then I'll swoop back skyward, and execute a big, fat barrel roll just for you, T.
Tiassa if you all want to die go ahead, if you take one Australian with you there will be blood on the streets. As for my experiance with millatry aircraft i have been to an airshow, my father inlaw is in the airforce and i know the restrictions that planes flying out of the airforce base around the corner. They can only do stupid stunts in the middle of the dessert, if they do them over the city they will be fired and could be procicuted as well. These are AIRFORCE pilots, if anyone can pull it off its an airforce pilot in a hornate (designed to do stupid stunts). 2 of the roulett pilots were killed in a midair colision, these are the BEST pilots in the airforce, in the aplotute best planes and something went wrong. Civilan pilots i would contest are in no way trained to the same degree and the planes are DEFINITLY not designed for those kind of stunts Sorry i dont know if i intended to write anymore because i got distracted by a PMPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
one thing to add how do you think an ambo or police officer would be treated if they put there lights on and broke the speed rules without going to an emergency? They would be crusifide and rightly so Recently a race car driver was charged and lost his licence for speeding on suburben streets again rightfully so
