Low Pass Stories...

[bertthebaron 0]

He was an excellent skydiver and pilot though. I don't know why he made the choice that he did or if it was even his choice at all, but someday I'll find out and I hope that day isn't soon. To him I say "Blue Skies Brother", and leave it at that.

[Rondo 0]

Low passes, eh? Hmmm....lemmesee....

There was the time at Pope Valley when the lead pilot (a guy who was also part of Mirror Image and whose name you'd recognize, so I aint gonna mention it here) got told "This is your last flight in the DC3" and showed his displeasure by dropping the load, and then standing the old gooney bird on it's nose and holding it there so long everyone thought sure he was gonna leave an aluminum-plated crater in the runway; only to pull out at the last second and come so close to the buildings people swear his swoop pulled shingles off the roof of the bunkhouse! Moral of the story? Always fire your pilot AFTER he lands!

Then there was a little guy who used to fly the Eagle Aero Service Twin Beech at Yolo who enjoyed cutting the high grass in the middle of the field with his prop tips. He was pretty good at it.

Same guy was flying one day while practicing low altitude cargo drops for the great Indian Airlift...To simulate dropping seabags, somebody thought it was a good idea to drop a large truck tire in the middle of the airport. Sucker hit hard, bounced, and kept right on rolling! Damn near took out a parked plane and a hanger wall! What were they thinking?

And there was another guy who eventually flew for a couple dropzones in Cal...visited Antioch one day in a Piper Worryer rented from a Concord FBO...took off in mid afternoon and buzzed some of the KNOW SENSE people down in the peas on his way out. Came in so low over the adjacent field they didn't hear him coming; had to climb to clear the fence, flew DOWN INTO THE BOWL, had people flattening out in the gravel, and then climbed up and out following the contour of the Sugarloaf Hill WITH THE FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR THAT WAS TRAINING HIM FOR HIS CFI RATING IN THE RIGHT SEAT. Now, some of the original "Wild and Crazy Guys" of skydiving's barnstorming days saw that one and said it was the "best buzz job we ever saw." But a massive adrenalin rush might have had something to do with that appraisal.

Of course, the names must be with-held to protect the not-so-innocent; but you get the idea.

;-)

[377 22]

Man I wish I had seen that Connie low pass at Quincy. Several people who did see it have told me it was way beyond scary-awesome. Surely somebody must have a video. I spoke with someone at Save-a-Connie and he said that the pilot on that pass misjudged his height and did not realize how low he actually was. Thank goodness he didnt decide to take it down just a bit lower. Low passes are probably not worth the risk. At Livermore CA back in the 60s a guy buzzing the DZ hit the windsock pole and crashed killing his passenger.

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[markd_nscr986 0]

photo of twin beech buzz....see my personal gallery

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[skybill 22]

Right on John!!!
I was on the second pass and it was great!! 05JAN85 and it was a beautyful blue sky day. What was fun too was there was this bunch of surfers hanging out on the beach trying to look "COOL" with their shorty john wet suits and Varnay sunglasses and some cutie surf chicks with them WHEN we, Air Trash, came bombing out of the sky landing on "their" beach and we just took their Cool away from them!! Oh what fun! Then the "Fly By" as you said!!!!!! What a great time!!!! Salt Creek (the name of the cove they built the Ritz Carlton on) will never be the same!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[skybill 22]

Hi Stevie,
Low passes, Fly By's, Gear Checks!! Yahoo!!!
'Back in '95 there was this armada of WWII vintage Aircraft, Mustangs to B-17's that mustered up in So. Cal. and made their way X-C the U.S. to comemorate the 50th anniv.of the end of WWII. Well, one sunday aftn. at Elsinore I notice a B-17 and a B-24 cruising south along the ridgeline of the Ortega's. About the time they get just past the DZ, I hear the engines pick up RPM's and the lead plane starts to bank in the direction of the DZ. All us jumpers start running out to the runway yelling, "BUZZ JOB, BUZZ JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!" The planes come barreling down the runway heading toward the lake and,"we MOONED them!!!!!!!!" Whoever was in manifest (I think it was Kathy) was on the radio and said,"Aircraft overflying Elsinore, we didn't get a good look for your 'gear check' could you make another pass?" They were out over the lake, did nice 180 degree heading changes and came back!!! We Mooned them again!!!!!!!! What fun!!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[MrSoundman 0]

My father once told me about the time he flew a seaplane under some power lines on Redondo Beach Bvld. in Redondo Beach CA. (Back in 1940) to impress his then girl friend.

His mistake was telling me about this when I just got my driver's license. Then whenever I would borrow the car, and he gave me the usual fatherly advice to "be carefull..." I shot back with "I'm not the one who..."

Duncan McEwan, C-19645

[zlzinter 0]

Rondo,

I enjoyed the story, recognizing my father once more as he was in his youth!!!!!

Oh , i guess I cant sign this now!!!

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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I think its a shame there arent more guys like that now. Its his kind that made the sport interesting to be part of.

Yes. But on the other hand, there have been people killed from low passes. I recall incident where a line of jumpers was out to "moon" the pilot on a low fly-by, and the pilot came so low that his propellers chopped several of the mooners to death...

They're fun - but we've got to do them carefully, and with common sense.

That happened Halloween boogie at Barnwell, SC. I think it must have been around 1993, but I may be wrong by a couple of years. Randy Cash was flying the C-182 that hit the guy. The purpose of that night flight at all was so that a just-married couple could consumate the relationship "mile high club" style. It might have been at that very same boogie that videographer Joe Leith went in on a tube dive out of the Caribou. Very unfortunate events, but a hell of a party.

Chuck

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I have bore witness to some amazingly low fly-bys. Tim Thacker used to buzz the DZ so low in the Twin Bonanza that you would swear he was going to dig props and then not be able to pull up in time to miss the powerlines (now underground) on Doc Brown road. I stood there one time and watched a DC-3 do such a low fly-by at Raeford that the pilot had to turn the plane on edge to get the left wingtip through the gap in the trees next to Gene Paul's house.

The last really good buzz job I saw was at the Eloy Holiday Boogie in 02/03 at the end of the day on New Years Eve when Larry Hill came sideways across the main landing area at WOT in his jet, just after the formation fly-by all the planes had just done. If he was more than ten feet off the deck I will kiss everyone's ass on here. It was fucking bad-ass; Blue Angels style, catching almost everyone off guard.

[popsjumper 2]

Low pass aerobatics vid...

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1138/

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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Low pass aerobatics vid...

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1138/

That dude is out of his mind. He very nearly dug the tail into that bank when he pushed the stick forward and pulled that half-outside loop to fly out of that configuration. Wow.

[GeordieSkydiver 0]

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Low pass aerobatics vid...

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1138/

Holy shit, thats some good flying. I'd love to see a better quality video, as I could swear his vertical stabiliser touched the water.

Lee _______________________________

In a world full of people, only some want to fly, is that not crazy?
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk