What makes a pilot do this?

Rebel Lord

Rebel Lord

Line Up and Wait
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Rebel Lord
Do you think this person woke up and thought "Hey, know what. I'm going to fly 2' AGL where there is 0 margin for error for fun." I'm young and a new pilot, and thus inexperienced so help me understand. from a legal stand point things like this might be ok but from a safety standpoint where do most people draw the line from calculated risk to down right risky?

Maybe some poeople would be ok with this but from my stand point this is way beyond what I feel is safe.

 
Basically because they think it's fun and they can. No not the safest, or the best idea, and likely illegal. I would not.

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Didn't see any scud. ;)

No idea what the pilot's experience level is. Could be a crop duster for all we know.
 
Not really scud running, I'd just say inexperience but mostly lack of overall judgement, love when he almost nails the bird and says it was the birds lucky day, yeah nope it was that idiots lucky day, bird in the windshield at that altitude, options are limited.

GRG55 said:
Didn't see any scud. ;)

No idea what the pilot's experience level is. Could be a crop duster for all we know.
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Crop dusters are calculated risk, that level of judgement, if he is a duster, we won't be for long.
 
Unfortunately, airmanship is a skill that can only be acquired through experience.
 
N8447W? Anyone make out that N number on the dash? Looks like a Cherokee 180 in TX. Someone is gonna die doing that...


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Good read. It's funny, I actually realize that I'm on that list under impulsive.
I remember many times when my CFI would say you need to slow down or relax.

I would get stressed out and want to rush things. What saved me on my checkride really was that before I did anything I took a deep breath and relaxed.
 
I did this in a carbon cub. Granted if the engine failed it could land in about 100'. It's not at all particularly dangerous. The more speed you have the more outs you have. Fly high over the area first to make sure there's no people power lines or other obstacles and go have fun.

Just because YOUR skill level would deem this dangerous does not make it unsafe for everyone to do it.

Is it as safe as flying at 6000' agl cruising to your destination? Absolutely not, but it can grow your skills if done in a safe manner. Those skills could help you later with dangerous approaches into difficult airports.

EDIT: Okay maybe I wouldnt go THAT low. 40-100' agl no problem though.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
I did this in a carbon cub. Granted if the engine failed it could land in about 100'. It's not at all particularly dangerous. The more speed you have the more outs you have. Fly high over the area first to make sure there's no people power lines or other obstacles and go have fun.

Just because YOUR skill level would deem this dangerous does not make it unsafe for everyone to do it.
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I flew with a retired F16 pilot in his RV8. We did some low altitude flying. It was crazy fun. We were 100' AGL minimum though and hauling ass...if we lost an engine we could at least pull up and find some flat desert to land on. Not as safe as flying 8000' feet, but I wouldn't say it was ridiculously dangerous either. We were no where near as low as this guy.

I'm not saying everyone would want to do it, but if I was doing it, it was with this guy with tons of experience (20 year F16 pilot, now a captain at SWA). One of the coolest life experiences I have had to date.

He races that RV8 at the Reno Air Races...pretty awesome!
 
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Mtns2Skies said:
I did this in a carbon cub. Granted if the engine failed it could land in about 100'. It's not at all particularly dangerous. The more speed you have the more outs you have. Fly high over the area first to make sure there's no people power lines or other obstacles and go have fun.

Just because YOUR skill level would deem this dangerous does not make it unsafe for everyone to do it.

Is it as safe as flying at 6000' agl cruising to your destination? Absolutely not, but it can grow your skills if done in a safe manner. Those skills could help you later with dangerous approaches into difficult airports.
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I actually agree with you, With more experience and skill I think it's ok to have a higher risk threshold. I watch videos of people doing this in their awesome Back country STOl cubs and I definitely would like to try that someday. I just think it's interesting that while now yes this looks insane but who knows maybe I'll do this someday and not think anything of it. But again there needs to be a point where people recognize the difference between macho and what's in their ability and safe.
 
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Granted...it's on thing to be doing low altitude stuff in a Cub vs a Cherokee lol
 
CC268 said:
Granted...it's on thing to be doing low altitude stuff in a Cub vs a Cherokee lol
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Sure, but where do you draw the line? A stol skywagon can fly a whole lot faster than a cherokee and most of those guys wouldn't think twice about doing this.
 
People have different comfort levels with risk.

When he balls it up and kills his photographer buddy, we will all say "at least he died doing something he loved".

That doesn't change the fact that I think he's an effing idiot -- but, hey, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks. In fact, by publishing this video, he clearly thought that we would think he was the ace of the base.

I put this video right up there with the one showing guys doing hand stands on the ledge of a 30-story building. Great skill, zero judgement.

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Hmmmm, nothing illegal on the vid. No scud either.

What are the main concerns folks have? The only potential problem I saw was maybe getting a wingtip close to the ground. I assume the route was checked for people and structures within 500 feet.

I've done some canyon flying which was probably more dangerous than flying low over sand and shallow water. I've been told by an instructor that he has flown through glenwood canyon which definitely has structures but I suppose one might be able to stay 500 feet away...I stayed above glenwood canyon when he and I were there but I had put the aircraft about a wingspan from a hillside (very big hill...most flatlanders would call it a mountain I think) earlier in the flight. Anyway if trained to do it flying in proximity to the ground might not be a big deal. That said I would not post a video of it.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Sure, but where do you draw the line? A stol skywagon can fly a whole lot faster than a cherokee and most of those guys wouldn't think twice about doing this.
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Let's not be dragging skywagons into this ;)

Also it's a little diffrent for a float equipped plane over water.


Long and short, as long as everyone is a participating party and they don't get near any non participating parties, their life, their choice, might not be legal, might not be smart, but it's their life and their plane.
 
It seemed "needlessly dangerous" - but plenty of things fall under that moniker. Personally that would be way outside my comfort zone and not something I would ever do. If I had a desire to be doing some low level work I'd be doing it in something purpose built for that, like a Cub. Or join the Air Force! Having said that, it did look pretty cool. I just sent the video to a friend at work and this was her reply... note she's also an experience pilot, used to fly for an airline

upload_2017-4-20_12-25-29.png
 
Remembering that guys like this contribute to the average in GA safety stats makes one feel a bit better about such stats.
 
rocketflyer84 said:
Remembering that guys like this contribute to the average in GA safety stats makes one feel a bit better about such stats.
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Never looked at the stats, not really interested, what he or other do doesn't change how I fly.
 
Honestly if I was doing this I would only do it in a Cirrus
 
I have run some scud and that ain't it. :D

Seriously not really something I would feel comfortable doing. Depending on what is on either side of the river he may have some outs with the speed he is carrying but I wouldn't want to bank (get it) on that.
 
Rebel Lord said:
Another question, what is the Angle of attack indicator meme, is this some forum inside joke I'm not privy to? :confused::dunno:
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Yea, there was a guy spamming lots of threads trying to sell his AOA products, it has turned into an ongoing joke now.
 
Rebel Lord said:
Another question, what is the Angle of attack indicator meme, is this some forum inside joke I'm not privy to? :confused::dunno:
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AOA indicators are also a bit of a controversial topic among GA pilots. There are many who scoff the idea that they are useful, and there are others who believe they would be/should be a highly useful tool for GA pilots.
 
Hacker said:
AOA indicators are also a bit of a controversial topic among GA pilots. There are many who scoff the idea that they are useful, and there are others who believe they would be/should be a highly useful tool for GA pilots.
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Kinda like a cirrus :D
 
He is also a proficient EFB user, so in the minds of some, that makes this alright.
 
James331 said:
Not really scud running, I'd just say inexperience but mostly lack of overall judgement, love when he almost nails the bird and says it was the birds lucky day, yeah nope it was that idiots lucky day, bird in the windshield at that altitude, options are limited.



Crop dusters are calculated risk, that level of judgement, if he is a duster, we won't be for long.
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Ha, yea, a big-ish fish might even jump up and take him out.
 
rocketflyer84 said:
Remembering that guys like this contribute to the average in GA safety stats makes one feel a bit better about such stats.
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How many low-altitude high-speed maneuvering accidents are there in those stats?

(Answer: Not many.)

Most low altitude "buzzing" accidents happen when the pilot makes a turn to stay over their buddies, watching them die from an accelerated or non-accelerated stall/spin, from the comfort of their front porch.

This sort of flying in the video, what gets people is the power lines crossing the river... and it's slightly more helicopters than fixed wing.

In the "safety" stats, that is.
 
I'm a bit surprised by the reactions. What the pilot was doing is probably no more risky than flying at thousands of feet over forest, mountains, or other unlandable terrain. If the engine quit he had plenty of speed for a zoom climb which may have given him options we can't see from the video. Granted there's less room for error, and you can't let yourself be distracted by fiddling with stuff inside the cockpit, but it's not any more inherently dangerous than many other flying operations we take for granted.
 
I dont see how this is any more "unbelievably stupid" than any other extreme sport people regularly participate in. If you survey the area before hand and know your aircraft and your outs it can be safe.

It's not much different than some extreme approaches bush pilots regularly do into backcountry strips, but all of the sudden this makes him a moron.
 
Send the video to his insurance company
 
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