What makes a pilot do this?

Dumb if anything because posting about and everything about the video screams "Look at me" which is a bad attitude to have. Also my favorite part was "It was this birds lucky day!" well it was yours too since hitting it especially in your windscreen at that attitude would have been very bad if not fatal.
 
Not wise, but probably not illegal.... Crop dusters spend most of their time like that... looks like it could be fun, but, like skydiving, not my cup of soup.
 
Bobanna said:
This is a maneuver for the young and foolish. Crop-dusters don't play this sort of thing for fun. (They, like bush pilots, seem to be scared to fly more than 200 feet AGL).
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You'd be surprised at how many crop dusters have played for fun down low near the desert floor at the Reno air races over the years. ;)
 
gsengle said:
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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Would be a standard day for someone flying a maul, or a buccaneer.
 
Geez, 18 or 80, his call to make, to my mind. Perfect justice is tough to find. I think, if he ate it, it wouldn't have the slightest effect on our flying prevliges. I imagine the FAA and local news would write him off as reckless, and get back to mis-manging FSDOs and selling cars. . .

It's a video of a guy flying low, having fun, and taking a significant risk. If you would outlaw it, I'd buy that, if he could, in turn, outlaw something you do - like smoke, drink, eat meat, stay up after 10:00, or fail to exercise. . .

We don't have to value the same things, or to the same degree, right? Leave some room for diffrent ways of living, if it doesn't take too big a bite out of your life. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
 
BigBadLou said:
ITo the haters: when you see a pilot at an airshow do a loop (or another maneuver) and recover just a few feet AGL, do you also boo him and call him an unsafe idiot?
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The pilot at an airshow has taken a checkride and demonstrated proficiency in low altitude aerobatic maneuvering as part of an Aerobatic Competency Evaluation (ACE).

https://www.airshows.aero/GetDoc/219

100% different situation than what is in the video in the original post.
 
Sundancer said:
If you would outlaw it, I'd buy that, if he could, in turn, outlaw something you do - like smoke, drink, eat meat, stay up after 10:00, or fail to exercise. . .
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I don't believe anyone is suggesting such a thing be made illegal.

Instead, I think the idea is for fellow pilots to share our opinions about this particular display of airmanship, which is not a static concept.
 
I am not that good so I wouldn't do that. If I were that good I wouldn't do that. I don't have any problem with it. People take risks all the time, it doesn't affect me. I agree with the above poster, if this guy wadded it up, it would have zero effect on my flying. Lastly, I would bet that this goes on quite a lot and you just don't hear many stories of carnage, some yes, not much though.
 
Hacker said:
The pilot at an airshow has taken a checkride and demonstrated proficiency in low altitude aerobatic maneuvering as part of an Aerobatic Competency Evaluation (ACE).

https://www.airshows.aero/GetDoc/219

100% different situation than what is in the video in the original post.
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Maybe the guy posting the video hired said air show pilot to take him for a ride and he was just the passenger. I don't think the poster ever claimed he was piloting. Still, it doesn't change the fact that most of us wouldn't(and shouldn't) attempt it. All we're doing is assuming and speculating. I'll bet he picked up some weeds in the gear on that ride. No, thanks. :)
 
My .02: Would I do this, personally? Absolutely not. I don't feel that I'd have the skill, would worry about a minor bit of turbulence putting me in the weeds, nor would I want to take another person along for that ride (whether they accept the risk or not). However, I know zero about the pilot and his skills/experience in performing such maneuvers. Maybe he's a Viper driver taking a friend out in the piston-bird for some fun on a weekend and has hundreds of hours of high-speed ground-skimming experience. Maybe he's a freshly minted PP who is tempting fate. I can't call it stupid in any case, just extremely risky. If he had been up another 40-50' AGL, I wouldn't have thought anything unsafe about it at all, outside of the high-probability of still having a bird strike. If he scouted that route extensively for obstacles, then it seems like a fun way to have an adrenaline rush. To each their own, it's not like he was buzzing houses or cars on the highway.
 
9dabc21d0efc0c8d880ee3952d022b32.jpg
 
Done it on the river a few times, in a C152 and C310, a lot of fun. Just hoped no one doing it in the opposite direction coming around a bend. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I do recommend an AOA though Is that still in vogue here, AOAs? And where's Maui Wowie? Has he been replaced by Az-whatever his name is? Been banned, so I'm behind ya know....
 
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Fearless Tower said:
He's got his nomex gloves on, so he's good to go.

Copilot's gonna die though.....

But in all seriousness, that IS a firefighting seaplane. That's exactly what they do.
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I have a pair in my flight bag, I used to think they look cool and they do. But I realized it would make me look like a try hard, and if there is something I hate its try hards. When ever I fly I try to look as casual as possible.
 
He obviously isn't very experienced because he doesn't know what the term "scud running" means. If he wants to play down low, as long as he stays legal, then that's his business. I doubt his passenger quite understands the risks involved. That's my problem with it.
 
Then there was the USMC EA-6B incident in the Italian mountains.
 
Reminds me of the C150 vs dirt bike race in that classic movie, Iron Eagle. At least I think it was Iron Eagle. I'm past 56 you know... just sayin'.
 
I recall back in the 70s maybe FAA flight check was checking the navaids. A DC-8 was holding in position waiting for flight check to complete their check of the localizer or something on the opposite end of the runway. Flight check then makes a low approach right over the DC-8, so low they hit the tail of the DC-8. True story. I'll see if google has anything on it.

...can't find anything on it.
 
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Back in the day, just after they invented telephones we used to hunt coyotes in a Luscombe sorta like that in Eastern Nebraska. Disclaimer, never came close to hurting a coyote. Incredibly hard shooting sitting sidewards in a Luscombe in 15 degree weather. :)
 
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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It's a stupid joke that became unfunny and just tedious a long time ago. It's from the same category as "He should have filed a flight plan" comments that are posted in crash threads.
 
DFH65 said:
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.
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I've seen a few comments echo this, that it isn't scud. I'm a little confused then as to why it isn't?
What is different from this flying to scud?
 
LongRoadBob said:
I've seen a few comments echo this, that it isn't scud. I'm a little confused then as to why it isn't?
What is different from this flying to scud?
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I was mostly joking I am almost exclusively a fair weather flier although I have a few hours flying in weather that was sketchier than I would have liked both times with a CFI in the plane. One was rain and low clouds the other was a pop up snow squall. Both were VFR legal but VFR mins can be way lower than I would want to fly without another set of trained eyes.

When I think of scud running I think of low cloud cover where you have no vertical way out if you get into trouble. I think of low clouds where you are picking your way through valleys and keeping an eye on the charts for towers, lines and such that may be partially visible and partially in the clouds. I think of picking your way around weather without getting yourself boxed in somewhere. This guy has sever clear above if he has an issue UP is an option. When I think of scud running UP is never an option. Just my .02 YMMV.
 
DFH65 said:
I was mostly joking I am almost exclusively a fair weather flier although I have a few hours flying in weather that was sketchier than I would have liked both times with a CFI in the plane. One was rain and low clouds the other was a pop up snow squall. Both were VFR legal but VFR mins can be way lower than I would want to fly without another set of trained eyes.

When I think of scud running I think of low cloud cover where you have no vertical way out if you get into trouble. I think of low clouds where you are picking your way through valleys and keeping an eye on the charts for towers, lines and such that may be partially visible and partially in the clouds. I think of picking your way around weather without getting yourself boxed in somewhere. This guy has sever clear above if he has an issue UP is an option. When I think of scud running UP is never an option. Just my .02 YMMV.
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Ok.,thanks for the explanation. I always forget what the acronym stands for, but was thinking in your earlier post that it might just be weather related that you meant. Also was thinking scud probably/usually isn't involving scouting the area first, which is what I hope the pilot from the video did before flying that low.
 
exncsurfer said:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+scud+running

edit:this is a joke, played out? perhaps :)
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Not really appropriate for me. I "know" or thought I did what scud running was, but was curious as to why DFH65 wouldn't call this scud running. I wasn't asking what it was, just why this wouldn't fall in the category.

Also, in general yeah...that "joke" is played out. I assume we all know how, and Google when we want to, but on a forum it sometimes is better to ask.
 
LongRoadBob said:
Not really appropriate for me. I "know" or thought I did what scud running was, but was curious as to why DFH65 wouldn't call this scud running. I wasn't asking what it was, just why this wouldn't fall in the category.

Also, in general yeah...that "joke" is played out. I assume we all know how, and Google when we want to, but on a forum it sometimes is better to ask.
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Yea, DFH65 explained it well, I didn't see any weather in that video.

I only wanted to use the 'joke' because the first result was so good in this case:
upload_2017-4-25_10-5-39.png
 
Probably less dangerous than riding a motorcycle in LA commuter traffic, which hundreds of people do every single day.

Choose your poison, or in this case, thrills.
 
CC268 said:
Honestly if I was doing this I would only do it in a Cirrus
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I'm curious for your reasoning on that? Not critical of it, just curious why a Cirrus? In all seriousness you're no where near high enough to use the chute. And I'm not sure the Continental in a Cirrus has better overall reliability than a Lycoming in a Piper... all other things like maintenance etc. being equal

RalphInCA said:
Probably less dangerous than riding a motorcycle in LA commuter traffic, which hundreds of people do every single day.
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This is true, but motorcycles don't necessarily have a "safe" reputation either

**I mean, to be honest, I feel like some of Icon's marketing videos came close to this with the low level flying... if it's not illegal and the dude knows what he's doing I don't see much wrong with it. I feel like most accidents aren't because of overt recklessness anyway
 
Tantalum said:
I'm curious for your reasoning on that? Not critical of it, just curious why a Cirrus? In all seriousness you're no where near high enough to use the chute. And I'm not sure the Continental in a Cirrus has better overall reliability than a Lycoming in a Piper... all other things like maintenance etc. being equal


This is true, but motorcycles don't necessarily have a "safe" reputation either

**I mean, to be honest, I feel like some of Icon's marketing videos came close to this with the low level flying... if it's not illegal and the dude knows what he's doing I don't see much wrong with it. I feel like most accidents aren't because of overt recklessness anyway
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I was kidding lol
 
Tantalum said:
This is true, but motorcycles don't necessarily have a "safe" reputation either
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No, they don't. But you also don't get people posting videos saying "oh my god he's doing something so dangerous!!!" and dozens of people commenting about it when they ride them in traffic

It's just accepted.
 
RalphInCA said:
No, they don't. But you also don't get people posting videos saying "oh my god he's doing something so dangerous!!!" and dozens of people commenting about it when they ride them in traffic

It's just accepted.
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Anything done often enough to become commonplace becomes accepted, stupid or not.
 
RalphInCA said:
No, they don't. But you also don't get people posting videos saying "oh my god he's doing something so dangerous!!!" and dozens of people commenting about it when they ride them in traffic

It's just accepted.
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Error here = death, la motorcycle accident, likely road rash


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I grew up racing motocross and have been around motorcycles all my life. I have had three friends all under the age of 23 die on motorcycles (street bikes not motocross bikes).
 
gsengle said:
Error here = death, la motorcycle accident, likely road rash


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Statistically you are probably correct but crashing a motorcycle in LA commuter traffic is usually pretty severe.

And you're always very close to the ground and other traffic, (especially when lane splitting) on a motorcycle.

I do both: ride motorcycles in LA traffic and fly little airplanes. I always feel much much safer in the airplane.
 
I commuted on a pretty big bike for a long time in Manhattan. At 30-40 mph average speed wearing a helmet, yes it's dangerous but it's no where near the instant death represented by this video.


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