Boeing 707 low pass at an air show in Harare, Zimbabwe 1995

Basically, Air Zimbabwe approved it, only three crew on board, 2 hours of fuel on board. No regrets about doing it, basically knew what he was doing and had planned ahead etc. Ended up working for Emirates as a check pilot.

[-]

random352486@reddit

400kts is silly fast for a jetliner at that altitude, impressive that it held together.

[-]

Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit

400kts seems like a slight exaggeration, no? Idk

[-]

Chicago_Blackhawks@reddit

Bro WHAT lol

[-]

Fluffy_Muffins_415@reddit

That second pass has a good deal of the 'ole pucker factor

[-]

AppropriateCattle69@reddit

Genuinely thought he was coming in to land

[-]

The-Sound_of-Silence@reddit

If he was landing, he was probably forgetting a thing or three. Gonna require full throttle to taxi after

[-]

IC_1318@reddit

Yeah he was about to land the PIA way

[-]

Met76@reddit

The organic material in the grass will provide more available energy to burn in the engine leading to a huge boost in thrust! /s

[-]

Kichigai@reddit

I've never once wondered how accurate or precise an altimeter is, until now. Like, for sure it's great to get you tens of thousands of feet in the air, but is it still good when we're only talking about tens of feet AGL?

[-]

CptSandbag73@reddit

Radar altimeter is what you’d want to use when landing (or doing this). And it’s very accurate because it’s getting real time pings from the ground right beneath the fuselage. It’s what autoland systems use.

The barometric altimeter is going tell you how far you above sea level, which is extremely variable depending where you are. Not to mention hoping you have the right correction in for pressure and temperature.

[-]

gamerspoon@reddit

From an article linked by another commenter below:

>Tarr says that his radar altimeter read 6 feet beneath his keel at one time

[-]

_austinm@reddit

Balls of steel on that guy

[-]

CptSandbag73@reddit

Terrifying without fear down lol

[-]

Grindipo@reddit

The "S" in tens of feet is purely ornamental I think !

[-]

gamerspoon@reddit

ones of feet

[-]

commsbloke@reddit

You could get a bucc under that.

[-]

TinyDemon000@reddit

You reckon you'd get sucked into the engine if it had gone over the heads of spectators? Always wondered the limit for that or if it's more forward directional

[-]

hutch_man0@reddit

Holy shit. Epic

[-]

boabyjunkins25@reddit

Did a flight with this guy in another company. Legend.

[-]

SatanicBiscuit@reddit

back when regulations were suggestions

[-]

Wahx-il-Baqar@reddit

Amazing. Love the sound of that 707.

Speaking of low passes, this will always remain the absolute best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iOoiEbtf2w

[-]

Booouurns@reddit

I never considered having to account for the diameter of the propeller when making a low pass lol.

[-]

Repo_co@reddit

I'm a fan of this one. Not the lowest of flybys but certainly not the safest maneuver. Had a buddy that was there and he said it's the loudest thing he's ever heard.

https://youtu.be/4ufA8j3XAhc?si=kW8ETXaj58-GoYcn

[-]

_austinm@reddit

I used to work at FedEx’s Memphis hub, and there’d be fighter jets and C-17’s that would take off every now and then. We had to have hearing protection in at all times and even with that the commercial planes were still pretty loud. That being said, those fighter jets were a great deal louder than any other plane there. I can’t imagine how loud they’d be that close and without hearing protection.

[-]

SugarBeefs@reddit

FACK ME

[-]

MalaysiaTeacher@reddit

Knew what this would be. Still clicked. Still watched.

[-]

OTribal_chief@reddit

first pass - oh wow that is low...

second pass - wtf i could hitch a lift on that sucker by reaching up!

that was some squeeky bum time for a lot involved

[-]

_austinm@reddit

One comment here said the altimeter read 6 feet at one point, so depending on how tall you are you could’ve gotten a good bonk on the head with that second pass lol

[-]

Over-Tax403@reddit

Ma look no hands

[-]

Bruggenmeister@reddit

Flying a 707 ain’t like dusting crops boy! Oh wait…

[-]

nine57th@reddit

That is so f-ing crazy dangerous it's insane!

[-]

pierrelaplace@reddit

BRAINS times BALLS is a Constant.

[-]

Foodconsumer3000@reddit

That's not a low pass that's taxiing with the landing gear up

[-]

Positive-Mark9084@reddit

TERRAIN! PULL UP!

[-]

Tiny-Desk_Engineer@reddit

By any chance this holds the record for the lowest height an airliner flew without touching the ground and then climbing again

[-]

shadowsofthelegacy@reddit

Knew an E-3 pilot that could do this. Guy is a legend in our small world. He admitted that the ground effect did most of the work. Still thought he was one of the coolest dudes I ever flew with.

[-]

ChiefKC20@reddit

Some folks just have the touch. It’s not nerves of steel but confidence, education, and practice.

[-]

RCoaster42@reddit

Surprised the engines did not ingest FOD.

[-]

Zestyclose_Row_9783@reddit

Where’s the FAA?

[-]

Dry_Complaint_3569@reddit

Ground Effect

[-]

Honest_Box_6037@reddit

does ground effect apply to low flying fixed wing aircraft or is it a helicopter thing only?

[-]

SharkAttackOmNom@reddit

Any winged craft flying lower than half its wingspan (approx). Which for a commercial jet can be pretty high off the ground.

Check out the Soviet Ekranoplane

[-]

Honest_Box_6037@reddit

yeah that was a dumb question, forgot all about the ekranoplan, ty

[-]

MKD8595@reddit

Yeah I cringed. That thing could do who knows what so close to the ground

[-]

Walbabyesser@reddit

Very good point

[-]

User_Anon_0001@reddit

I'll make sure to check out the airshow next time im in Zimbabwe

[-]

ElChambon@reddit

Boeing exec - "What the hell do you think you were doing?!"

Pilot - "Selling airplanes..."

Boeing exec - "Don't do that again."

Summary of actual conversation after the test pilot did a barrel roll in a 707 at Sea Fair in Seattle. I figure the same conversation happened here.

[-]

Accurate_Mobile9005@reddit

That cockpit was definitely singing.

[-]

ElChambon@reddit

Pilot - "Yeah, just shut those off... I need to concentrate here..."

[-]

Cendyan@reddit

Plane - "You do know the ground is 10 feet below us right? Right?"

[-]

WelpImTrapped@reddit

10 feet is being generous on that second pass... Try 6

[-]

SharkAttackOmNom@reddit

At that point it depends on which part of the plane your measure from.

[-]

MalaysiaTeacher@reddit

Ha shit I thought the second clip was a takeoff

[-]

Tomero@reddit

Han Solo - “Never tell me the odds”

[-]

Retardedaspirator@reddit

Smooth operator...

[-]

GITS75@reddit

Tex Johnston the one and only

[-]

TheTallGuy0@reddit

Funny story, he was named Spencer McGilroy before that stunt, but then the whole world just decided Tex Johnston was more appropriate, given his gigantic nutsack

[-]

RatInaMaze@reddit

He also has a cousin who drove race cars. His name was Mississippi Penis.

[-]

aviation-ModTeam@reddit

Your post has been removed for breaking the r/aviation rules.

If you post in this subreddit, you are expected to engage in the discussion. Do not post images, links, or videos just to karma farm or drive engagement. Questions with simple or easily-googled answers are not permitted.

If you believe this was a mistake, please message the moderators through modmail. Thank you for participating in the r/aviation community.

[-]

KetchupIsABeverage@reddit

It’s not necessary. It’s possible.

[-]

Antique_One7110@reddit

Wasn’t a 707, that was the 367-80.

[-]

kipperzdog@reddit

Never knew that, always thought it was a 707. Though there was only one made of that plane and it was a proof of concept eventually developing into the 707

[-]

fodder650@reddit

I was thinking that Tex Johnson might have been at the controls of this one as well.

[-]

Ok-Proposal-9160@reddit

😂💯👍

[-]

atlas83@reddit

Thanks for the reference. Absolutely wild.

[-]

WuclearNeapon@reddit

That was awesome. Thank you for exposing me to this, this guy seems rad.

[-]

yeahalrightgoon@reddit

Nah Air Zim knew about it, approved it and were perfectly fine with it.

[-]

ScepticalRaccoon@reddit

Almost no chance that pilot lived to old age.

[-]

Timely_Entrance_7931@reddit

To be that ballsy only to start a turn right before climbing out! That plane is carrying some heavy balls.

[-]

Davide_KTM@reddit

Minimuns!! Minumins!!

[-]

Far-Throat-8445@reddit

A habsheim (France), ils avaient fait la même chose avec un 320 NEUF ! Il est allé au tas, dans la forêt.

[-]

Tyler_holmes123@reddit

With 100 passengers in the plane lmao. What were they thinking.

[-]

Far-Throat-8445@reddit

Le captain (Asseline) était connu pour être un caractèriel et le copi (de meziere) n’a pas eu les couilles pour l’arrêter (il avait désactivé les protections) s’en est suivie la catastrophe. Le 320 venait tout juste d’être exploité et l’enjeu avait été de charger le captain et non l’avion. La catastrophe a rendu obligatoire le concept de CRM qui a alors débuté.

[-]

Total_Wrongdoer_1535@reddit

Please someone explain to me this clearly most basic aerodynamics. Why the hell are his flaps extended down like that ? Like wouldn’t the air tilt the nose down?

Am I misunderstanding how it works? Are engines producing so much upwards lift that he has to counter it with flaps to remain at this altitude?

This has been bugging me for years.

[-]

MeccIt@reddit

Why the hell are his flaps extended down like that ?

I think you might be mixing up two different training edge moveable parts:

the flaps which are extended exactly the same amount on either wing, to change its shape to allow more lift at lower speed and
the ailerons which tilt up/down on opposite wings in order to help turn the airplane

[-]

CptSandbag73@reddit

The other guy explained it really well.

But this is something else you were missing I think.

Wing flaps on a plane like this are not control surfaces. They are lift devices.

They are set to a particular angle and left there for landing or takeoff, not wiggled around to affect the airplane’s pitch.

You’re thinking of the elevators, which are on the back end of the horizontal tail of the airplane, which the pilot does wiggle around to control the airplane’s pitch.

[-]

Funkytadualexhaust@reddit

Tilts it up extra actually

[-]

yeahalrightgoon@reddit

Assume you're talking about the second pass.

The more lift area you have, the slower the air needs to be passing over the lift area to create lift to keep the aircraft in the air.

Flaps increase lift area, but also give you more drag. So at higher speeds you use zero flaps, because the air going over the wing will give you enough lift.

When you go slower, you need more lift area, which flaps give you.

In this case, having the flaps at full extension allowed them to fly at slow speed (125 kt) while also providing lift. With the minimum speed they could have been at and still remained in the air, 116 kt.

Engines provide the thrust that provides the speed of the air over the wings.

[-]

sektorao@reddit

Moles boarding!

[-]

vandabo@reddit

"Jet exhaust fryin' chickens in the farmyard!"

[-]

Kichigai@reddit

“Yeah, but has he got a chance‽”

[-]

LounBiker@reddit

Too low! Terrain.

[-]

randomtask733@reddit

It is possible that it does not have a gpws

[-]

patrick24601@reddit

Too low. Sub terrain. Too low. Sub terrain.

[-]

BrewCityChaserV2@reddit

Which is where you end up if you get this maneuver wrong.

[-]

pushinlittledaises@reddit

I know virtually nothing about aviation, so bear with me, would this ever be able to be recreated/approved today?

[-]

krodders@reddit

Most countries would not allow it. There have been far too many airshow deaths for lots of these manoeuvres to be approved

You'll see that modern displays are always in front of the crowd, aircraft direction is pointed away from the crowd (in case a plane goes in), they're not allowed to do certain stuff below a specific altitude, etc.

I remember a lot of old displays would begin with a jump scare dive on the crowd from behind. Not any more

This particular one was far too low, and did I see that there were passengers on it?

[-]

30

20

Retard .... Terrain.... Retard

[-]