Spitfire low pass

[Leo]

Re: Spitfire low pass

Was'nt it Ray that flew the Spit under a bridge for a british TV series?
The stills of that I've seen are incredible.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: Spitfire low pass

Look at the wake in the grass. I think he's pretty low. I heard a rumor that the talent owns that Spitfire.

[Chad Veich]

Re: Spitfire low pass

True.
Alain de Cadenet owns (owned?) that Spitfire.

Owned, it has now moved on to (hopefully) greener pastures.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Re: Spitfire low pass

Owned, it has now moved on to (hopefully) greener pastures.

He does have that "I've never been able to do that" look in his eyes as it flies away.

[T. Adams]

Re: Spitfire low pass

The pilot of this plane was New Zealander Ray Hanna an extraordinary Spitfire pilot who apparently was described as “the finest Spitfire pilot in the World”. He died aged 77 (of old age) Thursday 2nd April 2006.

The chap in the video is Alain de Cadenet a racing driver turned television host. Ray flew Meteor jets over Russia on reconnaissance for the RAF his motto was “never over 100 feet”.

I think you mean 2005, unless you can see into the future.

[isotsha]

Re: Spitfire low pass

Found this on Google.........Man, I so hope I can make it to Reno this year!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-486121253287211672&q=reno+races

[RarebearFan77]

Re: Spitfire low pass

WOW.. that is where I wanna be!!! I guess if a fellow really camo'd down he could sneak down the hill and get there but..... What a view!!!

[Bill@Interstell]

Re: Spitfire low pass

I so miss the front straight!

These are terrific shots. I have a few from the last year before they gave us the boot (1988) but they are VHS-C tape and I don't have the adapter to play them anymore. Guess I should look for one.

Access ended when they hired Lloyds of London to insure the event. They put a guy in th etower with binoculars and every time plane came withing 100 feet of a person, the bill went up. Next year (1989), no joy.

PS, The spit clip is my all time favorite. I keep it handy on my desktop at work. If I'm having a bad day it always cheers me up. I especially like the uncontrolled giggle leaking out of the cameraman in the sound track.

Say what you want about being too low, but I'll trade palces with the camera man any time. Not the talent, he's facing the wrong way.

[srpatterson]

Re: Spitfire low pass

This issue has been done to death on the British forum, "Flypast". Ray Hannah probably had more Spitfire display time than any other warbird pilot out there. He was a past leader of the RAF display team, "Red Arrows". During Ray's life he was routinely questioned for his low flying in rare warbirds. He's sadly gone now, and his Spitfire (ML434, which is seen in the video and is not the Spitfire owned by Alain de Cadenet) is parked at Duxford ready for the next generation. Looks to me like Ray did all right.

The consensus on Flypast after months of debate and computer analysis was that the Alain de Cadenet pass was at approx. 15 ft. This is about the same height as Ray's pass under the bridge for the TV mini-series, "Piece of Cake".

Art used to always remind us not to fly too low during Reno, as the RARA officials don't like it. Art didn't really agree with this, as he told me "No one as ever just flown into the dirt out there." Is low flying dangerous? Is it safer for me to be at 70 ft as opposed to 40 ft when going 400+ on the course? I suppose it's all about what you are comfortable with, and like all things in life we all have different margins and comfort zones.

[Unregistered]

Re: Spitfire low pass

Art used to always remind us not to fly too low during Reno, as the RARA officials don't like it. Art didn't really agree with this, as he told me "No one as ever just flown into the dirt out there." Is low flying dangerous? Is it safer for me to be at 70 ft as opposed to 40 ft when going 400+ on the course? I suppose it's all about what you are comfortable with, and like all things in life we all have different margins and comfort zones.

This is sort of apples and oranges, Steve -- comparing low flying in general with racing at Reno. There is a Grand Canyon's worth of difference between low flying *at Reno* on the race course and low flying just about anywhere else. The Reno course is a known quantity -- it's a closed, controlled course where the terrain and obstructions are known by everyone and *don't change*.

I have flown low and fast quite a bit on unfamiliar terrain, and that's where it really gets hairy and people get in trouble. Flying at 500' and 500 knots is really not all that task-saturating. In fact, I can look at my wingman, operate the radar, even write things down on my kneeboard if I need to. I have done 680 KCAS at 500 AGL (through the Department of Energy's test range at Tonopah) and I didn't think it was all that tough. When you get down to 300 feet and keep 500 knots, the long periods of eyes away from 12 o'clock is not possible any more. About all you can muster is being able to look in the cockpit to check engine instruments, fuel, whatever. It's about a 80/20 division between eyes on the rocks and eyes anywhere else.

Bring that down to 100 feet, and as I'm sure you know, it is nearly a 100% outside cross-check. At 100 feet, a tower will show up very late, and you probably won't be able to get out of the way of the guy-wires.

So...I personally think that at Reno (or any other closed environment where the obstructions and terrain are known), it's not "dangerous" to really be down in the weeds.

Doing that just anywhere out over the countryside is [b]suicidal[b] and, IMHO, reckless.


Photo: Me going through the traps at Tonopah, just over the Mach at 500', test-dropping a B61 nuclear bomb. Takes the burners cooking at full-tilt to keep a Strike Pig going that fast down low!

[Unregistered]

Re: Spitfire low pass

I sure miss Art.
VL

[Leo]

Re: Spitfire low pass

And no lower than a Lefty wingtip at any given pylon...

[Epenney]

Re: Spitfire low pass

During the summer of 1968, I worked as a flagman for a cropduster. I experienced many low passes like the one in the video. Had to hit-the-deck a lot too. The scary times were when we sprayed fields at night.

[dgt]

Re: Spitfire low pass

In the early 70's I was an American GI in Germany. I was on a ex Nike hilltop
base with Pershing 1a missiles. The hilltop was surrounded by Eucalyptus tree windbreaks. A friend of mine and I were on top of a bunker chatting.
Behind him through the trees I saw a glint of sunlight reflecting off of a canopy. The USAF and the Germans often made passes testing their skills and our air defenses. As it pulled up to clear the trees I saw it was a German F-104 Starfighter. To my surprise it dropped down again after clearing the trees, heading straight for us. My friend had his back to it, I maintained a straight face, hit the deck as it cleared us by just about the same amount as the Spit in this thread. I could see the pilot well enough to tell he was clean shaven. But he went by at prob over 300 knots and the noise was like a bomb going off. After that my "Friend" was not so friendly to me!

[kiwiracefan]

Re: Spitfire low pass

All i will say is this, I agree with the other posts about the late Ray Hanna. I had the honor of meeting him and his son the late Mark Hanna at the warbirds over Wanaka Airshow in NZ, i can honestly say that both Ray and Mark, if it involved low or formation flying, the planning and attitudes towards the work was detailed at worst, and pedantic at best, with the both of them having served in the RAF, and doing so much movie and TV work, it had to be done that way. They were the only display pilots at Wanaka to my knowledge that were authorised to be under 100 feet by Airshow management. Both Ray and Mark, were generally friendly after displays and until about 1hr from display, when they both started to prepare mentally for the display. I had the pleasure of watching them perform simulated dogfights at wanaka with Ray flying the Spitfire, and Mark on two occasions flying a Bf-109/Hispano HA-112. The second time was real special as Mark was flying a Daimler Benz powered ME-109 G10. the planning and attention to detail was foremost, as to a operate the airplanes safely and to minimise any danger, then only b) to show the airplanes off the best.
Im sure that the Low spitfire pass that started this thread was co-ordinated and planned to the last detail, and that the presenter was only reacting as he wasnt quite sure what to expect when the spit arrived overhead.