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i buzzed the runway

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jsoceanlord

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Posts
367
our cargo contract ended friday, after three years. so i buzzed the runway yesterday after taking off from our outstation. it took awhile in a trislander (no i wasn't stoned (drunk))
 
...and?

?
 
everyone look out...he's a rebel of the worst kind, one without a cause.
 
..Rebel without a cause

..but hopefully not without a certificate...if he's careful.
 
Yea i hear ya. At world freefall convention, the amerijet 727 comes right down the runway they use for staging the jump aircraft and for car parking for the campers at the event. They are maybe 100 feet or so on the low pass. looks cool.
 
i like this thread-drift..
the last post reminded me of at my school's local airshow/fly-in some years back... an alum was out and about, flying some big-wigs in a C9 (air force.. or was it guard? sorry craig!)
the airshow was taking place over the private grass strip, on campus at the school.
anyway, the standard air show stuff was going on, bunch of biplanes, extra 300s, etc, and suddenly, in the distance, are some pretty bright landing lights.. as it gets closer, the announcer even was baffled.. it was totally unplanned, and unexpected, but to a few select individuals, who timed it to have the scheduled show take a break at this moment in time...
anyway, here comes this dc-9, gear down, flaps full, landing configuration, on low approach to the grass strip. looked awesome. but, after a while, this guy is getting reeeally low.. for a few seconds, my friends and i started to think he was really gonna land there, or maybe some kind of emergency was going on! i just remember thinking, you just CAN'T land a dc-9 on a 2500 foot grass strip!
but, he went around, i'd swear the go-around was initiated at 50 feet.
maybe a dc-9 vet could chime in, how early would the go-around have to actually be initiated, i.e., engines spooled up, etc, to start the upward trend at 50 feet?!
 
Sounds like a cool show .... but (there's always a but, isn't there?) everyone should understand that the FAA is tolerant of low passes over a runway only as long as the runway is suitable for landing that aircraft. This standard appears in several NTSB decisions. Not trying to be a wet blanket here. personally I think a low approach to a grass runway by a DC-9 would be a thing of beauty, it's just that the FAA doesn't share that view. They can and do suspend certificates for low passes over runways that you can't land on. I've read several NTSB decisions that did exactly that.
 
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I have had to go around in the B717 (a DC9-30 airframe) from less than 100 feet, which probably got us within 50 feet of the runway. Didn't see the radar altimeter- it gets a little busy during G/A, just like any other airplane .

Now, if we were trying to make a low pass at a grass strip, I am sure Mr. Bitchin' Bob Taws would be adding his two cents to the cacaphony of various EGPWS and CAWS buzzers, bells, warbles and klaxxons that would accompany that particular maneuver . . . . . not to mention the inevitable CellCall chime about two minutes later . . . . .!
 
A Squared said:
personally I think a low approach to a grass runway by a DC-9 would be a thing of beauty, it's just that the FAA doesn't share that view. They can and do suspend certificates for low passes over runways that you can't land on.

i don't doubt that one bit.. it was too cool looking to be legal, anyway, i guess!
this particular pilot every once in a while would come to the school and hold an informal info question/answer session with the pilot students. he talked about this particular flyby once. i guess the story was, he knew of the annual fly in and air show going on that day, and he happened to be flying some brass in to scott afb, which was just right down the road from the school. so he called whoever was in charge of the airshow earlier in the morning, told him he'd be flying nearby and inquired about a flyby.. guess nobody but him knew what that flyby would consist of! he also said he briefed the passengers (generals, colonels, etc) of what he was thinking of doing, and they were all for it, so, FAA be darned, he did it!
 
a rebel of the worst kind?

I buzzed the runway (not a town), once in 3 years!

what do you think of guys who do aerobatic routines at airshows?
 
.
 
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it was a sarcastic statement, settle down.
 
?????????

jsoceanlord said:
our cargo contract ended friday, after three years. so i buzzed the runway yesterday after taking off from our outstation. it took awhile in a trislander (no i wasn't stoned (drunk))
I wonder about you, my friend.

I guess they do things differently in the islands.

On a more serious note, have you tried applying to the DC-3 operators out your way? E.g. Southeast Air? Might be interesting work for you.
 
I buzzed 27R at DTW

I flew a DC-3 down 27 R in the middle of the day at 200' and never talked to any one in the tower or approach controll, they shut the airport down for me. Oh! I forgot to say I was in a trail formation with a B-17 who called me up and said stay with me, and we were doing a parade fly by in the town of Trenton, MI near DTW and approach told the B-17 the tower wanted a fly by and they would close the airport for a couple minutes during a slow period coming up. The A/C in the B-17 never briefed me on what he was doing he just said "Stay close", next thing I know I lined up with 27R. it was a fun ride.
 

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