Low Passes

[Tregarth]

We all remember Tom Cruise in the Movie " TOP GUN" when he makes a low pass
near the control tower and causes an officer to spill coffee down his shirt.
Well here are short clips of the top 10 low pass flybys ever filmed ... and
of course for nostalgia, let 's see that Top Gun low pass again.

Pay particular attention to the last shown low pass. It is number one. Watch
the halo of water around the plane. It happened during a Blue Angels event
over San Francisco several years ago. It was the pilot 's last show with the
team and he had nothing to lose.

Many of the boats in the bay lost windows to the sonic blast. It 's a kick to watch.
Breaking the sound barrier as it went through

Number 3 was pretty impressive too.

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=19448

This one is also exciting, but the commentator has a limited vocabulary!

[micro]

Tregarth,

Great vids buddy! However, the sneak pass by the Blues was done during the 2007 Fleet Week show in San Francisco. It was performed by LCDR John Allison who flew many more demonstrations with the team and had quite a lot to lose. If he had actually broken the sound barrier it would have made front page news and cost him his spot on the team, along with a review of his flight status in the Navy in general. Remember, Blue Angel pilots are actually fleet pilots who return to the fleet after their tour in the Blues. To pull a "hotdog" move during their tour as a demonstration pilot will still jeopardize their overall flying career. What you see there is the quite common effect of a shock cone created when a jet approaches mach 1 in a high humidity environment, such as that in the bay area. Either way, those are some great low passes.