How not to do a flyover
March 19th, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Awesome? Yes.
Worth it? Probably not.
Two F/A-18 pilots have been grounded — permanently — for this flyover at the Georgia Tech-Wake Forest game in Atlanta on Nov. 7. My esteemed Navy Times colleague Mark Faram reports that the two pilots went over the stadium too low, and that the commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic was not amused.
The pilots, who both attended Georgia Tech, are identified by Navy Times sources as Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman and Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon. Their boss, Rear Adm. R.J. O’Hanlon, reportedly did not buy the explanation that the low flyover was an “honest mistake,” and an investigation report obtained by Navy Times contained a scathing condemnation of the pilots’ actions.
“Fryman failed to provide effective [composite risk management] for his flight lead and allowed an unsafe flyby to occur with nearly tragic consequences,” O’Hanlon wrote of the mission commander. “Despite his spotless record, his complacent, passive response to a major altitude transgression is unforgivable in my view.
“Continued aviation service involving flying is not in the best interest of Lt. Cmdr. Fryman or the United States Navy.”
Oof.
From a completely non-military, non-journalistic view, I hope this incident doesn’t influence any universities or pro teams to decide against having flyovers. I’ve been to a few games where the flyover was easily the highlight of the afternoon (the only time I’ve ever seen a B-2 Spirit was at a North Carolina-Notre Dame football game a few years ago). It’d be a shame if this incident gives the people responsible for these events pause.
Read the full story on NavyTimes.com.
Tags: flyovers, Georgia Tech
Comments
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George P. Burdell Says:
March 21st, 2010 at 6:44 pmDefinite overreaction on the part of the Admiral. Admirals are, in general, as the saying used to go “like a teat on a boar hog”, i.e. “useless”. About the same as today’s Washington politicians, many of whom are for the most part worthless. When it comes to preserving our great nation, I’ll take one skilled (and yes daring) active pilot, over a hundred useless, pencil pushing, ladder climbing, self-centered admirals any day! I note elsewhere that the good Admiral was once the executive officer on the USS Carl Vinson. Well Carl Vinson was once my Congressman and I can assure you he would have kicked the good Rear Admiral’s Rear back to his hometown of New York City. By the way, I was at the game and it was an awesome flyover and helped instill pride regarding our military in thousands of spectators. God bless America! Not so much pompous Rear Admirals!
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jimbo84 Says:
June 15th, 2010 at 4:18 pmThis is a ‘nice’ flyover…however, check out the flyover from the Navy-TCU game of ’04…now that was incredible. I was sitting in the top corner row and thought the planes were coming right at me – one even dipped it’s wing into the stadium…it was AWESOME.
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Military Sports Report - After Action – How not to do a flyover: Part II Says:
December 4th, 2010 at 11:42 am[...] no flyover expert, but to me that seemed pretty low. And it comes on the heels of last year’s Navy flyover at a Georgia Tech game by some Yellow Jacket alumni (see below). Those guys were grounded for [...]
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Military Sports Report - After Action – Air Force pilot exiting service after punishment for low flyover Says:
March 23rd, 2011 at 5:02 pm[...] in two seasons that a risky flyover has resulted in punishment for aviators. Two F/A-18 pilots were permanently grounded by the Navy for a low flyover at Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta in 2009. [...]