How low can you go?

[beowulf]

reminds me of a joke from waaaaay back 


on the eve of Desert Storm an USAF General gathers his Colonels for a briefing

'Its important that we only hit military targets.....we dont want any civilian casualties.........so i want you to be sure that you hit your targets by getting lower than you have ever flown before'

1st Colonel stands up:-  'General.......to ensure we hit the targets will fly no higher than 150 feet....even tho we know it will be dangerous'

General:......'good man........thats the spirit i like to hear......not only will i be proud of you, your president will be proud of you'

2nd Colonel stands up: 'General.......to ensure we hit the targets will fly no higher than 100 feet....even tho we know it will be dangerous'

General:- .......'good man........thats the spirit i like to hear......not only will i be proud of you, your president will be proud of you and your country will be proud of you'

3rd Colonel stands up........'General.......to ensure we hit the targets will fly no higher than 50 feet....even tho we know it will be dangerous'

General :-........'No!.....i absolutly forbid it!.........far too dangerous!......................and besides, you will just be getting in the way of the RAF'

[JayBee]

A true story, told to me by the late Allan Hall of Airfix Mag. fame.

He had been, as a member of the press corps, at the annual military games in the Otterburn ranges in the border lands between Scotland and England.
They saw a Jaguar skimming along at tree top height over a Forestry Commision plantation, when it got to the edge of the forest the other three Jaguars in the flight appeared out of the fire break

Jim

[PR19_Kit]

Love that one JayBee, I can just hear Alan growling out that tale. 

Another one from the early 70s. Some of us from the Trent IPMS, now defunct, went down to the USAF Armed Forces Day at Upper Heyford, guided by me to the best viewing spots as I used to live there about 15 years beforehand. One of the display flights attending were the Belgian AF Slivers, a pair of totally unhinged F-104 pilots who seemed totally unaware that their aircraft were physically incapable of some the manouvres they were putting them through!

One of these manouvres was an opposition pass from both ends of the runway with the upper aircraft inverted and the lower one right way up, all of this at about M 0.9 and trailing smoke, not to mention that amazing J-79 howl that only F-104s seemed to produce. This was all very well but it ignored the fact that Heyford has a fairly large bump in the middle of the field between the crowd line and the runway.

When they did their high speed pass the upper aircraft was in full view, albeit upside down, but all you could see of the lower one was the top 2 ft of the fin and tailplane, seemingly scudding across the grass at 600 kts plus with no visible means of their propulsion!!!! 

[GTX]

I thought this had already been posted but can't seem to find it:



Video

Regards,

Greg

[Gondor]

That's one way to clean the tires 

Gondor

[TsrJoe]

waw that is totally insane, i thought the pic must have been photoshopped til i saw the video link... mad 

[rallymodeller]

This contest is over. Really can't get much lower than that.

[Hobbes]

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Netherlands---Air/Fokker-F-27-300M-Troopship/1800584/L/

[Fulcrum]

This contest is over. Really can't get much lower than that.

Unless you want to go lower, but it will be the last thing you will ever do.

Though you would not be the first to go into the ground(& definitely not the last).

[Gondor]

Theoretically you can go lower than the picture where they are washing the wheels. If you have a high winged aircraft such as the F 27 in the above post you could fly so low that you could not put the undercarriage down.

Gondor

[Mossie]

This contest is over. Really can't get much lower than that.

Still a way to go yet!

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> a pair of totally unhinged F-104 pilots <...>  all you could see of the lower one was the top 2 ft of the fin and tailplane, seemingly scudding across the grass at 600 kts plus with no visible means of their propulsion!!!! 

When picturing this before my mind's eye, my mind instinctively added the soundtrack of "Jaws".

[Project D]

How about low and close  at about 23 seconds in 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOjisKIwq9E&feature=related

[AXU]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4RyzX3Z1_k&NR=1

[Mossie]

How about low and close  at about 23 seconds in 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOjisKIwq9E&feature=related

Excellent flyby from the Delfin, you even get to here the blue note!  And shows why Harriers should never land conventionally....