How low can you go?

[KiwiZac]

It's not a plane, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

[PR19_Kit]

It's not a plane, but...

There are some on here who'd argue that point of course <sigh>

[Rheged]

I understood that helicopters don't actually fly.  They just vibrate so appallingly that the ground rejects them.


Come to think of it, where do we stand on hovercraft as "flying machines"?  No doubt Kit will tell us that they are unfeasibly noisy beasts too!

[zenrat]

It's not a plane, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

Fan-bloody-tastic.  Not only someone waterskiing behind a flying machine (see what I did there?) but Larry Hagman to boot.
Standing ovation for you Zac.

Having been involved in operating hovercraft on the sludge drying pans at the sewage treatment plant I can confirm they are indeed flying machines.  But it's the liquid waste which is doing most of the flying.  Disposable white paper overalls would be black in a matter of minutes.

[PR19_Kit]

Come to think of it, where do we stand on hovercraft as "flying machines"?  No doubt Kit will tell us that they are unfeasibly noisy beasts too!

They're surely noisy, especially when you're standing a foot away from one of their APUs, but I bet they'd make great water-ski tugs. 

[KiwiZac]

It's not a plane, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

Fan-bloody-tastic.  Not only someone waterskiing behind a flying machine (see what I did there?) but Larry Hagman to boot.
Standing ovation for you Zac.

Deadly Encounter is one of the two great Hughes 500 action movies. I think the whole thing's on YouTube. Because I watched it endlessly as a kid this, not Dallas or Jeannie, is how I knew who Larry was!

[zenrat]

Come to think of it, where do we stand on hovercraft as "flying machines"?  No doubt Kit will tell us that they are unfeasibly noisy beasts too!

They're surely noisy, especially when you're standing a foot away from one of their APUs, but I bet they'd make great water-ski tugs. 

Right up until the moment the skier goes through the fan...

[Mossie]

It's not a plane, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

Fan-bloody-tastic.  Not only someone waterskiing behind a flying machine (see what I did there?) but Larry Hagman to boot.
Standing ovation for you Zac.

Deadly Encounter is one of the two great Hughes 500 action movies. I think the whole thing's on YouTube. Because I watched it endlessly as a kid this, not Dallas or Jeannie, is how I knew who Larry was!

What's the other, Airwolf?

[scooter]

It's not a plane, but...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1nb7GjkjI

Fan-bloody-tastic.  Not only someone waterskiing behind a flying machine (see what I did there?) but Larry Hagman to boot.
Standing ovation for you Zac.

Deadly Encounter is one of the two great Hughes 500 action movies. I think the whole thing's on YouTube. Because I watched it endlessly as a kid this, not Dallas or Jeannie, is how I knew who Larry was!

What's the other, Airwolf?

Airwolf was a Bell 222.  He's probably talking Magnum PI

[Mossie]

The bad guys did!

[PR19_Kit]

Come to think of it, where do we stand on hovercraft as "flying machines"?  No doubt Kit will tell us that they are unfeasibly noisy beasts too!

They're surely noisy, especially when you're standing a foot away from one of their APUs, but I bet they'd make great water-ski tugs. 

Right up until the moment the skier goes through the fan...

Depends on the hovercraft. An SRN4 could tow maybe 20 skiers as it had the same power a Bristol Britannia, and the props were 30 ft above the water.

I wonder if anyone really DID water ski behind a hovercraft? 

[Rheged]

I wonder if anyone really DID water ski behind a hovercraft? 

Don't know about that, but I do know that someone (a gentleman from SBS, I believe) did actually water ski behind HMS Brazen some years ago.

[KiwiZac]

Deadly Encounter is one of the two great Hughes 500 action movies. I think the whole thing's on YouTube. Because I watched it endlessly as a kid this, not Dallas or Jeannie, is how I knew who Larry was!

What's the other, Airwolf?

Airwolf was a Bell 222.  He's probably talking Magnum PI

Birds Of Prey, directed - like Deadly Encounter - by William A Graham.

[Hobbes]

I just came across the famous Spitfire low pass that nearly scalped Alain de Cadenet, this time the original uncut footage in high resolution, with some extra information and the above photo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iOoiEbtf2w

[Rick Lowe]

Holy Shmackerel! That's an expensive weed-eater, right there!