How low can you go?

[Old Wombat]

It's scary that the camera's looking over the wing!

[CANSO]

My GUESS is, (unless it is photo-shopped), the Lanc with 3 feathered is in the process of a gear up landing, not a low pass.  Seems pretty reckless to do a low pass intentionally with three shut down.  Not trying to be pedantic, just pointing it out. 
Chuck

It's not photo-shopped - it's a popular photo. There is a very similar one of a Lincoln:

Both photos are post-war and were made for publicity AFAIK.
Reckless? I totally agree!

[PR19_Kit]

Three engine fly-pasts were almost de riguer at Farnborough in the 50s. Mind you, most of them were on engine test beds to show how powerful the test engine was compared to the usual piston engines in the other three positions.

Notable among those to me, at age around 8-9 perhaps, was a Lancaster that had two jets in the #1 and #4 positions, which came down the runway, pretty low, on just jet power. Both of its Merlin's props we feathered and static and I couldn't figure out how it was still flying. 

[scooter]

Fishing anyone?

[Rheged]

In 1994, an elderly Buccaneer (XV333) was being delivered to the  Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton.  During the course of this flight, I understand that a class A airmiss report was filed by another flying machine.......an SRN4 hovercraft out of Ramsgate. Given that the SRN4 has a maximum height of about 38 feet to propeller tip, and a cruising altitude of  round about 9 feet,  at what height was the S2B Buccaneer flying?

Possible answers from  an acquaintance who flew Blackburn's finest include:-

A) at our  usual operating altitude

B) low enough to leave a wake like a power boat/fry any fish near the surface

C) during one  Red Flag, we flew  50 feet below sea level through Death Valley

Would anyone here have any further comments to make?

[PR19_Kit]

Re low flying Buccs, the RAF's Best Air Traffic Controller tells the tale of her last tour at Lossie, when 208 were just about to cease ops before closing down totally. They had an exchange SAAF Bucc pilot on tour who was about to retire from the SAAF on the same day that his tour with the RAF would end, so he'd fly home to SA as a civvie.

On his last day in service he flew a four ship across the Moray to Tain Ranges, dropped their weapons and returned to Lossie with a celebration NATO break, and our SAAF pal, as the flight leader, was last to break and turn downwind. He requested a low fly-by to commemorate his last flight and last day, and the SATCO approved it, being a kindly kind of guy.

At Lossie the hangars at the east end are in curve behind the Tower, and the RAF's Best etc. was standing on the balcony at  the rear of the tower, and she watched our SA pal fly down the gap between the hangars and the Tower BELOW the level of the balcony!!! 

SATCO was all for throwing the book at our SA pal, but it would all have been a waste of time as he'd have been long gone before they got the paperwork sorted. 

[zenrat]

Fishing anyone?

I say photoshop.  I think it was low, but some one has cut the bottom of the pic off and then created the reflection.

[NARSES2]

C) during one  Red Flag, we flew  50 feet below sea level through Death Valley

Serious question. How would they measure that ? Do altimeter's measure negative heights ? Just interested 

My favourite Buccaneer footage is of a couple flying underneath the wing of a Vulcan at a Red Flag and the Vulcan was low enough 

[Hobbes]

C) during one  Red Flag, we flew  50 feet below sea level through Death Valley

Serious question. How would they measure that ? Do altimeter's measure negative heights ? Just interested 

My favourite Buccaneer footage is of a couple flying underneath the wing of a Vulcan at a Red Flag and the Vulcan was low enough 

Altimeters work on air pressure (basically they're barometers), so they have to be reset before flight to the local ground-level air pressure. And on long flights, you run the risk of crossing into a different weather system which throws off your altimeter readings. On a flight in Death Valley, this type of altimeter could show a negative reading.

For low altitudes, a radar altimeter can be used which measures the distance to ground directly. Commercial aircraft have these, and use them in the landing phase of the flight. AIU their range is limited, so they aren't used during the cruise phase of the flight.

[NARSES2]

C) during one  Red Flag, we flew  50 feet below sea level through Death Valley

Serious question. How would they measure that ? Do altimeter's measure negative heights ? Just interested 

My favourite Buccaneer footage is of a couple flying underneath the wing of a Vulcan at a Red Flag and the Vulcan was low enough 

Altimeters work on air pressure (basically they're barometers), so they have to be reset before flight to the local ground-level air pressure. And on long flights, you run the risk of crossing into a different weather system which throws off your altimeter readings. On a flight in Death Valley, this type of altimeter could show a negative reading.

For low altitudes, a radar altimeter can be used which measures the distance to ground directly. Commercial aircraft have these, and use them in the landing phase of the flight. AIU their range is limited, so they aren't used during the cruise phase of the flight.

Sorry Harro I do understand that and wasn't clear enough, but my question was a little simpler (as am I the older I get). Would the Bucc's clock face altimetre (I assume it was either a clock or a bar) have negative markings/numbers ? I just assumed it would start at "0".

[Hobbes]

Altimeters don't have end stops:



so I'd expect the needles to keep spinning. There are enough airports below sea level that you can't have altimeters that stop at 0...

[rickshaw]

Speaking of flying below sea level, I have a picture in a book which shows the Graf Zeppelin several hundred feet below sea level, over the Dead Sea.   

[kitnut617]

C) during one  Red Flag, we flew  50 feet below sea level through Death Valley

Serious question. How would they measure that ? Do altimeter's measure negative heights ? Just interested 

My favourite Buccaneer footage is of a couple flying underneath the wing of a Vulcan at a Red Flag and the Vulcan was low enough 

Altimeters work on air pressure (basically they're barometers), so they have to be reset before flight to the local ground-level air pressure. And on long flights, you run the risk of crossing into a different weather system which throws off your altimeter readings. On a flight in Death Valley, this type of altimeter could show a negative reading.

For low altitudes, a radar altimeter can be used which measures the distance to ground directly. Commercial aircraft have these, and use them in the landing phase of the flight. AIU their range is limited, so they aren't used during the cruise phase of the flight.

Sorry Harro I do understand that and wasn't clear enough, but my question was a little simpler (as am I the older I get). Would the Bucc's clock face altimetre (I assume it was either a clock or a bar) have negative markings/numbers ? I just assumed it would start at "0".

Like this Chris

https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/8hfk4p/dont_see_this_everyday_negative_altimeter/

[NARSES2]

Thanks gents, I now understand 

[Weaver]

Posted on Twitter by Chris Bolton (ex FAA Phantom jock who's well worth following):

Post: https://twitter.com/CcibChris/status/1316313768184479746?s=20