Plane dive bombing boaters on north Texas lakes

That looks entertaining. Why would boaters complain? I would kick back with a beer and watch the show.
 
"Watch this..."


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75-100' off the water gives the lake goers a nice conversation item. 10-20' off the water is plain stupid. Hope the FAA sticks it to this idiot.
 
The moral issue here is the golden rule - just because you think it might be fun to be buzzed, doesn't mean other people agree with you and appreciate it. FAA rules that were clearly broken notwithstanding, they clearly terrified some of the boaters and that is completely inexcusable and wrong.
 
Hmm. Part of me (the airplane nut part) thinks it's pretty rad, and that these complainers are a bunch of pansies. Another part of me (the boring, responsible, law abiding citizen part) realizes that this sort of thing could be pretty scary for some people, is dangerous, and puts people in harms way if the pilot loses control on a busy lake, and of course is against the rules. I agree with the above statement that a 100 ft. buzz might be enjoyable for the onlookers, but dang, that dude was low :eek:

That being said, the family in the video getting off the water for good? Please :rolleyes:
 
Airplane took it too far

Family fearing for their lives and never going back to the lake, please! Probably scared of their own farts.
 
James331 said:
Airplane took it too far

Family fearing for their lives and never going back to the lake, please! Probably scared of their own farts.
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I had the same thought.

Pilot deserves whatever he gets (suspension / Darwin award) but that family was pretty melodramatic "We didn't go back to the lake for fear he would return"
 
That's right by my house -_-


...wasn't me... I'm a low wing guy lol
 
I wonder if this pilot is a POA member? Hope they are so they can get some feedback on their "performance." As indicated by some of the comments on this thread, opinions seem to vary on just how much "risk" is involved in this type of flying. Just goes to show, that no matter how much risk assessment and management you might have been taught, in the real world, what one pilot thinks is acceptable risk, another pilot will think is totally unacceptable. All that aside, even if this pilot was the ace of the base and could fly circles around any pilot on this forum, no consideration for the safety of the passengers in the airplane or the people on the ground gets him or her the Darwin award, in my opinion. But to get nominated for that award the person has to significantly improve the gene pool by first eliminating themselves from the human race in a completely stupid way. That hasn't happened yet, so maybe a certificate suspension or revocation would be in order. Sounds good to me.
 
If it's true and it certainly seems to be, put me on the list to go after him and make sure that is made public that the aviation community supports penalizing him. If it was up to me I'd keel haul the scurvy dog.
 
Need a 2x4 to smack that sea pilot.
 
The persons that say they will never go back on the lake should have never been on the lake in the first place.....too many things could have gone wrong with the inner tube and their daughters could have died....
 
"We were off the lake after that. We didn't go back out. We were done. And, you know, your afraid, is he gonna come back? Is he gonna do this again?"

That is word for word what the family said. I don't see anyone saying they were never coming back to the lake ever again. That is reading way too much into it. It sounded like they felt the buzzing put their kids in danger, so they packed up for the day. They didn't want to go back out there and expose their kids again, just in case this pilot is on a buzzing spree for the day. A totally prudent decision IMHO.
 
SmashTime said:
That's right by my house -_- ...wasn't me... I'm a low wing guy lol
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Wasn't me either, but apparently we're neighbors. I live in Harbour View (across the street from Flight)
 
Could be a very low aerial demo,or a threat to the boaters,depends how you see things. That's how you end up a statistic.
 
I'm not scared of much, but as a non flyer I can certainly see how this could scare you to death. As a flyer, if I were on a boat, I would get off the water till that idiot was gone. I really hope they find the pilot and revoke their cert. I'd be down for some jail time too. F'ing moron.
 
My first thought after reading the article was "It's a shame someone can't have fun without everyone getting all butt hurt and calling the law on you". After watching the video, well he was playing a little too much with fire that close to people. If he was just making low passes down the water between boats just off shore I don't see that as being any more dangerous than two boats passing each other. When he started doing the steep banks and maneuvers over people and that close to structures he took it too far.
 
Zeldman said:
The persons that say they will never go back on the lake should have never been on the lake in the first place.....too many things could have gone wrong with the inner tube and their daughters could have died....
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I'm far more concerned with drunk boaters and those who don't know the rules of the road than an errant dive bomber plane. I'd say 50-60% of the time I'm the stand on boat I have to take evasive maneuvers to avoid the other boat. CBDR is a good thing to know.
 
He/she really didn't climb high enough between passes (or dive steep enough) for it to really be called "dive bombing". Plus nothing was dropped.

My vote is for "Buzzing".
 
Would be easy to plow it into the water for an inexperienced pilot. No problem with low passes if you want to put your own life in danger but do it away from the boaters.

Reminds me of a story in Gene Cernan's book. When he was stationed at the Cape he took an H-13 out one day for a joy ride. Said he was showing off for boaters along the intercostal buzzing along at 10 ft. Went from waving at boaters one minute to sinking to the bottom of the waterway still strapped in the cockpit the next. Unstrapped and made it to the surface only to get burned by the fuel that caught fire. Few months later he'd go on to be the last man to walk on the moon in Apollo 17. Goes to show you, even the best screw up. What seems like innocent fun can turn bad in an instant.
 
rolivi said:
Wasn't me either, but apparently we're neighbors. I live in Harbour View (across the street from Flight)
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We'll since you're so close I can't say we're right next door, but I live in Marine Creek.

Let's grab a burger sometime.
 
FlyingElvii said:
Darwin Award Nominee?
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over50 said:
no consideration for the safety of the passengers in the airplane or the people on the ground gets him or her the Darwin award, in my opinion.
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SixPapaCharlie said:
Pilot deserves whatever he gets (suspension / Darwin award) but that family was pretty melodramatic "
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Ok, just for grins... I'm pretty sure you guys don't know what the Darwin award is! He didn't die, he did something stupid. To get the Darwin award he would have to make the world a better place by taking himself out before his genes are spread.

By definition: "They recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own actions."
 
Bill Jennings said:
I'm far more concerned with drunk boaters and those who don't know the rules of the road than an errant dive bomber plane. I'd say 50-60% of the time I'm the stand on boat I have to take evasive maneuvers to avoid the other boat. CBDR is a good thing to know.
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True, most boaters have next to zero training, not that I'm asking for my government to "fix" it, and probably 20% of the boats out on a nice weekend do some of the dumbest things.

I don't even get that close to boats in the seaplane, I will fly quite low, but I always honor the 500' rule, actually the lower I get, I increase my distance from boats; for one because I don't need getting a ding on my PRIA, for two you never know what dumb stuff a redneck drunk off budlight might do and I'd really rather not have to beat bubba with one of my oars.

Worse I'll do is preform some ground ref maneuvers using boats on the water, at legal altitudes.


All that said, if it were me I wouldn't have called the FSDO or been scared enough for myself to leave, I would have got in contact with the owner though.
 
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One of the top ten ways pilots kill themselves. I do hope someone in authority from the FAA has a bit of a chat with the pilot. Doing those kinds of stunts over an unpopulated body of water is stupid. Doing it over boaters is reckless.
 
Incredibly reckless. It will be much more than a chat. That person can kiss his pilots license goodbye. I would guess that alcohol was involved. Why would a sober pilot risk everything?
 
The old 'unofficial' rule was one pass! Today almost everyone has a phone camera at the ready and will record it.
 
Dihedral said:
Incredibly reckless. It will be much more than a chat. That person can kiss his pilots license goodbye. I would guess that alcohol was involved. Why would a sober pilot risk everything?
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Based on his maneuvers I'd would say alchaol was NOT a factor.

I've seen fat families go through the McDonalds drive through, order super sugared buckets of soda and fat and sodium drenched bags full of food, much higher fatality risk compared to the low passes, the parents and teen age fatties must have all been drunk too eh?



mscard88 said:
The old 'unofficial' rule was one pass! Today almost everyone has a phone camera at the ready and will record it.
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Yup
 
I see a discussion and a 44709 ride coming up in someone's future.
 
One Pass Haul Ass...

If you're gonna do this, either make sure the people on the ground are cool about it or don't linger. Hanging around so someone can get your registration is just plain a dumb move on the [former?] pilot's part.
 
I think the biggest problem with the pilot's actions was his decision to make several low passes over boaters and docks/structures. If he had just been making some low passes over the water, away from any vessels, I don't think he would be violating any FARs. The fact that he did it over boaters and made repeated passes is what makes it reckless.

Side note: the family that was interviewed was a bunch of pansies. "Not going back out on the lake due to fear of the aircraft coming back" is a load of crap. Probably scared of their own shadow. If I came in because of the aircraft, I'd wait until they departed the area, then I'd be right back out on the water. Way too dramatic.
 
wow. me and that guy have a very different definition of 'buzzing boats'.
 
SoonerAviator said:
the family that was interviewed was a bunch of pansies. "Not going back out on the lake due to fear of the aircraft coming back" is a load of crap. Probably scared of their own shadow. If I came in because of the aircraft, I'd wait until they departed the area, then I'd be right back out on the water. Way too dramatic.
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How is that dramatic? I have two kids and sure as hell wouldn't go back out on the lake that day with that guy buzzing around and endangering everyone's lives. Even without my kids, I would have left and not returned that day. They never said they were never going back to the lake for the rest of their lives... that would have been dramatic. I think you are misreading. No reason to fault the victims.
 
vontresc said:
One Pass Haul Ass...

If you're gonna do this, either make sure the people on the ground are cool about it or don't linger. Hanging around so someone can get your registration is just plain a dumb move on the [former?] pilot's part.
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Yeha one pass! Used to be smart advice but even today with phone cameras you're taking a big risk of someone filming you, and your number.
 
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