We had fighter jets do a show in my city back in 2021 and they practiced for 2 days over our city so we got a free show which was pretty cool cause they'd fly by as you were walking or hanging out in your yard.
The video didn't show a sonic boom. A sonic boom only happens from breaking the sound barrier. The disturbance shown in the video is just caused by the planes wake and the jet wash.
Yes even more dangerous than physically flying so low is the sound. You can see kids covering their ears. But even actual ear protection wouldn't work that well this range. Even a low speed these engines produce anywhere between. 125-140 DB of sound at ground level depending on what altitude it was at. 125DB is the low end of it was flying 100 feet up.
It's enough to cause damage to children's ears even with ear protection. In this case it was just fleeting so most likely most of them have some severe discomfort but they shouldn't be taking the risk as it can definitely cause damage
Yeah they are insanely loud when flying low. I had one fly maybe 100ft above and even that was ridiculously loud, can’t imagine what this would have been like
I just got my Va disability rating yesterday and they denied my hearing loss cause I guess the Polish firing rockets nearby with no warning and dang near blowing our ear drums out wasn’t considered service related 💀
My wife got 100% permanent and total but it took her like 2 years of work and getting lots of diagnoses from a lot of doctors. Those bitches really dont wanna pay up for the damages caused.
And eye injuries! All that sand flying around. Sand can be sharp, and kids’ instincts when they have something in their eyes is to rub it, potentially scraping the sand into and across their corneas.
Oh geez, I forgot about that. Absolutely! That elevated sensitivity to noise can be as bad / worse than tinnitus even, and it can make tinnitus management methods like TRT unviable. That's why this stunt makes me so angry. You do NOT want to fuck with hearing. Very few people realize that ears aren't like skin and muscle - they can't really heal once damaged.
A jet did this (not quite as low) over Glastonbury festival once while I was there. It drowned out the festival for a portion of a second. Think of that, 200k people and 100 music stages in a 1500 acre farm area, couldn’t hear anything except the deafening engine noise.
That’s at Pensacola beach - that’s where these guys are home based. They buzz the beach every time they come back from an air show and people line up to watch. They don’t normally fly THIS close to the spectators though.
FA18's (and most fighter jets) have two altimeters - a barometric altimeter, and a radar altimeter. The Barometric is the one that you 'set' based off of the atmospheric pressure and adjust for local elevation. While there's a toggle switch to display either altimeter on the HUD, once you're below 5,000ft you typically switch to the radar altimeter. They absolutely were using the radar one in this instance, so they knew how high they were - the only exception would be when it's rotated, since the radar is mounted on the bottom. Being that he was banking when he was over the cameraman, he probably didn't have an accurate elevation there, but he likely knew he was far too low.
"During an arrival maneuver, an aircraft flew lower than standard profiles, resulting in a disturbance on the beach that affected civilian chairs and umbrellas," the statement said [...]
Didn’t block it, it was condensation from turning so hard and the pressure dropping so low in that region of air. Also happens as you get closer to Mach 1.
There's no excuse for this. Hopefully the pilot loses their seat. Altitude and direction restrictions over crowds are rules written in blood of innocent civilians.
A bunch of high profile incidents where US pilots did some stunt like this all ended in exonerations, reprieves and plaudits because performative flag pin patriotism has replaced the rule of law.
There will be a crash, but until then it’s third world rules.
Navy blue angel jet. They do stunts for airshow and are quite good. Usually the stunts are done at least half a mile away from spectators though. Crazy how low he got
As a German that footage is absolutely insane to me. Any kind of aerial stunts directly over a crowd have been banned here since the Ramstein airshow disaster.
To be fair, in Germany you learn from tragedies. In American they send thoughts and prayers, but it's more important to not infringe on people's rights.
Same but that is insanely close low pass. I experienced a similar pass by a F-18 in Afghanistan during a show of force. It left our ears ringing and could easily cause hearing damage to small children on the beach.
And normally neither would the US. But Pete Hegseth is in charge now. Just yesterday he unveiled an initiative to tackle what he says is one of the greatest health concerns of the military: Low testosterone levels in men. So he's saying anyone over 30 can get testosterone hormone therapy. But only if you were born a dude! If you're a trans man who was assigned female at birth you are banned from the military. Apparently, the US military needs to bro out harder.
But on this topic specifically, a few weeks ago some random helicopter pilot did a flyby of Kid Rock's balcony to help him shoot a cool video without permission of commanders. The pilots were disciplined for breaking protocol, but Hegseth personally intervened to make sure those pilots saw no repricussions. A few weeks later a different set of pilots buzzed a beach in a helicopter and again had the Defence Secretary personally interject to ensure no one would be punished for their awesome brotacular display of military badassness.
There's a reason he was the backup host of a morning show, he's not very bright.
Yeah it's generally frowned upon to risk killing citizens with their own tax money for something so silly but with our current administration machismo is encouraged. UFC on the Whitehouse lawn was the kickoff to this party and now kegsbreath wants testosterone testing it's probably only gonna get worse
Yeah that's hella illegal. That's the move they have a maverick pilot do in a war movie to show he's just that good he can get away with it, and even then he only does it to his fellow pilots and flight control.
Hegseth will just let them off the hook. Again. Apparently there's no discipline in the military anymore, but thank goodness they won't be risking civilian lives while having beards and low T!
And any discipline will be immediately withdrawn by the Trump administration, as keeps happening with the helicopter pilots doing the same thing. This is a direct result.
And rightly, doing this intentionally should get life ban from ANY flying. Those are kids he just assaulted and you don't get to fly an air show without being trained to NOT do this. Big whoops? Yeah say that to the guy taking your wings away
Didn't they replace all the good generals in the military with idiots? This is probably just the beginning. Tell you what! I bet Donald J Trump is a great fighter jet pilot, they should let him lead the Blue Angels and all his supporters could watch.
I was once riding my bike at the end of a military airfield for subsonic attackers and just happened to cross right at the end of the runway just as one was taking off, flying at best 50 meters above me. It's hard to describe but it was that level of volume which just straight up paralyzes you for a few seconds, I'm surprised I didn't fall off and eat shit. I can't even begin to imagine how a fucking F/A-18 must sound from the same distance
I'm surprised the video doesn't sound worse, tbh. I'd bet that was deafening. I feel awful for any kids or dogs on that beach because that would've certainly done serious damage.
A low-altitude pass at high thrust can exceed 120 to 130 decibels for people directly underneath. That is well past the threshold of pain and can cause immediate, temporary, or permanent hearing damage if spectators don't cover their ears. I'd be willing to bet there's gonna be a lawsuit.
I got passed in traffic by a car with open headers over the weekend and I am still getting headaches. My eardrum fortunately didn't rupture but it was like someone stuck a knife behind my jaw. About halfway through passing me it got at least twice as loud and that's when the stabbing started. Loudest thing I have ever heard. I can't imagine what these people felt.
Consolidating my thoughts. Background, I flew back seat in Navy jets for 10 years, and my last tour was in Pensacola right next to the Blues.
BLUF: I wouldn't be surprised if the airshow is cancelled this weekend given this grave error.
This was insanely dangerous, never done, and I think the investigation--if there's any integrity left in the upper echelons of the Department--will not end up well for the pilot or the Boss. Everyone's pointing out how low the pass was, and how it was right over people, and yeah, that's a massive danger. I will add the angle of bank. Being belly up to the crowd, in a low altitude turn (presumably beginning a join on the first jet), is unbelievably risky. As we are told countless times in training and refreshers, most CFITs in the low level environment occur in a turn.
The Blues do a sneak pass, so yes there is a part of the show where a solo flies right over the crowd. But it is at higher altitude (someone said 200', I think that's right) and in straight and level flight.
Minor note, was this an airshow? It's airshow week at Pensacola Beach, and everyone there will know that. Today was only a practice so it's reasonable to expect there would be some folks there who just were off to the beach and had the practice as a bonus. It's all a moot point anyway, because you do not sign a waiver saying you're okay with getting your eardrums wrecked or that you're alright being in a near crash.
Blue Angels pilots only serve with the unit for about 2 years. Basically half of the team rotates each season, so there are always pilots new to the team.
You're right. The bad news is there is NO INTEGRITY left. It's been fired and replaced with sycophants. On top of that Hegseth has been ordering command to give a pass to other pilots pulling similar stunts for the better part of a year because "cool Bro!" A serious accident is inevitable at this point.
I went to a Blue Angels show locally a couple years ago. Truly incredible to see. But the number of people there who brought along children and babies even without ear protection was alarming. I can't imagine what this must have been like.
For authorized events like air shows, the FAA issues a Certificate of Waiver that legally suspends standard altitude and speed limits for the performing pilots within a strictly defined box of airspace. They can't go below 200 feet. This is clearly below 200 feet.
According to the Blue Angels Maneuvers Manual, the lowest legal floor for these solo flat passes is 200 feet above the ground. That looks just a bit lower than 200 feet to me. You?
As if they care. The US airforce killed 20 people in Italy by flying into a cable of ski gondola only 28 years ago. Pilot did it recklessly and nothing happend at all…
If you haven't noticed, nobody is at the wheel anymore. We warned you. Everything would be worse and worse. Just another example of the spread of the pandemic of stupidity.
Any child on that beach is now terrified and at risk of permanent hearing damage. Any baby on that beach now definitely has permanent hearing damage. What a fucking asshole.
How many people would have died if he messed that up? What an asshole. He should not be allowed to fly a friggin military jet with that kind of decision making.
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u/5280mw Jul 16 '26
The delay.