What was your favorite or most memorable fly-over?
Mine:
History
If you don't want the background, skip down to The flyover below.
20 something years ago, I was in the USMC and my MOS was Aviation Electronics. I worked primarily on UH1-N's (Huey's) and AH1-T (Cobra attack helicopters).
Our squadron was to go from NC to AZ for some live-fire exercises. Well, most said that the first issue is that we could never get them there. The aircraft were pretty old and weren't considered reliable enough to make it the whole way. It was expected that approx. 1/2 of the aircraft wouldn't make it without major repairs and days of delays.
Well, off we went. 18 aircraft in all. I and many others rode much of the trip in the Huey's in the event maintenance was needed. We carried lots of spare parts and if a bird had a problem and needed to land, squadron communications ensued so we knew what other bird(s) went down with them that had the appropriate personnel and parts.
Fast forward a bit. Well, there's only 1 day of flying left to go and we're all incredibly pleased that all 18 aircraft are still OK to fly. Myself and most other maintenance personnel that were riding along were directed to take a C-130 the last leg and get our squadron area setup at our ending point (MCAS Yuma).
The C-130 beat the helicopters to the base by several hours and we quickly got unpacked.
The flyover
As sunset was about to occur, we look Eastward and start to see the flicker of lights coming our direction. As slow as they're going, we knew they were ours as the fast-movers would have already passed the base. We all came out of the shop areas and hung around the flight line.
In groups of 4 birds with a few hundred yard separation, they start their fly-over of the air station. A low, relatively slow pass over the runway. The rumble that 18 helicopters makes rips right through your chest.
As they pass over, the sight of that many birds, coupled with the noise has the attention of everyone at the air station. All work stopped...
The complete their fly-over in that direction then flawlessly change their flight formation into single-file as they make their turn to return to the base.
They come in a bit quicker (probably 100 MPH) and a lot lower as they're now only about 100 feet off the runway. At exactly the same time, all do a quick nose-up to stall their forward speed, then come back to level in a hover position. During that nose-up, their rotors against the wind changed the wop-wop-wop that they're notorious for making into something so loud, it seemed to rival thunder.
They then lower to about 8' off the runway and proceed in single file off the main runway and towards the tarmac where our squadron is staying.
Still in single file and hovering, all 18 are now at our area. In perfect synchronization, all make a 90 degree right turn and then pull forward about 80' into their "parking areas" and maintain their hover. Then, all at the same time, they set them down nicely.
The entire base broke into applause and many from other squadrons came over to share their awe in such a site.
A good fly-over will give you chills. Thinking of that one from over 20 years ago still gives me the chills.
Mine:
History
If you don't want the background, skip down to The flyover below.
20 something years ago, I was in the USMC and my MOS was Aviation Electronics. I worked primarily on UH1-N's (Huey's) and AH1-T (Cobra attack helicopters).
Our squadron was to go from NC to AZ for some live-fire exercises. Well, most said that the first issue is that we could never get them there. The aircraft were pretty old and weren't considered reliable enough to make it the whole way. It was expected that approx. 1/2 of the aircraft wouldn't make it without major repairs and days of delays.
Well, off we went. 18 aircraft in all. I and many others rode much of the trip in the Huey's in the event maintenance was needed. We carried lots of spare parts and if a bird had a problem and needed to land, squadron communications ensued so we knew what other bird(s) went down with them that had the appropriate personnel and parts.
Fast forward a bit. Well, there's only 1 day of flying left to go and we're all incredibly pleased that all 18 aircraft are still OK to fly. Myself and most other maintenance personnel that were riding along were directed to take a C-130 the last leg and get our squadron area setup at our ending point (MCAS Yuma).
The C-130 beat the helicopters to the base by several hours and we quickly got unpacked.
The flyover
As sunset was about to occur, we look Eastward and start to see the flicker of lights coming our direction. As slow as they're going, we knew they were ours as the fast-movers would have already passed the base. We all came out of the shop areas and hung around the flight line.
In groups of 4 birds with a few hundred yard separation, they start their fly-over of the air station. A low, relatively slow pass over the runway. The rumble that 18 helicopters makes rips right through your chest.
As they pass over, the sight of that many birds, coupled with the noise has the attention of everyone at the air station. All work stopped...
The complete their fly-over in that direction then flawlessly change their flight formation into single-file as they make their turn to return to the base.
They come in a bit quicker (probably 100 MPH) and a lot lower as they're now only about 100 feet off the runway. At exactly the same time, all do a quick nose-up to stall their forward speed, then come back to level in a hover position. During that nose-up, their rotors against the wind changed the wop-wop-wop that they're notorious for making into something so loud, it seemed to rival thunder.
They then lower to about 8' off the runway and proceed in single file off the main runway and towards the tarmac where our squadron is staying.
Still in single file and hovering, all 18 are now at our area. In perfect synchronization, all make a 90 degree right turn and then pull forward about 80' into their "parking areas" and maintain their hover. Then, all at the same time, they set them down nicely.
The entire base broke into applause and many from other squadrons came over to share their awe in such a site.
A good fly-over will give you chills. Thinking of that one from over 20 years ago still gives me the chills.