Nice work, Gravy.
Somewhere, I have original video of a fly-by done by an Air Uruguay crew that I flew with for a few months back in the mid 80s. We had done a series of flights from YYZ to (all over hell's half acre and back) and from YHM to (all over hell's half acre and back) and when the series was done and they were heading back to Uruguay, the timing was such that they were departing the day before the annual international airshow was to start at YHM.
As anyone who is involved with large airshows probably knows, the "public" start and the "real" start are two different things. This was the day before the "public" start; the day when nearly all of the flight crews and planes have arrived and they and all of those involved in organizing the show are out at the airport having fun and finalizing things.
(The 'public' start was itself a day before the 'real' start - the 'public' start being the day that politicians and such came out to hang around, make speeches, boring stuff, and still not the actual air show itself, so this was 2 days before the 'real' start.)
Carlos, the Air Uruguay captain, was an ex-military pilot, a true gentleman, a sweet, kind, honourable, strong, friendly man of excellent character, who kind of reminded me of my grandfather in many ways. (Hey, I was in my early 20s at the time). But what an amazing pilot. He had landed us safely in some pretty extreme conditions during the previous months, and had more than earned my respect, and had long since earned my friendship.
Anyway, on the day that they were leaving, the airport was teeming with flight crews from various parts of the world, and other non-pilot aviation buffs like me who had inside access (the best night was always the night before the 'public' start as there was always a big rip roaring party that night), and when Carlos and crew left, we all watched them take off, while waving them farewell.
Well, it turned out that without telling anyone on the ground, they had decided to seek permission from the tower to do a fly by, and the tower gave them the okay.
I happened to be with the airport manager at the time, and the tower radioed him to tell him what was about to happen. I didn't hear the transmission, but Barry turned to me and said, "Let's go," and we jumped in his truck and drove out onto the tarmac. I asked him, "What's going on?" He just said, "Turn on your camera, quick." I'd known Barry for quite some time so I knew it would be good. I jumped out of the truck, turned the camera on, I'm sure I yelled some frantic questions like, "which way? what am I looking for? what the hell? etc." but - I caught the fly by on film.
It was amazing. They flew so low and so fast that I actually ducked instinctively (although obviously, they weren't low enough to actually strike me - it just felt that way).
But the video came out great. It shows them coming in low and fast and steady mere feet above the runway for hundreds and hundreds of feet before jetting upward again and off into the great blue yonder for their flight back to Uruguay. They must have burned a good few thousand bucks worth of fuel on that little gem, and it was worth every penny.
They played my video on the television screens in the airport terminal for hours afterward (Yes, VHS video being played on television screens, it was the mid 80s, remember.
)
Ahhh, memories.
Thanks, Gravy, you just brought back some great ones.
