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Rogue 9 wrote:If nothing else, that's a very expensive punishment; fighter pilots are not cheap to train...

Pilots grounded for good after low flyover

By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Mar 22, 2010 7:00:04 EDT

NORFOLK, Va. — Two F/A-18E Super Hornet pilots from Strike Fighter Squadron 136 have been permanently grounded for flying too low before a Georgia Tech football game Nov. 7, according to a source.

The pilots, both mid-’90s graduates of Georgia Tech, flew over Bobby Dodd Stadium in downtown Atlanta at just a few hundred feet above the stadium, under the 1,000 feet minimum required by Navy rules.

Multiple videos of the flyover, posted on YouTube, show the planes screaming low over the stadium.

“I can confirm the incident did happen,” said Lt. Cmdr. Phil Rosi, spokesman for Naval Air Force Atlantic. “But it would be inappropriate to comment further as these are not public figures and have an expectation of privacy.”

But documents obtained by Navy Times and authenticated by a senior Navy official familiar with the investigation name the pilots as Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman and Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon. Both were assigned to non-flying jobs through an administrative process called a Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board, the results of which are not released by the Navy.

In the documents, Rear Adm. R.J. O’Hanlon, commander of AirLant, was unforgiving in his assessment of the incident and in Fryman and Condon’s future in naval aviation.

“Fryman failed to provide effective [crew resource management] for his flight lead and allowed an unsafe flyby to occur with nearly tragic consequences,” O’Hanlon wrote of the mission commander. “Despite his spotless record, his complacent, passive response to a major altitude transgression is unforgivable in my view.

“Continued aviation service involving flying is not in the best interest of Lt. Cmdr. Fryman or the United States Navy.”

O’Hanlon’s judgment of Condon was equally tough. The admiral wrote that Condon ignored low-altitude warnings and didn’t “keep altitude in his scan” and that the incident could have ended “tragically.”

O’Hanlon dismissed the conclusion by some of the reviewers of the board’s results that the altitude error was unintentional.

“The arguments written by prior endorsers that Lt. Cmdr. Condon’s actions were an honest mistake are not persuasive,” he wrote. “He is a senior, very experienced department head who placed his aircraft and wingman in a very dangerous position.”

Both will stay in the Navy, but O’Hanlon recommended both have a “warfare transition” to another officer community.

The pilots reported the low pass themselves upon landing and the Navy convened the evaluation board immediately to determine if the officers violated Navy rules.

Navy records show that Condon was reassigned to AirLant on Feb. 12, but Fryman’s record still shows him at VFA 136. However, sources say that he, too, is at AirLant.

“The results are tough for sure, but they broke the rules and got a proper punishment for what they did,” said the senior Navy official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. “It may seem tough, but it’s a safety issue and the admiral made the right call.”

JointStrikeFighter wrote:For all we know they may have been using automated TFR systems.

Sky Captain wrote:This is what I`d call low level flying.

eion wrote:

Sky Captain wrote:This is what I`d call low level flying.

Most of those were by single aircraft over calm water with no assets or personel below them. That is about as far away from what these two guys did as you can get. One of those was even a helo, give me a break.

I hope the A-10 guy had a damn good reason to do what he did. That's 10,000 different levels of reckless and insane right there.

Havok wrote:*sigh* First of all, it isn't 'behavior' it is a very specific event, a fly over of a game for your alma mator, done one time. These pilots have spotless records up until this point, so there is no pattern of behavior.

Second, no one is arguing that this was smart, or good judgment or that it couldn't of had a very harmful outcome.

I personally am just having a problem with the permanent grounding. Tell them not to do it again and they won't. Ground them for a while or dock their pay, something. But why throw away two pilots that have been, up until this one, very specific occurrence and event (something that will probably never even happen again), perfect.

Alyrium Denryle wrote: I could get behind wage garnishment... say, garnesh their wages until they pay back an amount of money equal to the chance of an accident multiplied by the average cost of said accident.

eion wrote:I hope the A-10 guy had a damn good reason to do what he did. That's 10,000 different levels of reckless and insane right there.

Mr Bean wrote:

Alyrium Denryle wrote: I could get behind wage garnishment... say, garnesh their wages until they pay back an amount of money equal to the chance of an accident multiplied by the average cost of said accident.

So in other words you want to put them into indentured servitude because the minimum amount is roughly sixty million dollars assuming they never hit the ground.

Havok wrote:I personally am just having a problem with the permanent grounding.

Tell them not to do it again and they won't.

But why throw away two pilots that have been, up until this one, very specific occurrence and event (something that will probably never even happen again), perfect.

Havok wrote: <snip>

eion wrote:There are very good reasons why we don't do low-flyovers over crowds.

(video snipped)

And that's one of the absolute best fighter pilots flying. Picture that with a stadium full of people right underneath him. 700 ft might not seem like a lot, but it may well be the difference between a recovered stall and a fiery crash.