It's not uncommon to see flyovers at major sporting events, and they can be pretty spectacular to watch. However, a flyover that happened in South Africa yesterday was maybe a little too impressive, to the point that it potentially put a lot of lives at risk. I'm curious what an investigation reveals into who authorized this, and if the plan was actually followed.
Wow. The fact that both planes did the same thing suggests that this was intentional and multiple people thought this was a good idea.
"it received regulatory approval for this" ... *regulators driving around in a brand-new G63*
TIA. Who were those captains, now? (Sorry, had to.) Glad no one got hurt. As a passenger, I really like Airlink, and have taken them numerous times throughout southern Africa. This incident has been impressive free marketing for the airline... safety concerns aside (clearly, the airline agrees.)
"The airline claims this was all carefully rehearsed, and that it received regulatory approval for this. At the same time, that’s a real head scratcher. If true, why would regulators approve something like this, which clearly violates the rules?"
Well, specific approval would not be needed if the flight was 100% routine and compliant with the rules. A normal flight plan is all that is needed.
You only need approval on an exception basis for things that are contrary to the rules. So to my mind the implication here is that a special authority was granted to bend the usual rules.
"compliant with the rules"
Ben quoted the rules: South African Civil Aviation Regulation 91.06.32(1)(a), which dictates that an aircraft may not be flown over congested areas or an obvious open-air assembly of persons at a height less than 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a 2,000-foot radius.
Looked like within 50 feet, not 1,000.
1990, you missed my point. Permission can be granted to override the rules for specific situations. Just because something is normally disallowed does not mean that an exception cannot be granted.
Put another way, no rule is absolute.
“Our lowest recorded ADS-B altitude was 50 ft at standard pressure, or approximately 205–210 ft AMSL when corrected for the local QNH of 1019 hPa,” Flightradar24 said. (Turns out, I was right on the money about ‘50 feet.’ Bah!)
Sure, rules, exceptions, but, yikes, that’s too close regardless.
There is ZERO chance any regulator gave an approval for a regional airliner to clear the top of a stadium filled with 60,000 people by ≈ 20'. That is an indefensible cost/benefit ratio. Heads should roll.
A lot of South Africans are commenting "We fly planes over buildings not into them." Yeah the flyover was cool, but very dangerous and negligent. Glad no one got hurt and there wasn't an accident.
The commercial plane fly-overs always make me giggle a bit. They lack in "Aura" compared to military flyovers. Pretty sure South Africa lost this game too lol.
No, the SA Springboks won in that rugby match against NZ, 33-26. It was game 2 of a 4-match series; they're now tied 1-1. (Who knows, maybe this has brought more interest in the game...)
I was in SA last month and flew Airlink back to JNB from Namibia (great airline, much better than the SA Airways flight to Namibia). This game series got a lot of press in Airlink’s inflight magazine. The All Blacks were traveling throughout SA, and (I think), the female teams were competing as well. I imagine the games were pretty good.
The South African armed forces don't have enough airworthy aircraft to conduct any sort of impressive display nowadays
No armed forces?
Time to invade South Africa for it's resources. EZ PZ just like Venezuela. All they need to do is blame some drug or terrorist operations there even if it doesn't exist.
@Eskimo - I believe there are two IRGC Navy ships berthed at Simonstown Naval Base right now. I was down there last week and it seemed like there was Farsi being spoken on every other street corner.
I see what your doing Sean M. 😉
Speaking Farsi is more than enough excuse that some insurgents are developing WMDs there.
IRGC vessels, now that's a state sponsored operation.
Need to search and occupy the country to restore peace and safety in the region.
And this has nothing to do with blockading the blockade of the blockade of Good Hope shipping lanes. 😉
Which is the best part, because most people don't realize how much oil sails through Good Hope.
Hi to people in the future reading this from 2026.
There's your trust in humans.
“The airline claims this was all carefully rehearsed…”
Sure Jan.
Airlink may claim it was carefully rehearsed; they can claim what they like, but it certainly was never rehearsed over the stadium in Green Point, at all, ever.
Its called a simulator. This was rehearsed extensively there without doubt. Airlink has its own very impressive simulator facility in Johannesburg set up in partnership with Embraer.
"S-i-m-u-l-a-t-o-r-?"
I learned something new today! Thank you for condescending ...er... teaching that to me.
We've all seen the old SAA 747 flybys over Johannesburg, but those weren't 50 feet above the stadium. This one would have scared the crap out of me. Just glad I wasn't a passenger either of these planes, though I assume I have been in the past, considering how often I find myself on the JNB-CPT and v.v. flights.
There were no passengers on these aircraft.
One of the many conditions imposed by SACAA was that there should be no more than 3 person on each aircraft - two operating pilots and one safety pilot on the jumpseat.
"There were no passengers on these aircraft."
I know. I was making a wisecrack. 🙂 🙂 🙂
South Africa knows how to party !
These flypasts are exceptionally authorised by SACAA for pretty much every major international rugby match in South Africa, as well as public events like presidential inaugurations. They are subject to specific parameters depending on winds, visibility and other conditions. These have been done by Emirates, Qatar Airways, SAA, flySafair in recent memory in addition to Airlink.
Airlink has issued a statement that this operation was conducted within the parameters agreed with the regulator. They did a similar flypast at Ellis Park last weekend and have another planned for next weekend at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg subject to weather.
It was a spectacular display. Hopefully they can top it next week if the weather holds up.
'top it'... how?! (Or, did you mean, literally, like, touch the top of it, as in, the stadium's roof...)
Well, the Minister of Sports posted that they can try to land on the pitch next week (and knowing him, that's only half joking).
This started in 1995 for the Rugby World Cup final using the famous Ndazani Rainbow Nation liveried 747. It flew over Ellis Park stadium (a little bit higher) and was spectacular.
Repeating it every Saturday this month using Airlink’s boring Embraers is just lame.
If you look at the 1995 flyover it clears the airport by well over 100'. No comparison in risk.
I think you mean stadium, rebel. I never mentioned risk and specifically said the 747 was higher. And 100 times cooler.
Fake, fake...fake, fake, fake... (/Elaine)
Shame on you for spreading such obvious photographic lies.
Come on. This is EXACTLY why the world sucks now (greed and self-interest over integrity).
Really? That's a lot of fakes and an indication of just how indefensible it was, but methinks thou doth protest too much. S African perhaps?
No idea WTF you're talking about. I didn't bother reading any of this nonsense. All I did was take one look at the first photo and laughed, then felt disgust over the fact that people don't even realize when they are spreading complete bullshit nowadays. Don't care about any of the text, the photo is a lie, is laughably bad, and so fake that it's shameful enough by itself.
Zero credibility, zero integrity, do anything for clicks and eyeballs, anything to put money in your pocket. Sound familiar? This is the downfall of our civilization - when people are so stupid and so greedy they don't care and don't even know when they're pushing lies.
You might want to do a simple Google search because UNFORTUNATELY it is not fake. So, we'll mark you down as agreeing it is unsafe since you assumed it had to be fake because if it was real it was indefensible.
Someone on Facebook suggested that this was AI, but I think that's unlikely. For starters, the closest they fly to Cape Town is Mauritius.
Nice try at "Population Control" and Failing at that!
Watched this live on TV as it happened, I thought it was AI!
You need to check records. This has been done before over the stadium. At the Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg SAA flew an A340 incredibly low over the stadium while Nelson Mandela was in the stadium. Go watch the 2009 film Invictus with Matt Damon and you will see the recreation. The film doesnt show the SAA colours on the plane because they wouldn't provide funds for the film so director Clint Eastwood didn't show the plane in SAA livery. So you don't need to be a panic merchant for clicks.
'panic merchant'? This story has been all over aviation twitter/reddit since it happened. If anything, it's been a free marketing bonanza beyond Airlink's wildest dreams.
Then there's this...
..."the brave stuntwoman is standing at the pinnacle of the Burj Khalifa by Emaar once again, holding up message boards with an invitation to visit the world’s greatest show, Expo 2020 Dubai, on the iconic Emirates A380. She then gestures to her ‘friend’, the eye- catching Emirates A380 wearing the Expo 2020 Dubai livery, which gracefully soars in the background as she stands firmly on the spire of the world’s tallest building."
"You need to check records. This has been done before over the stadium."
You need to look at each video. There is no comparison between the two, but you probably already knew that.
To those that are saying "This has been done before", please read the article again. Particularly the part that says that the thousands of spectators in the stadium probably would not have agreed to being a party to this stunt.
"But everyone is doing it" is not good enough when you put innocent lives at stake.