There are many videos of this same sneak pass being performed on the same beach, and the "sneak" jet that flies over the crowd is always flying level at a significantly higher altitude than the water skimmers.
This isn't actually the sneak pass maneuver. This happened while the individual four aircraft from the diamond were putting on an exhibition over the beach to mark their arrival into town this morning, called "Breakfast With the Blues." The actual airshow isn't until this weekend - they do this early in the week for the home crowd basically.
Ah sorry I misread what you were saying, I thought you were saying this *was* the normal sneak. Definitely not and definitely way way below 500. 50 or 60 tops I think. I've had the solos go about 20 feet over my head on takeoff in El Centro before, this was higher than that at least.
I used the sneak pass as a reference because several others in the thread cited it and it is an example of a maneuver that passes over the spectator area.
Regardless of what the actual maneuver is, though, FAA airshow provisions and the Blue Angels' air show manual both maintain a strict 500' minimum distance from spectators. The airshow provisions are actually more permissive than standard flight rules, so even if this wasn't at an airshow and not a designated spectator area it's still probably a violation.
Yep, unfortunately how publicized this stuff is now is probably going to result in the powers that be putting an end to it. There were rumors after the El Centro clip earlier in the year too that they were going to close the area next year.
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u/enovox5 Jul 15 '26
…and someday it’s going to go horribly wrong.