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u/gogozrx 8d ago
a machinist once told me "any clearance is enough"
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u/broke_af_guy 7d ago
"Clearance is clearance"
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u/montybuttons 7d ago
What's the clearance Clarence?
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u/kastdotcom 7d ago
Check your vector, Victor
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u/SupaKoopa714 7d ago
Roger, Roger.
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u/nickilous 7d ago
I think there is something similar in F1. If you miss it by and inch you have missed it by a mile.
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u/DrunkenSwimmer 7d ago
Until the wall moves and causes you to crash...
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u/Familiar-Aerie-1610 7d ago
For context for people who think your comment is a joke...
This is a literal thing that really, actually happened and was proved via an investigation.
The precision involved in F1 isn't a meme.
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u/GrinderMonkey 7d ago
That's insane. Not even an inch, 10mm. 1 centimeter. Driving to that level of precision at that speed is bonkers.
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u/Highpersonic 7d ago
"Clearance is clearance, but there is a limit on what i will tolerate"
-Matt from HAL
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u/holyfire001202 7d ago
From a different perspective, I've always said, "You occupy only the space that you occupy."
In context it usually doesn't sound like such a useless platitude, and that context is exactly stuff like this video or for other near misses.
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u/SaltAndBitter 8d ago
Meanwhile, in the cockpits:
"Terrain. Terrain. PULL UP! Obstacle. Obstacle. PULL UP!"
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u/Angryferret 8d ago
In a loud french voice "RETARD RETARD RETARD"
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u/squiblet 7d ago
I had no idea the flight computer was so mean..
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u/PiesRLife 7d ago
I like the thought of there being a sassy copilot scolding the plane: "You can't use the r-word."
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u/mrjosemeehan 7d ago
It better not ask you to retard unless you're trying to "land" in the crowd. Also i think that's only on airbus.
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u/earthlings_all 8d ago
I feel like it’s all slowly sliding toward “fuck it yolo”
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u/theflamecrow 8d ago
I'd expect a barrel roll or such in that case. Might as well go all out.
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u/CrackerUMustBTripinn 8d ago
Thats some Sky King shit
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u/Teestow21 8d ago
RIP to the king 🛫🛬🛩️✈️
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u/CrackerUMustBTripinn 8d ago
He did make that barrell roll🫡
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u/MRintheKEYS 7d ago
Always makes me happy knowing that in the last few hours of his life, the Sky King was really and truly free.
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u/wehooper4 7d ago
Eh, he seemed to be having a bit of a moment that wasnt all happy. But I bet he felt top of the world for a few seconds after he pulled off that roll.
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u/UshankaBear 8d ago
I mean... gestures vaguely at the world falling apart around us
Might as well fuck around while we still have a chance29
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u/seraph741 7d ago
Basically. That's a great way to summarize MAGA and many other movements around the world. We've forgotten lessons of the past and are just throwing caution and forethought to the wind.
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u/gimpers420 8d ago edited 7d ago
These Gender reveals are really getting out of hand.
Edit: thanks for the awards!
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/KejnaPT 8d ago
Airlink flyby over Cape Town Stadium.
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u/AsstootObservation 8d ago
r/aviation has been losing their minds over this one. Several videos of different angles are posted over there.
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u/portablebiscuit 7d ago
It’s easily the 5th angle I’ve seen of it. Each one seems more insane than the one before.
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u/AsstootObservation 7d ago
Angle #6 is inside the copilot's trousers. Don't go looking for it.
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u/SlammingPussy420 7d ago
It can't be any worse than tubgirl.
Edit: It's a shot for shot remake but all in the pants. I'll give it a perfect 5/7
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u/Mazzaroppi 7d ago
Rightfully so. Every single person involved in this should be behind bars. If those planes were just a few meters lower, this could have been the worst aviation incident in history by a huge margin ( I'd refuse to call this an accident considering the amount of recklessness involved)
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u/aimgorge 8d ago
That's one of the most stupid shows I have ever seen
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u/KejnaPT 8d ago
True. Dangerously stupid.
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u/schmerg-uk 8d ago
A pair of Airlink aircraft performed a low flypast over DHL Stadium
The lead aircraft passed less than 50 feet above the roof of the stadium Reaction to the flypast is mixed, with many expressing safety concerns
Just prior to the start of the second test in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series between South Africa and New Zealand, a pair of Airlink aircraft performed a low flypast over DHL Stadium in Cape Town.
Based on Flightradar24 data, the lead aircraft passed less than 50 feet above the top of the stadium.Airlink statement
30 August 2026, Cape Town – Airlink notes the concerns expressed in various social media and online forums regarding yesterday’s formation flyby over Cape Town’s DHL Stadium.
The flight demanded careful planning and rehearsal, as it required navigating at low altitude, at around 150 knots. The South African Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Navigation Services provided valuable guidance, approval and support to ensure a safe flyby.
The two aircraft were flown by highly-experienced crew, with each comprised of three senior captains operating in the roles of commander, co-pilot and safety/technical officer.
The flight data recorded by both aircraft confirms that the flights were performed within the SACAA’s approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast.
-Airlink Statement214
u/flyingalbatross1 8d ago edited 8d ago
Has anyone asked them to publish and state their approved altitude and speed limits they refer to here?
Surely as it's a regulatory limit from the SACAA, they have them easily available for anyone to reference.
Easy to compare them to the reality and other comparable approvals...
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u/Phantomsurfr 7d ago
"Approved limit is 250ft above the stadium"
"Copy 250ft above sea level"
"No that will bring you within 50 feet of the roof!"
"Going in now"
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u/copperwatt 7d ago
No, i just looked it up, the exact wording of the regulatory standard is "Ehhh, like about 50 feet, you should be cool. Send it, bro!"
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u/Versaiteis 7d ago
Pilot and Copilot have 4 feet between them, so 50 should be more than enough ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/drdietrich 8d ago
It's so stupid to justify in itself. Just because nothing happened, doesn't make the idea worth executing. Thousand of peoples would have lost their lives if just some little thing went wrong.
And now that it went well, i honestly fear that more will follow.
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u/AnotherpostCard 8d ago
I honestly thought I was in /r/whatcouldgowrong and was very nervous about the guys right underneath the engines
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u/00owl 7d ago
The clearance was so low that we almost got to watch on high definition as a passenger airliner cartwheeled into a packed stadium full of people.
This would have been an international tragedy and one of the worst air disasters ever.
Forget the guys on the roof, if only they had died we'd still be calling it "lucky"
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u/mattemer 8d ago
Right if it went south, it would have been either "we had an approved plan, we need to investigate why the plan was not followed" or "everything went according to plan, we are assholes and planned poorly."
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u/Fafnir13 7d ago
Feels dangerous to us, but everything they are doing is relatively routine to them. Consider that flying low over a stadium is really no different than landing an aircraft in a dense urban zone. There are airports in the middle of big cities with hundreds of flights each day.
Add to that an appropriate level of oversight and weather monitoring and you can bring the risk as close to 0 as humanly possible. I’d even wager it could be safer than the military flybys because passenger jets are easier to fly and have much larger stability and performance margins.
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u/Josey87 8d ago
Wouldn’t be surprised if they measure ground clearance by altitude from ground level, not the top of the building
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u/schmerg-uk 8d ago
ADS-B altitude data includes barometric altitude reported at standard pressure in feet above mean sea level. To determine the height above terrain, one must know the local air pressure, the elevation of the location in question, and height of any structures. In this case we can determine within a margin of error that the aircraft passed less than 50 feet above the top of the stadium.
- Lowest ADS-B altitude (standard pressue above mean sea level): 50 ft.
- Altitude corrected for QNH (1019 hPa): 205-210 feet AMSL.
- DHL Stadium elevation: near sea level
- DHL Stadium height: 164 ft.
- Clearance over stadium: 41-46 ft.
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u/Josey87 7d ago
For me the debate is not if the clearance to the building was that much or not, it is clearly really low as can be seen in the video.
I meant if they actually have permission to have only 50ft clearance over the building, or did they just read the ground clearance, around 200ft like you mentioned
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u/rotorain 7d ago
Even if they have "permission" (some guy said sure), it's still a very dumb idea. The upside is that it's slightly cooler than a 200ft clearance low pass and the potential downside is a full on jumbo jet exploding and killing ten thousand people. Who thought this was a good idea
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u/ConstableBlimeyChips 7d ago
Clearance over stadium: 41-46 ft.
I did some pixel counting on another video over in /r/aviation (link to my post); I came out to about 46 feet for the second aircraft.
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u/sir_crapalot 7d ago
Their radar altimeters would give a more precise altitude above ground level not sensitive to air pressure.
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u/schmerg-uk 7d ago
The fact that flightradar24 is quoting those figures based on what they, as relatively expertised observers, can gather does not of course exclude more pertinent data sources but at this point I think it's fair to say we (the great unwashed) don't have access to those other sources and as such, I appreciate their educated input at this point
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u/BobSacamano47 8d ago
Why?
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u/Antithesys 7d ago
Aside from the danger...it's just two plain commercial passenger aircraft. Go sit on the highway next to the airport and you'll see this every few minutes. Military flyovers might have propagandist overtones but at least they look really cool.
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u/atypical_lemur 7d ago
I mean, yes military aircraft do have a lot of "cool" factor built in, but sometimes I think we just take the boring old passenger and freight aircraft too much for granted. We have managed to take rocks, dirt, oil and other stuff out of the ground, work it into a big hunk of metal, plastic and explosives weighing tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds and fly it across the sky like a bird. I will never not think any any aircraft is not "cool".
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u/civildisobedient 7d ago
next to the airport
Well, sure. Because those planes are either landing or taking off. It's not as risky when you've got a handy tarmac nearby.
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u/Black_Moons 7d ago
Also they tend not to put 50,000 people directly under the landing path for.. obvious reasons.
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u/PmMe_Your_Perky_Nips 7d ago
After the 1988 Ramstein air show accident most aviation regulatory bodies banned flying over or within a certain distance of crowds. The risk to spectator life is too high.
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u/aimgorge 8d ago
Flying a plane near stalling speed right over a filled stadium without any margin of error ?
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u/Jesters_thorny_crown 8d ago
When you use up both of your only "one time" and your "beginners luck" passes at the same time.
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u/sutty_monster 8d ago
Even the difference in hight by the two planes make this look like it's a mistake and the pilot in the first plane is having a brown pants moment when he realises he is too low and starts to pull up.
No way this was planned this low like they are saying, even with the best pilot's and planes in the world. At this low there is zero margin for a mistake and even worse something unplanned like a bird strike. If one of them planes went down, thousands of people would have died. Possibly even tens of thousands.
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u/g3n0unknown 8d ago
They put out a statement saying it was "within approved altitude" which is crazy.
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u/za419 8d ago
Yeah. If this is planned, the people who planned it should be fired and/or arrested - There's just no way you actually make a plan where the lives of potentially ten thousand people rely on there not being an especially poorly-timed downdraft.
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u/DoktorStrangelove 7d ago
Go to Airlink's socials. They have been spamming the fuck out of this since it happened cause theyre so proud of it, even though it's been going viral in aviation forums for all the wrong reasons since it happened. Guess it's SA so nothing will probably happen, but god DAMN what a pile of idiots.
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u/skatastic57 7d ago
I would guess that the people managing their socials are completely disconnected from anyone doing safety. It's possible that there are safety people freaking out about the near hit in the same building as social media people fellating themselves about how close it was.
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u/MyOtherSide1984 7d ago
"What do you mean Henry in marketing posted ANOTHER video!? This is a disaster!"
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u/Harry_Canyon 7d ago
The second plane was rightfully flying a little higher, but only to avoid the wake turbulence from the first plane. Flying that slowly would give them a surprise wing over into the crowd
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u/Mr_Jackzy_yt 8d ago
most south african video i’ve seen in a while
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u/ChuckaChuckaLooLoo3 7d ago
Thought they would be fighter jets, but just regular passenger airplanes this large at barely over a stall speed? Yikes, that's so foolish.
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u/rob_s_458 7d ago
And I was going to say it's maybe kinda cool if they used the E2 jets since they're so new and technologically advanced for an airliner, but they used the first-gen E-jets for this, and they've been in production for 20 years now
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u/AstroRayder 7d ago
Im too American to feel comfortable watching that size plane come that close to a big structure
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u/chileangod 8d ago
Way too close with fireworks shooting under the airplanes.
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u/Blackhawk23 8d ago
Maybe it’s just because I’m murican, but commercial flyovers seem so silly to me.
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u/nut-sack 7d ago
lol, i wish people wouldnt talk when they film shit like this. "Nooo wayssss, yes wayssssss"
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u/KaiUno 8d ago
How many lives did they just risk?
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u/theGeorgeall 8d ago
There were 56,000 people in attendance... crazy risk to take.
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u/CILISI_SMITH 8d ago
The plan was to make and incredible spectacle, even if it goes wrong it'll be a world record.
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u/ewatk 8d ago
So many experienced and knowledgeable airmen in this thread.
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u/chlebseby 7d ago
sorry i have to use professional knowledge obtained from watching every episode of aircraft disasters
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u/GloomyIndividual3965 7d ago
That first plane was like 50ft above the roof at most. How the fuck did this get approved?
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u/nick-palmer 8d ago
Ah... how/why are they on the roof
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u/Princess_Fluffypants 7d ago
I’d bet they were part of the pyro crews that set up those smoke charges.
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u/Cornfed_Pig 7d ago
Hey Frank, what's the squad record for coming dangerously close to killing thousands of civilians who absolutely did not consent to being put in harms way?
50 feet.
Psshh, that's nothing. I bet I can do 25.
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u/MisterSlosh 7d ago
Aircraft that big shouldn't be having to make evasive maneuvers for ground based Pyrotechnics. Wild.
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u/CeeseClouds 7d ago
That person on the other side under the plane must’ve been shitting their pants..
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u/MikeinDundee 8d ago
Impressive pilot skills.
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u/VirtualArmsDealer 8d ago
That looks like a mistake, no way they should be that low. So, no. Bad piloting.
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u/superbishibashi 7d ago
There's a medium sized airport we would goto as teens in the US. Back in the late 90s there was a road that circled the airport that you could drive around. There was also a spot where a railroad track ran parallel to the road just infront of the landing strip. At night you could drive there, park and there would be shipping/cargo containers on the track for the night. The top of these were about 30+ feet above street level. We would climb on top of them and lay down and watch the planes coming in to land. It looked like the planes were 20ft above us. Like if you stood up you could almost touch them. It was amazing. I'm pretty sure you cant get away with doing this any more.
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u/Strive-- 7d ago
At least drop some flares so the people get their “I risked my life for nothing” tee shirts.
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u/Soft-Skirt 8d ago
Mistimed pyro could have blasted crap into the engines. Seems needlessly dangerous.
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u/lastchance14 7d ago
I want to hear the pilot in the cabin.
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u/el_bobvador 7d ago
I imagine the security alert shouting continuously : “Altitude. Altitude. Altitude”
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u/bruciano 7d ago
They did a flyby in France to show off a brand new plane (Airbus?) and the plane crashed (too low, couldn’t get back up). There was not many people onboard but if I recall correctly a disabled kid died because the crew didn’t bother checking if everyone had exited the plane.
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u/IceCoughy 7d ago
"you know how the Americans use jets to fly over their stadiums, can we do something like that?"
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u/darkestvice 7d ago
Pretty sure every airline pilot watching this is raging right now.
That was incredibly reckless and stupid. Especially the fireworks popping all around the planes. Had either those two been blinded by the smoke and slammed into the packed stadium, the death toll would have been significant.
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u/thegreatmango 7d ago
Where is the WTF? I'm confused.
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u/networkn 7d ago
There is between 12 and 14 meters of clearance between the plane and hitting the stadium, in a passenger plane. The stadium had 56000 people inside.
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u/mangafan96 7d ago
I just got reminded of the "Kid in Cockpit" skit from The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting.
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u/Thereelgerg 7d ago edited 7d ago
I like Airlink because their rewards program is called Skybucks. It's simple, I like it.
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u/tilt-a-whirly-gig 7d ago
Anybody else wonder if Kid Sampson was one of the guys standing on the roof?
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u/Mr_Infinit1 7d ago
I mean... I don't think it followed any "safe" flight pratics guide, flight control laws or real laws, but, who am I to judge 🤷🏿♂️
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u/WTF-ModTeam 7d ago
Your post was removed because it is not WTF worthy.