[abe]

Pilot sacked over 777-300ER fly by

YouTube - Cathay Pacific Very Low Flyby of 777-300ER

When Boeing delivered a new 777-300ER to Cathay Pacific on Jan. 30, the event turned out to be a lot more exciting than anyone may have expected.

After taking delivery of the new jet, the Cathay Pacific pilot made a low-level pass, with wheels up, just above the Paine Field runway before the big jet headed off to Hong Kong --with Cathay Pacific Chairman Chris Pratt and other VIPs among the more than 60 people on board.

The stunt, which apparently had not been approved by the airline, got the pilot fired and the copilot suspended, it was reported Monday.

A video of the fly by was recently posted on You Tube. It appears to show the 777 came within 50 feet or so of the runway.

I spoke Monday with one of Boeing's top test pilots, and although this person would not comment directly about the incident, the pilot did did say that any such maneuver would need to be carefully planned in advance by the air crew, and have been appoved by air traffic control.

It's not clear if air traffic controllers cleared the Cathay Pacific jet for the low-level pass. The FAA did not return my phone calls seeking comment.

Low-level fly bys are not uncommon.

Earlier this year, I was on a 777-300ER delivery flight and we made a similar low-level fly by. The Qatar Airways jet flew just above the runway at Doha, Qatar before landing, as airline officials watched from the tarmac. But that pass had been coordinated by the Qatar pilots, and approved by the airline as well air traffic control at the Doha airport.

Pilots and others who have viewed the You Tube video of the Cathay Pacific plane have weighed in with comments on You Tube, some praising the skills of the pilot and others arguing the action was unsafe.

One note about the video: It's fast, but if you slow the video down you can see two 747 Large Cargo Freighters parked in the background as the 777 swoops just above the Paine Field runway. The freighters are used to ferry 787 composite wings and one-piece fuselage sections to Boeing's Everett plant for final assembly of the Dreamliner.

[abe]

And this is part of a report that appeared Monday in The Times of London.

Ben Quinn
25 February 2008
The Times

A British pilot has been dismissed for "buzzing" a control tower in a Top Gun style stunt during the maiden flight of a Boeing jumbo jet.

Captain Ian Wilkinson astonished passengers by taking the 230-tonne Cathay Pacific jet to within 28ft (8.5m) of the ground shortly after take-off from Boeing's US manufacturing plant.

The 322mph fly-by was cheered by onlookers, and the pilot, who is said to be one of the most senior aviators with the airline, later toasted the flight with champagne.

Footage of the stunt on January 30 was leaked on to the internet, however, and Mr Wilkinson was suspended. Cathay Pacific executives took a dim view of his actions, which were carried out without authorisation, and he was dismissed after a disciplinary meeting last week.

Ray Middleton, his British co-pilot, who had been unaware that the fly-by was performed without official permission, was suspended from training duties for six months.

Chris Pratt, the chairman of Cathay Pacific, is said to have been among the VIP passengers who were on board the Pounds 100 million plane, a 777-300ER that had taken off from the plant in Everett, Washington, en route for Hong Kong, where the airline is based.

Mr Wilkinson, who is in his mid-fifties and has lived in Hong Kong for more than 15 years, earned more than Pounds 250,000 a year.

Cathay Pacific is conducting an internal investigation and will submit a report to aviation authorities.

A spokesman said: "The pilot in command of the flight was dismissed as he had neither sought nor obtained the necessary company approval to undertake such a fly-by."

The airline had a well-established approval process for such manoeuvres and had conducted them in the past at air shows but only "with proper approval in place".

A Cathay Pacific pilot has claimed that Mr Wilkinson's job was put in jeopardy only after footage of the incident appeared on the internet.

He said: "Wilkinson was very much one of the elite in Cathay Pacific and would have been very chummy with the airline executives he was flying that day. If no one else had found out about it the incident would probably have gone no further, but once it began circulating on the internet and Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Authority got hold of it, that was the end of him."

Mr Wilkinson is thought to be considering an appeal against his dismissal.

The swoop has become a hot topic on internet forums for pilots, with some praising the stunt but others criticising it as dangerous. Cathay Pacific has issued a notice to all crew reminding them of the company's policy.

Pilot sacked over 777-300ER fly by

[d4nth3m4n]

meh, you do stupid sh*t, you get fired. i've disabled flash, but i bet that video is pretty cool.

buzzing the tower is only cool in tom cruise movies.

[design219]

I think there must be a bit more to this than we are told.

If every company canned their most senior people for making one stupid move, business would grind to a halt. Could it be this was just the reason they were waiting for to get rid of a high-priced pilot?

A reprimand and maybe a short term suspension would have kept that from ever happening again.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by d4nth3m4n 

buzzing the tower is only cool in tom cruise movies.

Since TCLTC, "buzzing the tower" takes on a whole new meaning.

[MM-o4]

did the guy heading the air traffic control spin his coffee like in top gun? That would have been cool

[chabig]

Originally Posted by design219 

I think there must be a bit more to this than we are told.

If every company canned their most senior people for making one stupid move, business would grind to a halt. Could it be this was just the reason they were waiting for to get rid of a high-priced pilot?

A reprimand and maybe a short term suspension would have kept that from ever happening again.

No. By the time you get to be that senior, it's assumed that you possess good judgement. A breach of discipline that severe is intolerable. That man knew better.

[Cipher13]

Originally Posted by chabig 

No. By the time you get to be that senior, it's assumed that you possess good judgement. A breach of discipline that severe is intolerable. That man knew better.

Apparently he didn't.

Chances are there's a lot we don't know - it may have been authorised on some level and he may have been under the impression he was allowed to perform the flyby.

GIve the guy the benefit of the doubt when you don't actually know anything about the situation.

[Art Vandelay]

From the main page of seattletimes.com, Local News | 777 pilot fired for buzzing airport | Seattle Times Newspaper

[imitchellg5]

That sort of low pass without pre planning is very dangerous. Planes do flybys all the time at Paine and even more often at Boeing Field, but not that low. The pilot is a dumbass. If he flew that low with the company chairman on board, he isn't the most intelligent person ever. And how would you have liked to be the pilot who wrecked the first brand spankin new 777-300ER? What a lack of common sense.

[mduell]

It was dumb of him not to get permission from operations to do the same flyby every other Cathay delivery does.

[abe]

Here's a different look at the fly by. Video shot from an observation deck.

VIDEO: Cathay Pacific 777 low-level flypast: Watch the withdrawn video

[finboy]

Originally Posted by design219 

I think there must be a bit more to this than we are told.

If every company canned their most senior people for making one stupid move, business would grind to a halt. Could it be this was just the reason they were waiting for to get rid of a high-priced pilot?

A reprimand and maybe a short term suspension would have kept that from ever happening again.

Nope, when talking about flying passenger jets (or any jets) one stupid move can kill several thousand people. Boeing will pull his rating, if they haven't already. Just stupid.

[design219]

Originally Posted by finboy 

Nope, when talking about flying passenger jets (or any jets) one stupid move can kill several thousand people. Boeing will pull his rating, if they haven't already. Just stupid.

If this were a regular passenger flight, maybe, but I'll almost bet the VIPs on board were all for it. This is not all that dangerous a stunt for a skilled pilot.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by design219 

If this were a regular passenger flight, maybe, but I'll almost bet the VIPs on board were all for it. This is not all that dangerous a stunt for a skilled pilot.

Apparently they were not for it since they fired him.