On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 19:50:03 GMT, "gatt" wrote:

I've only watched it about a hundred times now. Let's see...ballpark
estimates would put the prop diameter at around 7', and he appears to have
been some fraction of that off the ground, GEAR UP...

Good God. I just can't imagine who would do that. Reminds me of Piece of
Cake where they're flying under the stone bridge (best flying footage in
anything I've ever watched, really.)

Do you know any details about the shoot? What airplane was it?

I read an explanation in another group.

The gist is as follows: It was to be an introduction to a Discovery
program, if I remember right, and is about two years old. The
"talent" is supposed to introduce the piece and he's supposed to
finish his introduction in time for the Spitfire to zoom past.

I will extrapolate a bit and suggest that very likely the Spitfire had
run a pass or two ahead of time so that the filmers could time his
approach and work out how long the intro could be.

This could have happened at any time prior to the "talent" arriving
for his part. I say this because it seems pretty obvious that the guy
has no idea how close the pass will be.

This, again pretty obviously, is the first take.

Here's an additional detail: the pilot of the Spitfire is a guy who
flies it in shows a lot and has the reputation for flying extremely
low. If you watch the approach carefully, you'll notice that the guy
is so low, he actually has to climb a bit to clear the camera crew.
His prop disc, at one point, appears to be only about four feet above
the turf.

It was a pass in which the Spitfire circles out of camera view, and
dives down to begin the approach. He isn't taking off and climbing
out right over the crew.

Corky Scott