Originally Posted by
cardiomd
Indeed. A gust, or much any other disturbance will be outside the airplane's control authority or pilot reaction time, and somebody is killed, no matter how good this pilot feels he is.
However, I suspect that this was a stunt and there was a bit more involved -- you never see the filming person and they are not doing a walking motion, so perhaps they are on a segway or scooter, or it is a mounted camera with a person then lying nearby. I can't imagine that even a trained person would not attempt to duck or get out of the way, especially if they were "scared" screaming. He is a relatively safe distance away from the first guy.
Reminds me of this -- I'm sure most people have seen this (warning, potentially disturbing, but the guy survived and was reportedly completely fine afterward.) Is it on a FAA training video? Where did I first see this many years ago:
Man gets hit by plane - YouTube
Read Jimmy Doolittle's biography, "I could never be so lucky again".
In it he describes his early days learning to fly in the Army. He buzz's two of his buddies walking down a dirt road just off base. He comes in low on the first pass, trying to get them to dive into the cactus. They don't, they just flip him off, so he comes back, lower, and hits one of them in the head with his tire! He thought he'd killed him, but the guy was alright after a few minutes.
The stuff Jimmy (and others of that time) did and got away with (or died trying to do) is remarkable, viewed by today's safety standards. More guys died in pilot training than flying in WW2.