Another example of how military leadership emphasizes the wrong things. Flyby's are some of the least risky things we do. They are usually well-planned and flown by experienced pilots.

If one were to scrutinize the last 20 years of mishap data, how many organized/sanctioned flyby mishaps would be found? My guess would be close to zero.

Now, poor pilot skills, those have led to many mishaps. I can speak for all of the services except for the Army (I was both an AETC and CNATRA IP) and can say that the emphasis is on just getting them out the door. It is nearly impossible to wash out a student in USAF UPT or USN/USCG/USMC flight training.

It does not stop at flight training. To quote KC10FatBoy from another thread: "We've had C-5 crews do circles on the NATs and near missed airliners. We've had C-17s land gear up. We've had KC-10 crews enter accelerated stalls. We've had crews fly into so much sovereign airspace without clearance from the host country, I can't list them all here. We've had crews land at the wrong airfields. We've had crews make one digit mistake in entering lat longs for the NATs and thus lost separation and caused TCAS RAs on the NATs. Blah blah blah blah blah. ....."

Every year, marginal students are sent to the fleet with a known deficiency in basic flying skills - a risk that is accepted without question by those leaders who refuse to attrite them. Marginal flying skills are accepted in the operational squadrons. Minimally experienced crews are paired up without a second thought. This is what the AF Times reported about the 2009 E-3 mishap at Nellis: "Neither pilot was an “experienced” E-3 pilot, but that is common for E-3 crews, the report said. [CP] had logged only 132 hours in E-3s. [AC] had 387 E-3 hours and 1,819 hours overall in Air Force planes."

Military leadership makes decisions every day that result in real increases in risk. They refuse to take steps to make real improvements in crewmember proficiency or capability. No one thinks twice. But......fly over a stadium at 800' vs 1,000' and there is going to be hell to pay for that incredible risk that you took.