The biggest problem was the came up with a crappy cover-up/lie. Their story was bogus, and the Admiral deemed them liars. That is why -2 went down as well. He should have gotten off lighter since he was staring down the wingline of lead, but his cover-up was the same.
Above quoted from another board. It wasn't the actual rule breaking/saftey issue as much as the conduct of the pilots after the event.
Originally Posted by
ryan1234
...and more info concerning the TCU flyby.
If those 2 lost their wings for being too low, does that mean this guy went to jail?
Nope. I met that guy, he's friends with the people that sit in front of me at Navy football games. He was grounded for two weeks and than he retired. The way he put it - "I knew it was going to be my last flight before retirement, the squadron didn't." He also said that as he climbed out and contacted ATC, his first question was "who am I supposed to call when I land?"
This guy owned up to his actions immediately and got off pretty easy. Admittedly, he was retiring but his flyby was way more risky and he could have been an easy target to be an example of what could happen to your wings after making a poor decision.
Just food for thought as I agree with most of what has been posted so far. As always, owning up to your actions and facing the consequences seems to be a better path than trying to lie your way out of it, IMO.