Low flyover lands two Oceana pilots in hot water

Two fighter pilots from Virginia Beach have been permanently grounded after flying too low over a packed Georgia Tech football game last year.

The aviators, both from Strike Fighter Squadron 136 at Oceana Naval Air Station and both Georgia Tech alumni, were supposed to pass over Bobby Dodd Stadium in downtown Atlanta at 1,000 feet, the standard altitude for military flyovers.

Plans called for two jets to pass overhead after the conclusion of the national anthem, shortly before Georgia Tech took the field against Wake Forest on Nov. 7.

Instead, the two F/A-18 Super Hornets flew just a few hundred feet above the stadium.

The low-altitude pass may not have been intentional, but it seemed to thrill the crowd. Within hours of the game, various fans posted videos on the Internet of the jets screaming overhead.

"However much of my tax $$ went to that, I'd gladly give it again for the same purpose," one fan wrote on a Georgia Tech sports blog two days after the flyover. "It was INCREDIBLE."

According to documents obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Condon and Lt. Cmdr. Marc Fryman reported the breach immediately after landing. The Navy quickly convened an evaluation board to consider whether they should continue flying.

The board found that they chose to fly using barometric altitude measurements (feet above sea level) instead of radar altitude measurements (feet above ground level) but failed to adjust their low-altitude warning systems accordingly.

By the time the alarm sounded, the pilots didn't have enough time to correct the mistake.

Although the pilots "inexplicably failed to recognize" how low they were flying, the board concluded, their lapse was neither intentional nor malicious. It recommended putting both pilots on probation, an outcome endorsed and forwarded up multiple levels of the chain of command.

But the final authority on the matter, Rear Adm. R.J. O'Hanlon, commander of Naval Air Force Atlantic, disputed the conclusion that Condon, the lead pilot, had unintentionally flown that low.

"The arguments written by prior endorsers that LCDR Condon's actions were an honest mistake are not persuasive," O'Hanlon wrote. "He is a senior, very experienced department head who placed his aircraft and wingman in a very dangerous position."

O'Hanlon also had tough words for Fryman. Despite a spotless record, O'Hanlon wrote, Fryman's complacent response to the altitude transgression and lack of situational awareness were "unforgiveable in my view."

Lt. Cmdr. Phil Rosi, a spokesman for the Norfolk-based Commander Naval Air Force Atlantic, said the Navy would not confirm the pilots' names. The field naval aviator evaluation board process is administrative, Rosi said, one of naval aviation's internal checks and balances, and carries with it an expectation of privacy.

"I can confirm that this incident happened," Rosi said, and because minimum established guidelines were violated, the Navy took appropriate action to handle it.

O'Hanlon's decision was not disciplinary, and he recommended that both men be retained and shifted to a different specialty. He described both as motivated and dedicated naval officers.

The report also noted that it was only Condon's second flyover - and his first as the pilot of the lead jet.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com