Flying jets through the Grand Canyon

[Rob L]

They wouldn't be allowed to do it today, but back in 1959, experienced military pilots would sometimes buzz the Grand Canyon when flying out of nearby Nellis AFB.
At the time, RAF pilot Ron Dick was an exchange officer with the US Air Force, training students in a Lockheed T-33.
Fellow instructor Bud Pratt recalls that during these Canyon flights, the pilots would fly low enough that water would spray up from the river.

Video (http://www.airspacemag.com/multimedia/videos/Jetting-Through-the-Grand-Canyon.html)

[KapitanSparrow]

Nice! :2thumbs:

[Cirrus2000]

Wow - that's pretty cool! Amazing to see the footage down low by the river. And the rolls in the canyon are pretty neat, too!

The T-33 Shooting Star is a venerable old bird. There's one on display outside the ATC training facility in Ontario that I attended.

I remember back in the mid '90s, when I worked in IFR flight data, we would plot military missions off the west coast. They used old CT-133 Silver Stars (the Canadian version - we built over 600 of them) as targets, simulating a cruise missile, as none of the other jets could fly slow enough! They're all out of service now...

[DiscGo]

That is pretty darn awesome!