Fly Over

[SitFlyer]

Someone emailed me this pic. Thought I'd share.

We have all seen a military fly over, from ground level ... but this awesome picture was taken from the #3 ship, which has just pulled up out of the formation - therefore the "missing man" of the Missing Man Formation to honor our fallen service men and women. It was taken while flying over a Texas A & M. football game!!!!

[Marshmallowman]

very cool

[az]

Sorry, but this looks very photoshopped. The detail level on the ground is much higher than that of the jets, even though the ground moves at a higher relative speed than the other jets. The photographer's jet is also blurry (OK, this could be due to exhaust heat), while the pilot himself is tack sharp. There is no exhaust heat that blurs the stadium, so heat can't be an explanation for the frontmost jet's blurriness. The jets all have more JPEG artifacts than the ground, even though the ground shows higher detail, which means the jets probably come from a picture with a higher compression rate than the ground shot. The borders of the jets look funny.

[az]

Oh, the pilot AND the ground are sharp, which can only be done with a very closed down aperture. A small aperture however means raising either ISO or using a long exposure. A long exposure would have induced motion and shake blur to the ground and the other aircraft and shake blur to the pilot. I can't see any significant high ISO noise (though the shot has of course be downsampled and lacks detail). If this is a real shot, it's spectacular, and there is no reason only to release it in such a crappy quality. There are no cameras capable of shots like this one that have this poor an image quality.

[lowlifecat]

az beat me to it; there is no way that is a real pic.

compairing shadows on the ground to shadows in the cockpit are alright. look at tails of the jets to the right and left, the shadows are different.

[cjolley]

Also, wouldn't that be the wrong plane in a Missing Man ?

[DukeP]

Spoilsports..


~~DUkeP~~

[Brian Ellis]

Not the same photo, but I suggest that it was taken from the same Goodyear balloon, probably on the same day

[SitFlyer]

I did a little searching. It may be real.

http://www.codeonemagazine.com/events/arp_00/events_30.html

Spads Fly Over College Station
Pilots from Air Force Reserve Command’s 301st FW in Fort Worth flew a missing-man formation last November over Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, before the start of the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football game. The flyover followed an invocation and a period of silence to honor the eleven students and one A&M graduate killed during the construction of the annual Texas A&M bonfire. Four A&M graduates flew the mission in F-16s from the wing’s 457th FS.

[az]

It may have been a real event, but I'd bet money that the image itself was photoshopped.

[SitFlyer]

I found a larger view of the second one.

It's definitely a composite

[aceadair]

All you guys are wrong. I dont know if it was photoshopped or not. I was there and I saw it from the ground. YES the missing man pulls UP AND OUT of the formation. In this one he did it late in the fly over and I dont know why he did it late. The missing man formation was for the Texas A&M Bonfire Collapse. NOT the USA Troops. I dont know why you guys are guessing at this but it is all wrong.

[KRSESQ]

As cool as the pic is, I'm forced to concur. It is Photoshopped. Assume the three tail planes are in level flight. Look at the building immediately below the second plane and observe the shadow on the ground. The vertical stabilizers of all three aircraft should exhibit the same shadow angle across the aft fusilage. Instead we see shadowing consistant with a sun angle almost directly overhead and a little to the pilots' left.

No one is doubting that the flyover actually occurred at this event (for whatever reason), but someone must have created this image for promotional purposes or just for something cool-looking.

Kevin

edit The clincher is the shadow of the vertical stabilizer on the far right-hand plane. Observe that the shadowed side of the stabilizer is on the side of the aircraft which should be receiving full sun!

Seems a shame to rain on such a splendid parade.

[az]

Kevin said it all, and I've said in my last post above that the event may have been real but the photo is certainly and obviously not.

Is a pilot even allowed or able to take this kind of photos in this kind of maneuver?

[VJ]

Is a pilot even allowed or able to take this kind of photos in this kind of maneuver?

It could be the co-pilot...

However, strictly legally, it is forbidden to take pictures from an aircraft without prior permission from the proper aviation authority period. So all of you who have photographed from a plane are in violation of this law.
(no doubt it dates back to before large-scale passenger travel, and most likely it has its roots in espionage, but the law is still valid)


Jörg