# Why are we wasting money on flyovers?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 12, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-wasting-money-on-flyovers/853651 "2020-05-12T17:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 30
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-wasting-money-on-flyovers/853651/30 "2020-05-12T23:18:43Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Dude, there is no fucking way that flying straight and level at 1,500 AGL is an essential flight task for maintaining proficiency. On the other hand, you have to be pretty damn amazing to fly wingtip-to-wingtip like they do at _any_ altitude without crashing. Not sure how high they were flying today, but from the airshows in the past I know that they don’t fly OVER the skyscrapers, they fly BETWEEN them (I have actually been in one of the Loop towers and looked _DOWN_ at one of those jets passing by). That sort of flying requires a level of skill and discipline which is just not that common. It’s not just being “stunty”, either - being able to cover hundreds of miles to arrive over a precise spot at a precise time is another form of precision. Not sure if in-air fueling is involved in any of that, but it might be and if it is that’s another skill to be practiced. > [@The Dresden Files - Latecomer Ongoing Discussion (spoilers possibly?)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dresden-files-latecomer-ongoing-discussion-spoilers-possibly/850958/36): > > But my recollection from talking to folks at Air Combat Command is that each proficiency flight needs to check a handful of tasks to maintain proficiency in them. I strongly suspect that these flights are just racking up flight hours with little benefit to the pilots. Is anyone really going to argue that the Thunderbirds spending one hour doing a low flight over Baltimore and DC is anywhere near as valuable as an hour on the Western Range doing all the cool shit that they weren’t allowed to do during this publicity stunt? Wait, it wasn’t even a publicity stunt, because there was nothing stunt-y about it. You know what’s funny? I’m actually a pilot but I don’t feel I have enough knowledge to speculate on what sort of tasks go into a demonstration team proficiency flight. Frankly, I don’t know how many discrete tasks these pilots do in one of these fly-bys. I do know that part of their “mission” is outreach and showing the public what the hardware looks like in motion. And you are, in fact, wrong - formation flying at the distance and speed they do IS a type of stunt flying. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-wasting-money-on-flyovers/853651)._