" I can do it I can do it I can do it I can do it "

*sniff sniff, aww man *

bet he felt stupid as shit at the end of that.

uhm, it sorta looks intentional. pretty risky, no doubt, but I think that fast stall recovery is a feature, not a fault

Looks very similar to the situation with the Thunderbird crash when the pilot ejected just before crashing.

How do you know it was a near crash? Usually these demo routines are very carefully thought out and practiced.

I agree with Engels and cybrbeast... It looks like a very well calculated and practiced maneuver. Not an almost-crash.

Low flying planes experience something called the Ground Effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_in_aircraft) which basically means that when an aircraft is an altitude roughly the same as it's wing-span, the lift generated by the wings is increased. It's a well known aviation effect.

Check out this older sift http://www.videosift.com/video/Amazing-aerobatics-by-Russian-fighter-jet Its more than just ground effect. Ever since the SU-27, this has been an unspoken benchmark for fighter jet manouverability. Its sorta like bmx freestyle for jets.

Aye seems like pretty intentional to me as well.

Yeah no almost crash there.

this was filmed during Eurofighter's practice display at 2005 RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo), Fairford airfield. this is what I managed to find about the incident - from an aviation photographer, who was present at the practice: "during the Eurofighter Typhoon practice display the pilot (a Sqn Leader) made a serious misjudgement which caused the tower to call an immediate halt to his display (STOP STOP STOP heard on radio) and land. As he was only 1.5 minutes into his 10+ minute display he flew to high altitude with afterburners on to burn off the fuel before landing. Apparently later that evening he re-did his practice but removing one of the sequences and got approval for displaying on the Saturday/Sunday." (read more)
here's the same event filmed from the other side of the runway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwEAr5MtCbA

RAF ftw :]

Thanks for the further backstory there Kulpims, that didn't look in any way intentional to me. I'm no pilot, but I reckon in no way would one approach the ground that fast just to fly along at a meter above it.

wow. That's the kind of stuff I dreamed of doing when I was a kid.

I'm just as happy working in a cubicle an answering to people that don't understand my job though.... really... I am. Right?

Ok, I Literally had my Jaw...locked wide open. Prolly first time thats happened on the sift. It was just so beautiful how you could see it all unfold, great camera work. Upvote