After reviewing the footage, I am at a loss to see the reason for forcing the MiG pilot to land. Aircraft routinely make passes that low over the airfield at airshows - including RIAT. Was the German pilot out-flying his British counterparts and the Brits had to ground him to save their honor? I've seen B-1B Lancers come over the runway at 450kts just 50 feet off the ground before.
It was because he was diving at high speed and pulling up at very low altitude. If he miscalculated the approach he could have crashed the plane. Still a shame they had him land.
I was at a airshow in England in the '80s where an WWII plane (from England I think) did a loop and looked have come to a perfect stop on the runway at the bottom. He actually hit the runway and died instantly while everyone was marveling at his expert maneuver. No smoke, flames or noise. One second he was moving the next he had come to a complete halt. The blokes always flew lower than we did.
@@riccardobraccini2647 I've seen a B1 fly around as low as that at an airshow... it was going damn fast too, it did a couple of low slow passes then disappeared for a few minutes and came back with it's wings fully swept back doing what I guess to be close to the sound barrier because I could hear the B1 cutting through the air a good few meters before I heard the engines. It was so low is caused all the dust, loose grass and bits to vortex behind it. I think this was at RAF Waddington (it could of been at RAF Scampton, pretty sure it was Waddington though) in the mid 90's.
