Grumman F-14 Tomcat Low Pass !

Is this photo actually real? He appears so close to the carrier that with the wingtip below deck level (and thats the LSO platform in the background) that any turn into the ship would result in a crash. And on knife edge like that he'd have to be turning very hard indeed in order to avoid sinking. And from the contrails and stab position he does appear to be turning into the ship. I've seen this photo before and always thought it was a photo shop job.

The photo is real. The pilot is CAPT Dale Snodgrass, USN RET. I saw the photo on the wall in his office in '95.

I was on the fight deck when that was taken. USS America. I was hold a camera in my hands until about 0.5 seconds after this photo was taken. The sound shock wave made me drop it into the catwalk.

The photo you see there was taken by a tripod in the "junkyard" behind the super-structure.

JC VF-33 AT3

I have seen this photo elsewhere on the internet with the comment that the pilot was grounded for a short period following this incident. The pilot said that it was worth it.

What is giving the aircraft lift? Why aren't the rudders turned to compensate for gravity?

There is an article on Dale Snodgrass in the July 2010 issue of Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine. The photo is real, and he wasn't grounded for this maneuver. He has more time in an F-14 (4,500 hours) than any other pilot, and flew 400 demonstrations while in the Navy. His accomplishments are amazing. I highly recommend the article.

This was NOT the USS America, It was the USS John C. Stennis CVN-74 During Operation Enduring Freedom. I was passing by the bridge to get down to V-2's Gear area when these guys buzzed us. I witnessed this first hand as well as the yelling at the pilot who was a Lieutenant at the time for being irresponsible. The shot was taken by sheer luck and from a PH3 buddy of mine. He was originally out to take photos of the LSO's (Landing Signal Officers) when this occurred He got Lucky, REAL LUCKY.

Oh...It's real!
I was stationed on the USS CAMDEN(AOE-2) around that time. My CO was a friend of "Snorts". He arranged for a little show and we got one alright. Two F-18's were passing "high alpha", forward to aft on the port side. Everyone was looking at them and paying no attention to the after starboard quarter. Snort was whippin the ponies and came in, dumped his wing just above our flight deck, and passed BELOW...BELOW my vantage point on the port bridge wing. Knocked me back. What a "bait and switch"!

The ensuing "KAWHOOOM" knocked so much dust out of the overheads in the engineering spaces, that some thought there was an explosion and fire!