On Sept 10 at approximately 9PM I observed what appeared to be a turbo-prop commuter plane (like those 19 seaters that Continental flys out of Ft Lauderdale and West Palm) overfly a football game I was attending. This was at Florida Field in Gainesville FL. The plane approached from the SE and made a turn to NNW while it appeared to be directly over the field. I don’t know how to guess the altitude, I could see the windows and lights along the left side of the aircraft. Maybe 1500’. Just a guess. It was low enough that I was pretty certain it overflew the field directly. I’ve been searching the internet for news of this and have not been successful. Has anybody read or heard anything about this incident? Would this not be illegal? I was there back in the '80s when a B25 overflew a game and that incident was all over the news, including the fact that the pilot lost his license
He was more than likely at 2000 ft. The RNAV and VOR approaches to runway 11 come pretty close to the field you mentioned. Depends on where ATC dropped him into it there is a chance he flew over ya.
Here is a flight similar to the one in question, arrived at 9:45 or so. flight path shows almost over top of the stadium. There is no commuter or twin turbo that is tracked showing, but the flight path would almost be the same.
That must be it. Thanks for the reply and information.
I was at that game second row from the top and felt at the time it was definately under 1000’. We were all amazed and knew it couldn’t be legal. Watched the braodcast the next day just for the flyover and some info about it, and at that moment a B25 shadow shoots across the field, most players look straight up, and the commentator says “an airplane just flew through the stadium!” then something like “Well the Gators have the ball on their 47, 1st and 10…” so no info. Weeks later the local paper shared a local dentist lost his license joyriding his personal B25 just prior to donating it to a museum.
Published Security Notice To “Air Missions” ( not just “Airmen” anymore ) restricts the airspace from surface to 3000 ft above ground level within 3 nautical miles of QUALIFIED sporting venues including stadiums - qualifying requires seating capacity of 30,000 at a Major League Baseball, National Football Football or NCAA Division 1 Football game (plus certain racing venues). And the middle portion of the NOTAM says (paraphrasing) … unless authorized by ATC for standard departures and arrival procedures
Your friendly Flight Service Specialist