2008 Fenway Park F-16 Fly Over Red Sox Opening Day Green Mountain Boys

Pilot pulls maneuver at Red Sox 2008 Ring ceremony flyover. Awesome...but it is believed the pilot was temporarily grounded for this action. The debate as to the reason for this maneuver continues, but either way, this was a majestic sight I will never forget and am so thankful I captured it to share with others.

[@ronaldmac7761]

I was watching this game on nesn and saw live on tv. Was crazy. Still remember to this day.

[@magnus213]

I remember walking out of the MIT student center my freshman year, hearing the rumble, and looking up to see 3 F-16s come overhead... Then a trailing F-16 coming out of a barrel roll right over the buildings. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen, so glad I found this video to experience it again.

[@Okie9baseball]

i walked out of fenway park onto landsdowne street, plane was rolling, i thought it was gonna land in the 3rd base grandstand 😲

[@bobbeane7294]

The pilot who did the barrel roll was grounded after his awesome flying maneuvers! I just read it in a email newsletter my dad gets..he retired from the 104th FW in Westfield Massachusetts we have F-15C/D here...also when is Burlington getting the F-35s! Great Video! I saved it and shared!

[@mattremington5346]

The guy doing the barrel rolls is actually a good friend of mine. He fell behind on the way there and came in too hot trying to catch up. One method of slowing down quickly is doing barrel rolls. Too little, too late, though.

[@mattremington5346]

He's actually a Doctor and a professor at Clarkson University.

[@Diseased_monkey]

He’s my dad

[@resqdiver1]

Or you can just use the speed brakes…Just sayin’…🤷‍♂️ these pilots don’t “come in hot “on these flights. They’re actually highly choreographed and mapped out prior to ever taking off. They actually have a Pilot/ground controller in the stadium in constant communication with the formation and they time it in sync with theMusic down to within a couple seconds. There’s absolutely no reason to be out of formation because they’ve been in that holding pattern information for several minutes prior to the flyover. I’ve heard differing things for the actual reason. Nonetheless… That maneuver should never have been attempted over such a populated area. He should’ve broke it off for safety reasons if their formation lost its integrity. There’s a reason airshow performers are not allowed to fly over crowds.

[@frankficken1277]

@@resqdiver1 Yes, it's highly choreographed but to the speed that the band is or is SUPPOSED to be playing. In this case, the band played the first part of the anthem quicker than their tape, the ATC in Fenway had the planes break their pattern at the correct point to head for the stadium. The band then slowed a bit, so he put them back in a hold. Just as they were circling again, the band sped up again and he had them break for the stadium again. The outside pilot was, of course, flying faster and in a turn. When they had to slow down, he wasn't able to slow down to the speed of the others. If you look at the whole video, you can see the entire flight trying to stay in formation as the band changes speeds. The outside pilot was overshooting and decided to roll to bleed off speed. Right move, but wrong place to do it. That was the conclusion of the official investigation.

[@celloboy777]

There were at least 3 rolls, but I think this is the only video on youtube that shows all 3. The TV cameras @ Fenway only caught the final one, so the "official story" was that he made a single lag roll to compensate for excessive speed. Pause at 0:20. There are 2 jets in front and 2 trailing. Now press play. One of the jets in the rear simply pulls forward to join the formation. Hey, that was easy. But the other one "needed" to do 3 lag rolls to rejoin? LOL! Looks like hotdogging to me!

[@MWFrontier]

GOD Bless America and our Pilots! That was a tremendous tribute, Great video!

[@Mr.SugarFoot]

104thFW flew over my house on their way(F-15) Westfield Mass(Western Massachusetts)VT Burlington AirGuard New F-35A used to fly F-16s…surprised they flew together..you never see the F-35 around here just F-15 and C-5M…great video…I saved and subscribed

[@Alexxf35]

@JohnnyBoy501 Everyone thinks it was a pre-planned thing; it wasn't. The pilot who did the flip was on the outside of the formation as they were circling around Fenway prior to the actual fly-over, he built up too much speed (The guy in the outside of the formation has to go faster to keep up with those on the inside)...and was doing the flip to displace his speed over distance (Planes obviously don't have brakes). Yeah he botched it, but it was unintentional.

[@TheRoadfarmer]

You sir are a patriot for taking this footage for all of us to see. Thank you.

[@soulboarder316]

Let me put all the wrong thoughts to rest... The fourth pilot did that maneuver to dump speed, he was running behind and by the time he caught up he was going to fast, that maneuver is used to slow down, there was no near collision he didnt do it because of a near collision he was catching up too fast and had to dump some speed

[@Sub___Zero]

Airframe detail : *F-16C block 25 ( 83-1165 ) from the 134th FS*

[@CardarelliContracting]

This is awesome

[@Frederic_Lord]

I'm curious to hear radio communications between the leader this pilotduring that moment.

[@moxiedrapo2391]

Very cool video either way🇺🇸

[@mariestick6636]

Awesome

[@seaswirl79]

Very American. Un-ground him. (fellow pilot speaking here)

[@spins321]

Sorry man, the Light Col had already admitted as such. The first roll was a practice (and to gain separation) and the second roll and third were for the over flight. Also, I made a mistake. he was dash 4, in position off the section lead, when he did the practice roll. At 320 knots, the F-16 can slow down fairly well since it also sits at a higher AOA with LEF deflection (draggy to begin with).

[@justaguy1679]

Incredible.

[@NickBrown79]

Im sitting by the pilot right now...yep.he was trying to slow down...😂

[@pgame22]

That’s awesome! 🤣

[@celloboy777]

Also, if he was really trying to rejoin the formation... then what's he doing at 1:04? Haha. BTW I was standing on a rooftop on the other side of the Charles River so I saw the whole approach. Hysterical. I'm just glad the crowd enjoyed it and nothing went wrong.

[@MasonPilot06]

He was keeping sight of 3 since he was above them...so he rolled to the right to keep sight. He really was trying to rejoin...but he kept overshooting because he had too much smash...he was just trying to be quick because he knew they were about to fly over but he had too much smash lol

[@fendersquireburgett8724]

my parents were friends with the guy who did that

[@spins321]

Nope, he was hotdogging. He didn't screw up the rejoin, they flew out as a flight in wedge. He was dash 3 (2nd element lead, you can tell by the gap left open and dash 4 tightening up). The first roll was a practice. The second was the real deal. As anyone can see from the separation, there was never any danger of collision. He had positive control throughout... just shouldn't have done that at such a public event. He knew he'd get ripped.

[@Alexxf35]

@seaswirl79 He hasn't been grounded for some time. He's a good shit, just built up too much speed when they were circling fenway awaiting to the do the actual fly-over.

[@btownsurf]

I saw that live, it was pretty fuckin' cool.

[@TheDylanJoyce]

Dammit Jerry will you get back in formation!!!

[@Flippie19]

I know this act was preplanned but I dont think they meant to come as close as they got.

[@dgray611]

Air Guard Pilot Grounded After Fenway Park Flyover MONTPELIER, Vt. (WBZ) ― A Vermont Air National Guard pilot who took part in a fly-over of Fenway Park during opening day ceremonies has been grounded for making an improper maneuver near the park, a Guard spokesman said Thursday.

[@pgame22]

Bottom line: it was pretty effin sweet either way

[@Mr.SugarFoot]

Remember they lost confidence in him and he had to retire…Green Mtn. Boys Burlington VT Air Guard

[@acrobat123456789]

His wing almost clipped #3's nose. Grounded!

[@soulboarder316]

I agree, he screwed up and probably should have gotten grounded, but as other people have mentioned.. i don't think he was hot dogging

[@ME-wq8lq]

Maverick

[@DavidPT40]

Dude never did get in formation did he?

[@southernfryedyankee]

Its MUCH easier to speed up than slow down.

[@pgame22]

I agree seaswirl79

[@odessaboy]

Regardless, he violated s.o.p, which strictly forbids what he did. That's why disciplinary action was taken.

[@MusicMixah]

DO A BARREL ROLL!!!!! :D

[@zandzentertainment]

don't ask us

[@AirRaider56]

That spinning guy was the class clown. I bet you he was. If he cant learn to get in formation he was always screwing around

[@merkin691]

Hey, what's with the gender assumption? Might have been chicks.