It never ceases to amaze me what some of these GA pilots will do with their planes, especially when they video it and post it on youtube.
Sometimes I wonder if it was just a lack of training from the beginning or if these guys simply forgot or ignore what they learned.
What I'm talking about is the low flying in the RV8 video, the part over the water. This is not the only example, its very easy to find many videos of this type of low flying posted all over youtube. I'm not going to even say anything about the boat or the bridge, neither of which did he have 500 foot separation from, which is simply breaking FAA rules. What I'm talking about though is the inherit danger of flying single engine airplanes with no possible chance of an emergency landing. If he had an engine out at any time over the water there would have simply been no way to save his plane. He'd either dump it in the water where it would break up on contact, or he'd be on the beach crashing into trees. Both situations he's destroyed his plane and possibly killed himself, all from what resulted in an engine out, the most common and trained for emergency procedure in flight training.
Compound this by the fact that this is an experimental and he's probably doing a lot of the engine maintenance himself, it just seems stupid to fly like this.
An open question to people who fly like this, why? What makes you think you are totally immune to engine outs or other emergencies every other pilot is training for? What is going through your head when you are in a situation where there would be no possible chance of an emergency engine out landing ending well?
I'm not going to even comment on the back seat Cessna video, other than to say the pilot is a jerk and if I was a passenger I'd have some words with him on the tarmac.
