Did anyone else think that jet in Cape Town was too close? – Editorial
There were roughly 56,000 people in the stands of DHL Stadium waiting to watch the Springboks and All Blacks.
But before a ball could even be kicked, two passenger jet pilots – and the red-blooded South African rugby doyens who’ve emboldened them – played with the lives of everyone under the Cape Town stadium’s roof.
As Angus Gardner readied his whistle for kickoff, the planes approached the ground and it seemed immediately obvious that the first of the two Airlink Embraer 190s in particular was flying far too low.
Much like it would be folly to award a dubious try without looking at a second angle, so too was it hard for viewers to make a judgment on the antics of those airplane pilots from one viewing.
As a live event, it looked awesome and terrifying in equal measure, in particular as the second plane’s downdraft cut a path through the fireworks on top of the stadium.
A day or two on, with the advantage of multiple angles emerging from people on the stadium’s roof and in nearby apartments, the flyover now looks almost irresponsible.
Organisers have defended it and DHL Stadium’s roof has a curvature to it, but at no point did the first plane look anywhere more than a rogue air current away from clipping it.
Low-altitude flyovers at rugby tests in the republic are a tradition that traces back to the 1995 Rugby World Cup final when a South African Airways Boeing 747 jet flew over Ellis Park before South Africa secured their first Webb Ellis Cup by beating New Zealand in extra time.
One also happened before the first test in Johannesburg last week.
The instruction to pilots seems to be to encourage the big boppers to get as low as possible.
In the context of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour, the flyovers can be interpreted as an attempt at a macho response to the haka, perhaps even an attempt to dilute it; you Kiwis do your war dance, but we’ll respond with what we’re capable of as a nation.
The Springboks – pumped up after the first week’s loss – scored virtually from the flyover/kickoff in Cape Town and never let the All Blacks pass them again as they levelled the series.
It’s hard to imagine the two are not intertwined.
The All Blacks’ haka dates back to before Richard Pearse and the Wright Brothers took flight and yet its place in rugby’s pre-game show faces constant scrutiny from the Northern Hemisphere in particular.
So should this one. A good rev-up doesn’t need to potentially put 56,000 people at risk.
No doubt there will be another flyover for the third test of what is already becoming one of the all-time great rugby series. Perhaps this time, however, the pilot could adjust to a slightly higher altitude.