Pilot Broke Rules When He Buzzed Downtown Columbus

The F-16 flight carrying then-Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson over Downtown in August rattled workers for only a few seconds. The investigation into whether the jet flew too low or too fast took 174 days.

The Federal Aviation Administration's conclusion: The F-16 Fighting Falcon was flying at almost twice the speed limit and too low.

The report the agency turned over to the Air National Guard on Feb. 7 says the pilot flew at speeds of up to 550 mph at altitudes between 2,100 and 3,000 feet.

FAA regulations say the top permissible speed over Downtown is 288 mph. The jet pilot, it added, did not have authorization from air-traffic controllers at Port Columbus to fly below 10,000 feet.

The flight also "was contrary" to a regulation that no one may operate an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner, according to a synopsis of the report.

Regulations for congested areas such as Downtown say a pilot must obtain authorization to fly as low as 1,000 feet above the tallest structure. The city's tallest structure is the 629-foot-high Rhodes Tower.

The agency has no jurisdiction to discipline a military pilot, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said. Instead, it turned its report over to the military.

Col. Mike Roberts, vice commander of the Guard's 178th Fighter Wing based in Springfield, where the flight started, said he had not seen the report. He said the pilot was disciplined based on the fighter wing's own investigation.

"We found that the pilot did inadvertently go faster than FAA regulations allow," Roberts said. He would not describe the discipline, saying it was an internal matter.

The F-16 fighter jet roared north over Downtown on Aug. 17 at about 3,000 feet and between 422 and 550 mph, according to the FAA report. It flew over the Ohio State University campus between 2,100 and 2,300 feet and as fast as 497 mph before heading back Downtown for a final pass.

As the jet left Downtown, it was traveling at nearly 472 mph.

The Air National Guard said that day that the flight was "by the book" to show Johnson what the plane could do. One day later, though, the FAA announced it was investigating because it had received "a couple" of complaints."

Some people found the flyover unnerving; many called 911, and one woman was described as panicked by the sound and sight of a fighter jet over the city.

Mike Overly, spokesman for the Aviation Safety Institute, a nonprofit center based in Worthington, said he was not surprised the FAA took so long to reach a conclusion.

"I don't think this is really high on their priority list," he said, "because this is the military and a politician, a bad combination; and nothing happened except some people got scared."

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