The airline behind a remarkably low planned flyover of a packed rugby stadium said Wednesday it will turn over data from the planes’ black boxes to show the maneuver was done in accordance with governmental rules.
The two 98-seat Embraer-190 regional jets from South African airline Airlink buzzed Cape Town’s DHL stadium on Saturday just before the match between the country’s Springboks and New Zealand’s All Blacks teams.
The planes’ lowest altitude was only about 46 feet above the roof of the stadium, according to the tracking website Flightradar 24.
“The data recorded by both aircrafts’ digital flight data recorders (black boxes) indicate that the flights were performed within the (South African Civil Aviation Authority’s) approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the fly-past,” Airlink said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday.
The airline said authorities provided “guidance, approval and support to ensure a safe flyby,” and each of the planes were flown by three senior captains, including one who acted as a safety/technical officer. No passengers were onboard.
The aviation authority is now examining the flight data and has requested additional information from Airlink, according to a statement posted online.
“It is therefore critical that we interrogate this past weekend’s events with clear minds and data at our disposal to determine if there were any safety concerns which warrant a review,” the agency said.
Airlink staged a similar flyby over Johannesburg’s Ellis Park stadium one week earlier, using the same specially painted jets celebrating “rugby’s greatest rivalry.”
The airline withdrew an application for a third flyover planned for this coming weekend, the aviation authority said.
Many in South Africa, which the US has determined meets international standards for aviation oversight, have celebrated the flyover.
“It’s a well known fact that we have the best pilots in the world, that was spectacular, next time I will ask the pilots to land on the field, prepare to be amazed further,” the South African Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie joked online shortly after the flyover.
“We are cooking something,” he posted Wednesday standing in front of another Airlink jet.
Many aviation experts believe the flight was not worth the risk, with the extremely low altitude leaving no margin for error.
“It was a very unsafe procedure and not necessary,” former NTSB chairman Pete Goelz told CNN. “A flyby at 1,000 ft is already impressive, and people enjoy it, and there’s no reason to lower it other than unnecessary risk taking.”
United States rules say a plane must remain at least a thousand feet above congested areas, unless it has explicit permission from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Low-flying airliners are, however, part of South African rugby history.
In 1995, a South African Airways Boeing 747 famously flew over the Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg.
And in 2024, an Emirates A380 flew over the same stadium, though a few hundred feet higher.
Saturday’s flyover in Cape Town punctuates a summer of aircraft flying stunningly close to the ground.
In July, a pilot from the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flew low over the crowd during the Pensacola Beach air show, sending tents flying and military leaders scrambling to defend the maneuver.
A month before, a Boeing 777 on a test flight passed as low as 25 feet over a runway at Horseshoe Bay, Texas, triggering a federal investigation.
