Footage of two planes stunning a rugby stadium with one of the wildest flyovers ever goes viral
A video of two passenger jets performing a strikingly low flyover above a rugby stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, has gone viral after footage from the event circulated online. The flyover took place ahead of a Test match between New Zealand's All Blacks and South Africa's Springboks, part of a global series billed as "Rugby's Greatest Rivalry", and drew widespread attention for how close the aircraft appeared to fly over spectators.
The display was carried out by a pair of Embraer E-Jets belonging to South African carrier Airlink, flying at an altitude far lower than is typical for flyovers at sporting events elsewhere, such as military flypasts at American motorsport events. While the manoeuvre appeared alarmingly close to the upper stands, such low-altitude flyovers are reportedly a fairly common sight at major sporting fixtures in South Africa.
- Two Airlink jets buzzed a Cape Town rugby stadium before an All Blacks v Springboks match
- Footage of the strikingly low flyover has gone viral online
- Such low flyovers are said to be relatively common at South African sports events
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Since the flyover reportedly happened above the Cape Town Stadium in South Africa, it made a splash for the sheer scale of the aircraft involved. Passenger flyovers before big matches are a tradition at many international sporting events, but they usually involve smaller planes or military jets flying at a safe, standard height above the crowd.
The match in question was a Test between New Zealand's All Blacks and South Africa's Springboks, two of the most successful and closely watched sides in international rugby. Their fixtures form part of an annual series often promoted as one of the sport's fiercest rivalries, and matches between the two nations regularly draw large crowds and global broadcast audiences.
The aircraft involved were commercial jets operated by Airlink, a South African regional airline, rather than military or aerobatic planes. This is part of why the footage attracted so much attention online, as viewers reacted to seeing passenger-type aircraft flying unusually close to a packed stadium.