Spud Webb’s Last High Speed Pass (or “Ernie Sebby’s Revenge”)

A friend forwarded an e-mail to me that chronicled the grounding of Navy Lieutenant Richard “Spud” Webb. Lt. Webb was the pilot of an F/A-18E Super Hornet that made a low approach and a subsequent afterburner traffic pattern at the San Luis Obispo (SBP), California airport in January 2005. A local resident, Ernie Sebby, offended by the “sound of freedom” thundering overhead, wrote an indignant and caustic letter to the SPB tower demanding they launch an investigation into the horrible four minutes of engine noise he was forced to suffer through.

The tower personnel called the Navy, one thing led to another, and Spud was grounded. Permanently.

Lt. Webb wrote to Ernie Sebby recently. His letter is heartbreaking, not only because it contains the grim details about the outcome of the incident, but because when you read it, you can feel Spud’s professionalism and restraint holding fast, but being sorely tested. I know that Spud wanted to tell this man to do horrible things with his own anatomy, but he didn’t. For that, I admire him.

Make no mistake -- I hate whiny homeowners who move near airports and complain about the noise, but I’m not trying to demonize anyone who hates jet noise. Instead, I want to turn this story into a learning experience for military pilots and warbird pilots alike. First, let me just get this off my chest: “There but for the grace Of God go I.” I’m definitely not perfect, and I’ve screwed up before. I cannot tell you the number of times I could have been in Spud’s flight boots. But all it takes is bad timing and a certain set of circumstances to set off a similar chain of hellfire on any given day, at any airport in the country. So, here’s what all pilots, military and civilian, must take from this sad story:

If you shine your ass often enough and hard enough, you will, repeat WILL, pay the cost someday. It may be that you get in trouble with the Feds and lose your license. It may end up with you standing in front of your C.O.’s desk in your Dress Uniform, answering a lot of pointed questions, or losing your wings like Spud. Or it may be that you get scraped out of a smoking hole somewhere.

OK, maybe these scenarios are overly dramatic.

The real price you pay may be that everyone around your airport starts to hate airplanes. Frankly, that outcome bothers me more than any of the others, because all pilots pay for that one. No one except you really cares if you lose your wings or your license. However, if the general public starts to think of airplanes as bad and evil, and if they start to think that many pilots lack good judgment, then you have done as much damage to aviation as did the 9/11 terrorists, and you probably deserve to lose your wings.

Is Spud a bad guy for blasting over Ernie Sebby’s house at Mach-snot and startling him? Nope. He’s a teacher for us all. Let his misfortune be the reason you don’t do a similar thing the next time you’re tempted. Aviation is full of unlucky people who serve as cautionary tales for the rest of us.

Tag, Spud. You’re it.