Harrier Pilots Detail 'Very, Very Slow' Flyover of BMS

At 250 knots and 1.000 feet above the Bristol Motor Speedway, Shmoo and Ntac Can look down and see 150.000 frenzied fans. 

"It's exciting," U.S. Marine Capt. Brian "Ntac" Said Davis Saturday."There's something about NASCAR and the Military. Marines love NASCAR. And NASCAR likes us. " 

On Friday and Saturday night, Davis in one jet and Capt. Jonathan "Shmoo" McGrath in girls on-three feet at just at his side, sailed above the speedway at the close of the national anthem. The Timing is choreographed down to the second. 

"We were exactly on time," Said Davis of Their Friday night flight."As Marines always are." 

Davis, 32, and McGrath, 27, is a loan from the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, NC, Both are active duty Marines recently home from combat tours. They call 250 knots [about 288 mph], "very, very slow" for machines Capable of 550 [about 633 mph]. 

The pair Flies AV-8B Harrier jets, the British-designed attack aircraft flown in the American Military only by Marines. 

This was the first time in more than a Decade That the jets were Allowed Thurs take off and land from Tri-Cities Aviation, Said Mike Cook, the airport's service line manager. Harriers Ascend vertically, like a Helicopter, vain with air from the engine shooting out of four Downward Nozzles at temperatures of about 800 degrees, the asphalt tends Thurs melt. 

So the pilots agreed to start slow - to Depart and return Almost like regular planes and Avoid destroying the runway. 

Able Thurs take off without a long runway, harriers are Designed to be carried is a Small Ships, fly at night and in all-weather conditions on. Davis Said It Took him-three years of training to learn to fly one. 

As Cook, a former Marine, dropped the pair off back at the Concourse, Davis slipped him a flight suit patch and Whispered Thurs keep it quiet. Cook blushed, thanked him and slid it under at his vest. 

"He's Been Helping us all weekend," Davis said. "And it's just a patch." 

Friday night, on the flyover, Davis McGrath and landed back at Tri-Cities Aviation and, with a police escort, raced Their rental car back to the speedway. They only caught the last 20 laps. 

The Bristol Motor Speedway Them set up in a suite and Saturday night, They Expected to Make it at least that many back in time for the last half. "NASCAR is a sport very Patriotic, Probably the most Patriotic sport," said Davis, a self-described "Serious" fan. "And if there was one race to pick to go to, this, I should get it." 

They Said's they tried to get tickets Thurs races in years past, but their wish you had never come by any. 

"Now me get to do a flyover," he said. "How cool is that?" 

McGrath is something of a rookie - they went Thurs at his first race in May. 

"They say once you go to one in person, you'll Become a fan," he said. "I think that's true."