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Thousands of people watching the Gijón Air Festival in northern Spain on Sunday July 27 got more excitement than they bargained for when an F-18 fighter jet suddenly performed what looked like a dangerous stunt right in front of the packed beach.

 

Videos shared across social media show the aircraft doing a dramatic roll manoeuvre, turning on its own longitudinal axis and almost flipping upside down just metres from where spectators were sitting on the sand. Many thought they were about to witness a crash.

 

But the Spanish Air Force quickly explained what really happened. The pilot did so to evade a flock of birds that appeared in the jet's path during the display.

 

"As you have seen, one of our F-18 fighters performed an evasive manoeuvre after detecting a flock of birds in its path. This action is part of the usual protocol to preserve both the integrity of the pilot and the safety of the public," the Air and Space Force said on social media.

 

The military praised the pilot's reaction, saying their aviators are trained to respond in "thousandths of a second" to unexpected situations. "He acted with exemplary speed and professionalism, avoiding a possible impact without compromising the display," they added, stressing that safety always comes first at these events.

 

Bird strikes are a real hazard for military aircraft during air shows. Just last month at the Aire25 Air Festival over the Mar Menor, a Eurofighter wasn't so lucky when it hit a bird. The impact broke the front of the aircraft's canopy, injured the pilot, and the plane was immediately withdrawn from the show.

 

 

Image: Ejército del Aire y del Espacio