Title: Can someone actually "fly under the radar"? - Aviation Stack Exchange
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Can someone actually “fly under the radar”?
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Content: While this does offer a measure of protection against command guided surface to air missiles as well as fighters, it makes the aircraft vulnerable to short range surface threats like close in radar guided AAA or MANPADS. Drug smugglers perfected an art of low flying to avoiding detection in the late 1970s and early 1980s by flying mule aircraft low on the deck over the ocean. See Mickey Munday's or Barry Seal's story from the documentary Cocaine Cowboys where they talk about flying an aircraft into the Bahamas at night 50 feet above the ocean. They claimed that as long as they couldn't see the glow of lights from Tampa, FL, they were too low to be detected by ATC. Share
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answered Jul 5 '18 at 3:13
Carlo Felicione
Carlo Felicione
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In addition to the other answers, radars need to account for moving objects on the ground. To deal with this, most radars don't want to pick up a moving truck or a tree swayed by the wind at all. There's just too much stuff moving on the ground already, so even if the radar waves do reach you, if you're low enough you're part of the noise at ground level. Share
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answered Jul 31 '17 at 23:26
Peter
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Retired F-111 A-G and EF models, and existing B-1B Lancer aircraft use (d) Terrain Following Radar (TFR) to fly under radar coverage. Share
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answered Apr 6 '14 at 14:39
mikenk53
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Is there such a thing as 'flying under the radar'? As already well explained, it is possible to hide in the shadow of obstacles when the radar