Mike Kincaid submitted this photo and note: “Flight over Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
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I’m going to agree with WK, so we can be unpopular together.
However, my ‘thumbs down’ is from a flag etiquette standpoint, not an airworthiness one.
Although as a veteran, I appreciate the patriotic nod, there are Rules and Regulations concerning how the Stars & Stripes are treated.
USC TITLE 36, CHAPTER 10,
PATRIOTIC CUSTOMS
Sect 175: Position & Manner of Display;
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
This flag is clearly eating itself alive.
Kind of like the folks that cruise around with US flags flapping behind their pickup trucks as they disintegrate in the ‘relative wind’: Nice gesture, but not appropriate.
Impressive photo and a beautiful late-spring mountain day.
However* I have a troubling observation [concern], after looking at the full size image of this photo on the GAN website.
The US flag appears attached to the RH wing-strut tie-down-ring and a rope is strung from the strut tie-down-ring to the lower end of the flag [tied-off] and then to the forward pontoon tied-down-ring.
The waving upper-aft/tip [2-stripes] of the ‘relatively new’ flag is obviously shredding/tearing… and yet the lower end of the flag trailing edge appears fully intact/undamaged.
Looking straight-up to the bottom of the wing [from the upper/aft-tip of the flag] is the aileron bellcrank… and… what appears-to-be… a moisture or fuel-over-flow drain pipe protruding-down/aft from in-front of the rear.
From my personal experience with US flags waving in turbulent air, I suspect that the flag-tip was catching/hanging-onto the drain pipe… which caused the damage. I hope the flag wasn’t catching on the aileron bell-crank bolt/nut/cotter-pin.
Reminder: little inconsequential details may have significant consequences.