Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
November 30, 2007
Pg. 14
Service academies' pregame flyover gives fans quite a bit to look up to
By Sal Ruibal, USA Today
Screams of fighter jets and the whomp-whomp-whomp of combat helicopters have become almost as ubiquitous as face painting and "Hi Mom, Send Money!" signs at college football games.
The flyover at Saturday's Army-Navy game is the ultimate military hardware one-upsmanship. Despite the two academies' respective focus on land and sea, the pregame show is decidedly airborne.
The posturing is so elaborate that pre-game ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m. for the kickoff (CBS, noon) at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Before the game, a quartet of U.S. Army helicopters will buzz the stadium, followed by a parachute drop by the Army's elite Golden Knights skydiving team.
Later, U.S. Navy aviators in F-18E Super Hornets will roar 1,000 feet overhead as the pre-kickoff national anthem concludes.
"It's an honor to participate in the Army-Navy flyover," says Navy lieutenant commander Dave Snowden, who will pilot one of five F-18Es that are flying to the game from Naval Air Station Lemoore, near Fresno. "It is a great tool for recruiting."
The Pentagon doesn't keep statistics on how many flyovers are conducted specifically for football games, but there are so many requests that the Department of Defense has created DD Form 2535: Request for Military Aerial Support, to determine an event's eligibility for a flyover or other hardware display.
"The process is straightforward," says Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Nunnally. "An organization makes an official request to the Navy Office of Community Outreach. If the request meets the parameters for Navy support, including audience size, ground support, security, etc., the request is approved and a Navy-wide request for squadron support is made based on geographic location."
The academies don't have to pay for the show, since its all in a day's work for them. Private entities are asked to compensate for housing, ground transportation and meals, with a daily maximum of $2,500.
Flyovers aren't a cheap date. A single F18E has operational costs — which include acquisition, maintenance and training — of about $5,000 an hour.
Five planes — four for the show and one backup — are flying from California to Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. The trip will take four hours and the flyover will add another hour, bringing the tab for the Navy to about $125,000.
That money will come out of the Strike Fighter Squadron 137's operational budget.
"The aircraft will complete required operational and navigation training during the cross-country transit," Nunnally says. "So costs associated with the transit are rolled into the squadron's overall training plan."
The Army declined to specify operational costs for the Blackhawks, but Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., manufacturer of the helicopter, estimates operational costs to be from $1,800 to $2,000 an hour.
Those numbers don't sit well with Pete Sepp, vice president of the government watchdog National Taxpayers Union.
"That would pay for a lot of body armor," Sepp says. "Every penny counts, and most taxpayers would think that these dollars should go to protecting the troops instead of a nice photo op."
Before taking off from Andrews Air Force base, the four Navy jets will have been prepped by ground crews. The pilots will have entered the exact GPS coordinates for the stadium into their flight computers. About 30 minutes before the first bars of the national anthem begin, the four planes will take off and head north towards the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore.
After 15 minutes of flight, the planes will go into a holding pattern and open communications with a spotter on the ground.
"The timing is not that difficult," says Lt. (j.g.) Wes Kennerly, a 2004 Naval Academy grad. "We have all the data already entered, including the speed we want to hit, and the computer calculates the rest."
Once the spotter gives the go ahead, the planes head for the stadium. Post-9/11 FAA restrictions keep the planes' altitude at 1,000 feet, but they're allowed to surpass the 265 mph speed limit.
The Hornets will hit their mark as the phrase "home of the brave" rings out and then roar off to the east. They'll land at Andrews, where the pilots will hop out of their planes and jump into a waiting car for the 25-minute drive up I-95 to Baltimore.
If all goes as planned and the traffic isn't too heavy, they'll cruise into the stadium at halftime, when they'll walk on the field and be introduced to the crowd.
"This really isn't different than most of our missions," Lt. Cmdr. Snowden says. "But we usually don't hear cheers when we're done."
November 30, 2007
Pg. 14
Service academies' pregame flyover gives fans quite a bit to look up to
By Sal Ruibal, USA Today
Screams of fighter jets and the whomp-whomp-whomp of combat helicopters have become almost as ubiquitous as face painting and "Hi Mom, Send Money!" signs at college football games.
The flyover at Saturday's Army-Navy game is the ultimate military hardware one-upsmanship. Despite the two academies' respective focus on land and sea, the pregame show is decidedly airborne.
The posturing is so elaborate that pre-game ceremonies begin at 9:30 a.m. for the kickoff (CBS, noon) at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Before the game, a quartet of U.S. Army helicopters will buzz the stadium, followed by a parachute drop by the Army's elite Golden Knights skydiving team.
Later, U.S. Navy aviators in F-18E Super Hornets will roar 1,000 feet overhead as the pre-kickoff national anthem concludes.
"It's an honor to participate in the Army-Navy flyover," says Navy lieutenant commander Dave Snowden, who will pilot one of five F-18Es that are flying to the game from Naval Air Station Lemoore, near Fresno. "It is a great tool for recruiting."
The Pentagon doesn't keep statistics on how many flyovers are conducted specifically for football games, but there are so many requests that the Department of Defense has created DD Form 2535: Request for Military Aerial Support, to determine an event's eligibility for a flyover or other hardware display.
"The process is straightforward," says Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Nunnally. "An organization makes an official request to the Navy Office of Community Outreach. If the request meets the parameters for Navy support, including audience size, ground support, security, etc., the request is approved and a Navy-wide request for squadron support is made based on geographic location."
The academies don't have to pay for the show, since its all in a day's work for them. Private entities are asked to compensate for housing, ground transportation and meals, with a daily maximum of $2,500.
Flyovers aren't a cheap date. A single F18E has operational costs — which include acquisition, maintenance and training — of about $5,000 an hour.
Five planes — four for the show and one backup — are flying from California to Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. The trip will take four hours and the flyover will add another hour, bringing the tab for the Navy to about $125,000.
That money will come out of the Strike Fighter Squadron 137's operational budget.
"The aircraft will complete required operational and navigation training during the cross-country transit," Nunnally says. "So costs associated with the transit are rolled into the squadron's overall training plan."
The Army declined to specify operational costs for the Blackhawks, but Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., manufacturer of the helicopter, estimates operational costs to be from $1,800 to $2,000 an hour.
Those numbers don't sit well with Pete Sepp, vice president of the government watchdog National Taxpayers Union.
"That would pay for a lot of body armor," Sepp says. "Every penny counts, and most taxpayers would think that these dollars should go to protecting the troops instead of a nice photo op."
Before taking off from Andrews Air Force base, the four Navy jets will have been prepped by ground crews. The pilots will have entered the exact GPS coordinates for the stadium into their flight computers. About 30 minutes before the first bars of the national anthem begin, the four planes will take off and head north towards the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore.
After 15 minutes of flight, the planes will go into a holding pattern and open communications with a spotter on the ground.
"The timing is not that difficult," says Lt. (j.g.) Wes Kennerly, a 2004 Naval Academy grad. "We have all the data already entered, including the speed we want to hit, and the computer calculates the rest."
Once the spotter gives the go ahead, the planes head for the stadium. Post-9/11 FAA restrictions keep the planes' altitude at 1,000 feet, but they're allowed to surpass the 265 mph speed limit.
The Hornets will hit their mark as the phrase "home of the brave" rings out and then roar off to the east. They'll land at Andrews, where the pilots will hop out of their planes and jump into a waiting car for the 25-minute drive up I-95 to Baltimore.
If all goes as planned and the traffic isn't too heavy, they'll cruise into the stadium at halftime, when they'll walk on the field and be introduced to the crowd.
"This really isn't different than most of our missions," Lt. Cmdr. Snowden says. "But we usually don't hear cheers when we're done."