Superbowl 2011 Headsup Tonight

Steyr

The US Navy will be doing a fly-over at Super Bowl XLV tonight ( Irish time just before 11:20 ) I presume right after the Anthem ends.

The plan is for four F/A-18s ( Super Hornets I believe ) and one spare, flying all the way from NAS Oceana in Virginia.


Bit of Controversy about it here: http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Super-Bowl-flyover-costs-taxpayers-450000-115109249.html

"The U.S. Navy says the cost to bring the formation of four planes, plus a backup, to North Texas is $109,000 in fuel. According to Department of Defense tables, the entire cost will be more than $450,000, based on the operational cost of the F-18 aircraft and the number of hours the pilots will fly. The same kind of F-18 fighter operates out of the Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, less than 20 miles from the stadium."

Im sure the USN will say its an experience for a NavEX, I also doubt the Hornets will be able to fly that duration without a top up from a tanker.

I believe the Squadron based closer is VMFA-112 at NAS Fort Worth.

Steyr

It is on Sky Sports One.

rob88

BBC1 NI aswell

phonypony

jesus they timed that well! Christina was about to run out of air...

trunxgp1224

Hello ya'll I was trying to find out which Navy squadron did the super bowl fly over and Google led me here of all places. I registered simply to comment on this.

I am a Reservist in the United States Marine Corps and am a part of VMFA-112 at NAS Fort Worth JRB where we have 12 F/A-18 aircraft. The distance from our hanger to the Dallas stadium is 31Km the distance from NAS Oceana, Virginia where those ones came from is 1,966Km both of these are straight line distances. "as the crow flies'

And also keep in mind that those aircraft probably had to land at NAS Fort Worth anyways so my squadron could maintain the aircraft and refuel them. I'll call in the morning to have a definite answer and let ya'll know if they landed there or somewhere else like Alliance Field.

IrishB.ie

trunxgp1224 wrote: »

Hello ya'll I was trying to find out which Navy squadron did the super bowl fly over and Google led me here of all places. I registered simply to comment on this.

I am a Reservist in the United States Marine Corps and am a part of VMFA-112 at NAS Fort Worth JRB where we have 12 F/A-18 aircraft. The distance from our hanger to the Dallas stadium is 31Km the distance from NAS Oceana, Virginia where those ones came from is 1,966Km both of these are straight line distances. "as the crow flies'

And also keep in mind that those aircraft probably had to land at NAS Fort Worth anyways so my squadron could maintain the aircraft and refuel them. I'll call in the morning to have a definite answer and let ya'll know if they landed there or somewhere else like Alliance Field.

Welcome aboard.

Terrontress

It was some show and the flyby was great.

I once went to the Trooping of the Colour at Buckingham Palace once just to watch the RAF flybys.

While these might be expensive to stage, they are a fantastic spectacle and I am sure the pilots need to keep their hours up in any case. I bet you those moaning probably don't go and look at such displays.

Aerohead

trunxgp1224 wrote: »

Hello ya'll I was trying to find out which Navy squadron did the super bowl fly over and Google led me here of all places. I registered simply to comment on this.

I am a Reservist in the United States Marine Corps and am a part of VMFA-112 at NAS Fort Worth JRB where we have 12 F/A-18 aircraft. The distance from our hanger to the Dallas stadium is 31Km the distance from NAS Oceana, Virginia where those ones came from is 1,966Km both of these are straight line distances. "as the crow flies'

And also keep in mind that those aircraft probably had to land at NAS Fort Worth anyways so my squadron could maintain the aircraft and refuel them. I'll call in the morning to have a definite answer and let ya'll know if they landed there or somewhere else like Alliance Field.

Hi trunxgp welcome to the board I am sure you will enjoy it here, saw the fly past and have to say it seems a terrible waste of taxpayers money to bring these planes so far from base when you have them just 20 miles away , I am sure the pilots in your squadron would be well able to do a four ship flyover.

I saw 8 F18s from the Aircraft Carrier "John F Kennedy" do flypasts with F14s at the Salthill Air Show here in Ireland many years ago very impressive aircraft they are. Hope you stay with us I am sure your contributions being military would be most welcome.

Terrontress

Aerohead wrote: »

Hi trunxgp welcome to the board I am sure you will enjoy it here, saw the fly past and have to say it seems a terrible waste of taxpayers money to bring these planes so far from base when you have them just 20 miles away , I am sure the pilots in your squadron would be well able to do a four ship flyover.

I saw 8 F18s from the Aircraft Carrier "John F Kennedy" do flypasts with F14s at the Salthill Air Show here in Ireland many years ago very impressive aircraft they are. Hope you stay with us I am sure your contributions being military would be most welcome.

Do you consider USAF or US Navy aircraft entertaining the crowds at Salthill to be a worthwhile use of US taxpayers' money?

Aerohead

Well the ship was on a courtesy visit to Ireland at the time after departing from the West Coast she carried on to Dun Laoire, the aircraft that flew did not go back to the ship they landed at Dublin and Shannon. Courtesy visits happen all the time especially into Cork and Dublin.

mikemac

If you're interesting in seeing how they plan these there is a video on the NFL website
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-total-access/09000d5d80924c91/Salute-the-sky

Terrontress

Aerohead wrote: »

Well the ship was on a courtesy visit to Ireland at the time after departing from the West Coast she carried on to Dun Laoire, the aircraft that flew did not go back to the ship they landed at Dublin and Shannon. Courtesy visits happen all the time especially into Cork and Dublin.

Is that a yes or a no?

I like seeing flight displays. I think that they're good for public morale, they are supposedly good for recruitment and it gives people confidence in their military air power. I think that they are a worthwhile use of resources. I think that the Superbowl flypast was worthwhile as would Salthill have been.

As for whether planes coming from one location instead of another and whether that represents value to taxpayers? I don't think I'm qualified to make a call on such an operational or financial matter and I bet few people complaining are either.

trunxgp1224

I guess you could consider me jaded. I watched the Blue Angles practice three times a week while I was in Pensacola and I work around these things now. Watching them take off while we were in Iraq at night though was a spectacle, full after burners and dropping flare.

The best things are Lockheed-Martin who shares our airfield with us. When they test the new F-35 or another version of the F-16 and put it through its paces.

Steyr

trunxgp1224 wrote: »

And also keep in mind that those aircraft probably had to land at NAS Fort Worth anyways so my squadron could maintain the aircraft and refuel them. I'll call in the morning to have a definite answer and let ya'll know if they landed there or somewhere else like Alliance Field.

Thanks for your reply Sir and welcome, would they not have just tanked up on the way back instead of landing??

And some people dont like my posts..:D smoke that!

Steyr

Aerohead wrote: »

I saw 8 F18s from the Aircraft Carrier "John F Kennedy" do flypasts with F14s at the Salthill Air Show here in Ireland many years ago very impressive aircraft they are. Hope you stay with us I am sure your contributions being military would be most welcome.

We didnt have 8 F18's, if I remember it correctly we got 4 Hornets and 4 Tomcats and as I looked out to The Aran Islands I noticed 2 dots, I told "Kirby" who was our JFK Co-op guy that they were moving fast and low towards Clare, queue him making an enquiry and found out it was 2 S3 Vikings so he called them up for a flyby. Go me. :cool:

Steyr

trunxgp1224 wrote: »

F-16 and put it through its paces.

F-16 BLOCK versions?

Tenger

trunxgp1224 wrote: »

I guess you could consider me jaded.

The best things are Lockheed-Martin who shares our airfield with us. When they test the new F-35 or another version of the F-16 and put it through its paces.

A mate of mine lives in Colarado Springs and says the same thing in relation to the USAF ThunderBirds!


Must be fun to see the LM testpilots 'playing' with new toys however. And regardless of your opinion of the F-35, seeing such a historic aircraft being testing is impressive.