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Navy spent $450,000 on Super Bowl flyover with stadium roof shut

The U.S. Navy has been blasted for spending almost half a million dollars on a flyover at the Super Bowl - even though the stadium roof was closed. The estimated $450,000 expense was for four fighter jets that flew from Virginia and over the retractable roof of Cowboys Stadium.

Somebody didn't get their snack at nap time?

When it was broadcast on screens at the Super Bowl, fans inside the stadium got the same view as people watching the five-second shot on TV at home.

The $450,000 figure was based on the operational cost, the time it took pilots to fly the mission and a backup plane. But the Navy said the only costs that it recorded were the fuel expenses of $109,000 and the event provided good publicity to help military recruitment.

Military aviation expert Jay Miller has questioned the expense. He said: 'What's the military exercise that's involved unless you're trying to pinpoint a target? And a big coliseum's your target destination?'

This seems like a feeble criticism. I'm no expert, but don't flying time and experience with performing missions count for anything? Are there really no conceivable benefits of any sort other than 'pinpointing a target'?

But military officials said that the flyover was part of a training exercise that gave pilots experience with instruments and communication.

'These missions are included in the annual operating budget of all branches of the military and they are used as training,' said a spokesman for the U.S. Navy Air Force's Atlantic division.

'There was no additional money provided to us - Congress did not cut us a special check to do this flyover. This is considered a training mission whether they were to fly over the Super Bowl or not. I can't put a specific dollar attributed to what we did on Sunday, but we know we gained some recruiting points. Everyone in the stadium saw it on the big television screen and everyone else saw it their TV. From an exposure standpoint it was huge for us.'

And that seems like an effective response.

The air force took in over 3,000 requests last year for flyovers and executed 275 of these at sporting events, with over 600 requests approved in total.

Commander Ben Hewlett from Virginia Beach led the Super Bowl overflight.

'I would hesitate to say there is a need for it,' he told a television station. 'There is a desire for it. There's a want there. There's a public interest. There's a lot of Americans that want to look up and say: "We are super proud of our Marines, our sailors out there doing the job every day".'

Every Super Bowl but one in 1967 has had a flyover, and the NFL in return promises to show the planes and give the Navy exposure.

Late additions I found on YouTube:

Posted by: 2011-02-11

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