2010 Season Flyover Plans

Autobots assemble!!!

Sorry just had to.

The Sonic Boom will occur when Denard breaks a run into the secondary.

The A-10 was just about the coolest GI Joe toy. (Though technically belonging to Cobra).

When the A-10 comes in at it's nominal steep angle of attack to a ground target it makes virtually no noise. Thus when the cannon is fired usually you are blowing up on the ground before you even hear the growl of the cannon. You don't hear the jet itself till it turns or flies past.

Not many people know that the A-10 was very very close to being decomissioned and retired prior to the Gulf War. With the success of the F-16 and the F-15 there wasn't deemed a need for a subsonic attack aircraft. Then Desert Storm happened and about the only plane that had any success on the ground was the A-10. Combined with it's reliability made it the perfect weapon for ground and urban warfare.

Pretty messed up that you can say that and think it's just pretty freakin' cool.

Our plant had the honor of dissembling that particular warthog rivet by rivet afterwards.

Also I will be sending this link to the rest of my family, thanks Shoe

You should come to Tucson then, the A 10's train out of here and are constantly flying all over town.  Pretty cool planes indeed.

If you watched the parade earlier I believe that was the year where the B-2 flewover with a Stealth Fighter and the now defunct F-22 prototype on its wings. That was a hell of a flyover with literally billions of American dollars in 3 planes. Sadly they just had the B-2 flyover for the actual Rose Bowl.

When you see one of their shows, there's a part of the routine where Lead Solo is demonstrating the F/A-18's high-alpha capability, (i.e. really slow flying) down the flight line. Suddenly, from behind the crowd, Opposing Solo breaks across the field at about 350 kts.

Shitting yourself indeed.

Even when I knew they were just practicing, and even when I knew they were the good guys and on my side, it was scary.  I wanted to surrender to somebody on the spot.  Make it stop.

Tiny correction: The A-10 actually uses the GAU-8 Avenger, a 30mm cannon.  The Vulcan is a 20mm cannon used by most other fighter aircraft (F-15/16/18).

Due to FAA flight restrictions and Navy rules on speed and altitude for special events, the flyovers you have seen at Michigan games restrict the pilots from using afterburners and being below 1,000 AGL (above ground level). However, I agree that it is loud as hell.  It is especially hard to hear the Color Guard Commander (person in charge of raising the flag) give orders while the fly-over is taking place.

Edit:  2 Navy F-18 Pilots lost their wings after a flyover at a Georgia Tech game last year because they were below their minimum allowable altitude.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/03/navy_pilots_punished_031910w/

Most Navy F18s (Hornets and Super Hornets) are based in NAS Lemoore in California.  The new Growlers (replacing the Prowlers) are also Super Hornets, but based out of NAS Whidbey Island in Washington.  The US Marine Corps also have F-18s based out of Miramar, California.  These are the only squadrons based on the West Coast.  There are 5 of us Michigan alumni in flight school at NAS Corpus Christi flying T-34s.  We can't wait for the day when we can do a fly-over at Michigan Stadium (don't worry, not in the T-34s)!

The only place you will find Prowlers in the lower 48 are Whidbey Island, WA (Navy) and Cherry Point, NC (USMC).  The Growlers are also only found in Whidbey Island, WA.  

Thanks Shoe,

I'm doing a refresher in Oceana after two years in a joint billet  so probably won't attack this until I join the Cowboys.  I'm actually not a reservist, just got hooked up with a good deal to be on of the AD guys with the squadron.  There are quite few Michigan connections in the squadron so I think interest should by high.