Flyover for Saturday's Game

Submitted by AAK15 on

Hey y'all - as one of MGoBlog's MGoPilots (USAF) I thought I'd share this cool story about Saturday's game

The flyover will be conducted with two AT-38's from the 435th Fighter Training Squadron at Randolph AFB in Texas. These supersonic jet trainers are used by student pilots to gain the skills necessary to fly fighter or bomber type aircraft after graduating pilot training. The two pilots flying them are instructor pilots and 1996 UM college of engineering grads: Lt Col Jason "Ugly" Earley and Lt Col Michael "Vito" Ferrario. I haven't met them personally, but if I know fighter pilots, they'll put on a fun show! Note the Block M they painted on the side of one of the birds; not an easy feat to convince maintenance to do.

https://www.facebook.com/umichathletics/posts/964177330301897

I'll check back and answer any questions y'all have about the jets or anything else related if you want

Mod edit: Don't think the comments are salvageable at this point. Not at all a reflection on AAK15's very solid and informative OP. JGB.

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Rabbit21

September 9th, 2015 at 6:21 PM ^

Yes, so are lots of other things.  That doesn't make the object inherently evil, nor the person wielding/operating it.  

The flyby's themselves are enjoyed by a lot of people who appreciate both the symbolism and the charge of feeling the plane as it flies over.  This may be a shock but not everyone shares your value system or finds patriotic displays gross.  

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BVB1

September 9th, 2015 at 6:23 PM ^

You can't believe people think this is appropriate and commendable? Glad I didn't grow up on your hippie commune. I'm either missing the /sarc or you haven't noticed the connection between sport (any sport) and nationalism. This isn't unique to the US either. 

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Ray

September 9th, 2015 at 6:03 PM ^

For posting. Looking forward to the show. Regarding speed, there is a 250-knot (287 MPH) speed limit below 10,000 feet (200 knots if under Class B airspace like that around Metro). Military aircraft are allowed to exceed that but only if they are in a training area. I have seen plenty of aircraft violate this limit but I doubt the flyover would unless some sort of exemption (like at the Reno air races) is given.

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AAK15

September 9th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

Also if your tech order demands speeds above it for your plane to operate safely. The 38's are basically a rocket ship with no wings so they do patterns at 310 normally

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LSAClassOf2000

September 9th, 2015 at 6:13 PM ^

This is just an observational question, but it seems like the AT-38 is directly based off the F-5 fighter, and I wondered if one was just the training version of the other (the AT-38 is the trainer, I think). I think they've both been around for about the same length of time, but I was curious about the relationship between the two aircraft.

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mGrowOld

September 9th, 2015 at 6:16 PM ^

Only time I've been truly scared was when a commercial jet-a BIG commercial jet-changed course and started descending straight at the stadium from a long way out a few years ago. This was after the ban on commercial aviation over the stadium and I don't mind telling you I thought for a minute or two I was about to get 9/11'd as I watched her come down.

If you were there that day and we're looking opposite the student end zone you know what I mean.

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4godkingandwol…

September 9th, 2015 at 6:36 PM ^

I actually have no moral issue with the flyovers. Think they are pretty cool. My concern is about the finances. Who pays for it? If it's the government I'd prefer they invest in something less ephemeral, like veterans healthcare. If it is the school, I don't care too much, but if I were a student paying tuition, I'd be concerned.

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Rabbit21

September 9th, 2015 at 8:41 PM ^

I get the concern and while I don't think my explanation will alleviate it I will do my best:

The money usually comes out of the squadron's operating budget.  For flyover's the unit is typically responding to a formal request(although the pilots are likely greasing the wheels from the inside as well given that they're UM grads).  

Typically for a military flyby it can be considered both a marketing and a training event.  Every military pilot has certain training events they have to perform every quarter in order to stay current and during trips like these are when a lot of these CT events are performed, which is useful for instructors who are not always get a ton of flight time in the course of their normal duties.  It's also a morale thing, some of my favorite memories of being a military pilot were performing flybys.

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AAK15

September 9th, 2015 at 7:18 PM ^

It's already built into the AF budget each year. The sorties double as training missions because time on target and precise formation flying are exactly what they are training to do anyways, this is just in a different environment. It's good to train outside your normal training environment to not get complacent 

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Rabbit21

September 9th, 2015 at 6:58 PM ^

Not quite.  The Mig's in Top Gun were painted over F-5's(which were used as aggressor jets for the Top Gun program at the time the movie was filmed).  F-5's and T-38's are very similar but not quite the same plane.

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chatster

September 9th, 2015 at 8:03 PM ^

Though fighter jets might be considered a symbol of war, war is humanity at its worst, and the United States National Anthem recalls an event during an American war, I understand and respect the reasons for military flyovers and the singing of the National Anthem at sporting events. If I'm not "having a fit" about those events, does that make me a LINO (Liberal In Name Only)?
 
I’m old enough to have seen a high school acquaintance lying in an open casket in his dress uniform after he returned from Vietnam in a body bag, and to have experienced the pain of September 11, 2001 while working in New York.  Though I lean towards the Progressive Left on social and political issues, and though I've never served in the military (and I'm too old to do so now), I’ve never lost respect for the American military in which my father served during World War II, or for some of our nation’s most iconic symbols.
 
I well remember a couple of those iconic symbols that no longer stand, and that might be part of the reason for the flyover at The Big House on September 12.
 
Returning from a business trip in early September 2001, my flight arrived in the New York City area much earlier than expected, so we had to circle the city several times before we could land at Newark Airport.  During the delay, my repeated views of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and the Twin Towers near the tip of Manhattan during that sunny afternoon were very impressive.
 
I was in my office in midtown Manhattan a week later, preparing for a court appearance that afternoon when planes struck the Twin Towers. Had my court appearance been scheduled for that morning, instead of the afternoon, I would’ve been among the many thousands of people within a few blocks of the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers fell. For days afterwards, I heard and saw the helicopters and fighter jets in the skies over the New York region.
 
Some years later, while standing in my yard late on a fall Sunday afternoon, I heard a thunderous roar that I mistook for actual thunder until, within seconds, four fighter jets in tight formation passed over me.  I guessed rightly that they were heading toward the Meadowlands for a flyover before an NFL game at the old Giants Stadium.  It was as impressive a sight as those Twin Towers that I’d seen from the sky many times. . . . May the flyover at The Big House on Saturday be safe and impressive.

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Above and Beyond

September 9th, 2015 at 6:52 PM ^

OP, I am obsessed with fighter jets. Serious question - other than being a pilot and knowing someone in the military, how does one get a ride in one? It is on my bucket list to fly in one. I am 33, which means death is near, so any help is appreciated.



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BlueGoM

September 9th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

"Lt Col Jason "Ugly" Earley and Lt Col Michael "Vito" Ferrario"

How has no one mentioned that Earley's call sign is Ugly?

as in...

going ugly, early

 

 

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