VIDEO: F-35A Armed Forces Bowl Flyover 29 Dec 2015

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armed_forces_bowl_pretease Dominick Vargas 3 weeks ago: https://vimeo.com/150345663

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F-35s At Lockheed-Martin Armed Forces Bowl!
07 Jan 2016 Curt Jans

"...Providing the support was the 61st Fighter Squadron “Top Dogs” – part of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base (AFB). This was only the second flyover for the F-35, with the first one taking place at the NFL Pro-Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona on January 25, 2015–also supported by the Top Dogs.

As G.M. described in our first installment, the Forward Air Controller (FAC) is responsible to communicate timing adjustments to the flight lead in order to achieve the desired ToT and coordination–typically right at the last note of the National Anthem. The FAC for the 2015 Lockheed-Martin Armed Forces Bowl was Captain Kyle “Scrum” Babbitt....

...The original flyover plan for the Lockheed-Martin Armed Forces Bowl called for the aircraft to transit from Luke AFB to Naval Air Station (NAS) Fort Worth–the closest secure military airfield, the day prior to the game. Unfortunately, unseasonably warm Texas weather took a turn for the worse on 26 December, with a strong cold front creating ten confirmed tornados and multiple fatalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

On December 28th, with heavy cloud cover, intermittent precipitation, and airfield temps hovering just above freezing, locally-based F-16s from the 301st FW reported icing during the RTB (return to base) descent to NAS Fort Worth. The Top Dog flyover team postponed the leg from Luke AFB to Fort Worth until the morning of the game. The final flightplan included the transit flight to Fort Worth the morning of the game, followed by a holding pattern near the stadium, and finally, the main event before landing at NAS Fort Worth for an overnight stay.

Captain Babbitt described the major planning elements of the flyover to include: weather, airspace and logistics – essentially the same, regardless of the airframe. Gameday was mostly sunny with a high temp near 50°F (10°C), so although the weather affected the transit flight schedule, it was near perfect for the flyover. Understanding the local airspace was critical. A TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) was in-place over the stadium before and during the game. The F-35 flight lead, Major Joshua “CATA” Arki, worked with Approach (ATC) to navigate the Class-B and Class-D airspace near the hold area, the stadium, and around NAS Fort Worth, which lies just five miles from the stadium. Captain Babbitt was at the stadium well before the game to coordinate with the band performing the national anthem.

The band quoted 70-seconds for the National Anthem, and the flight lead-in time and countdown were coordinated by Babbitt. After a textbook flyover, the F-35s landed at NAS Fort Worth a few minutes later, and the pilots were able to quickly transit to the stadium to catch the rest of the game. The Air Force Falcons fought hard, but the California Golden Bears won the high-scoring game 55 to 36.

While a flyover typically occupies only a few seconds at the end of the National Anthem, it takes a considerable amount of time and effort to plan and split-second precision execution...."

VIDEO: https://amp.twimg.com/amplify-web-playe ... json_rpc=1

Photo: https://fightersweep.com/wp-content/upl ... 30x420.jpg

Source: https://fightersweep.com/3616/f-35s-at- ... rces-bowl/