The aircraft took off from Ada Regional Airport (KADH) in Oklahoma and flew over Lake Atoka during the 60-minute flight. According to GAMI, the warbird’s 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine is the most powerful to fly on the G100UL fuel.

• READ MORE: GAMI Responds to Cirrus G100UL Service Advisory

“This big-bore radial engine operating at up to 48-inch MP demonstrates the excellent high-octane performance of the G100UL high octane unleaded avgas,” GAMI said in a statement. “The ability to successfully operate this engine as such on an unleaded fuel supports the continued operation of these and many other warbirds well into the future.”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

The post GAMI’s G100UL Unleaded Fuel Successfully Powers Historic WWII Aircraft appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“Don’t worry. There will definitely be airplanes for Ukraine,” Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, Denmark’s ambassador to Ukraine, told Ukrainian news outlet Mi-Ukraina on Sunday, according to Newsweek.

The confirmation comes days after the Nordic country marked the sale of two dozen of its F-16s to Argentina. Last month, Denmark announced it planned to divest its F-16 fleet as it modernizes with F-35s.

“In Denmark, we are about to change the generation of our fleet of combat aircraft with new F-35 aircraft,” Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish minister of defense, said April 16. “Therefore, I am very pleased that the Danish F-16 aircraft, which have served us well over the years and have been thoroughly maintained and technologically updated, are now being used in the Argentine Air Force. With the deal, we are strengthening the Danish-Argentinian defense cooperation, at the same time as Argentina becomes part of the global F-16 family.”

In late March, Poulsen outlined that Denmark would be donating 19 F-16s to Ukraine, where officials have long sought access to the fighter jet in order to modernize its air force and improve its defense ability following Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The first F-16 aircraft are expected to be delivered to Ukraine this summer.

“It is difficult to set a fixed timetable for the donation of F-16 fighter jets, because there are several conditions that must be met in order for Ukraine to use the donated aircraft,” Poulsen said in late February. 

• READ MORE: Norway to Send F-16s to Denmark for Ukrainian Pilot Training

Last week, the Netherlands delivered three F-16s to the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) in Romania for Ukrainian pilot training, Reuters reported.

Russia President Vladimir Putin contends that the F-16 “would not change the situation in Ukraine” and has vowed that the aircraft will be shot down by Russian military forces.

The post Official: Denmark to Send F-16s to Ukraine appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

I can honestly say our stories captured millions of reads from pilots and aviation enthusiasts over the last 12 months, both for our digital-only news and enterprise reporting, as well as the print features we brought online to share with the world.

Being the stickler for detail I am, I waited til the last second ticked over on the year before diving in to see what scored highest—and here are my select 7 of those stories and why I found them compelling.

Boeing Bird of Prey Shrouded in Secrecy Still

Jason McDowell, a mild-mannered private pilot from the Midwest, consistently entertains and intrigues with both his New Owner online column, Air Compare features in print, and this series on History’s Unique Aircraft. A jet named after a Klingon spacecraft from Star Trek and given the designation “YF-118G”, Boeing’s Bird of Prey incorporated dramatic design inside and out. Why is it still a mystery? It has less to do with Boeing—and more so with the giant aerospace OEM it acquired in the 90s, McDonnell-Douglas. 

Downed WWII Lancaster Bomber Raised from Sea Floor

Our readers love their warbirds—and they clearly love a good rescue story. Who doesn’t? Especially when the survivor in question is a rare Avro Lancaster Ed603—the heavy bomber the Brits used to defend their shores and stop Hitler in World War II. Eight decades later, the airplane’s remains and those of several crewmembers have been recovered in a poignant story by Kimberly Johnson that clearly struck a chord with readers.

Why Jet It Failed

From our unique position as the world’s largest aviation media organization—a title we took in 2023 with several key acquisitions—we have an insider’s look at much of industry. And sometimes that goes a step further, because we are deeply involved in flying and operating aircraft ourselves. When fractional operator Jet It collapsed in May, FLYING Media Group owner Craig Fuller brought his behind the scenes look at the cause of the collapse to FLYING’s readers as one of the HondaJet share owners affected by the fractional’s failure.

Collings Foundation Grounds Air Tour for WWII Aircraft

More living history made our headlines—with repercussions following the horrific accident taking B-17 Flying Fortress Nine-Oh-Nine on October 2, 2022. Technical editor Meg Godlewski went in depth when the Collings Foundation took the needed step to reduce its exposure to risk by halting its famous Wings of Freedom tours of WWII aircraft and other flying legends. Instead, it has adapted its mission to bring the aircraft to a wider range of school groups with more robust education and preservation.

NTSB Releases Fiery HondaJet Runway Excursion Details

Unfortunately, many of you seek FLYINGmag.com for its reporting on accidents—looking to learn beyond the reports of the National Transportation Safety Board and understand why they occurred. Our goal? To help you mitigate the causes of these occurrences in your own flying. While several high-profile events captured our readers’ attention—and continue to do so in Peter Garrison’s Aftermath analysis as well—runway excursions by business jets remain a stubborn accident profile that the industry seeks to reduce.

A Yak 18T’s Escape from Ukraine

An exclusive feature from our print edition also racked up significant views in just the few weeks since it debuted online—FLYING contributor Jay Selman revealed the inspiring story of a special Yak 18T and the complex maneuvering  to bring it out of Ukraine and into flying status in the U.S. Both restoration and rescue mission, this article drew a lot of attention—as do many of our aircraft features, including We Fly reports on new aircraft, and Restoration Nation features on bringing historic airplanes back to life.

SpaceX Starship Grounded Indefinitely by the FAA

And the top story—in terms of total time viewers spent reading it? Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship has clearly caught our imagination in its democratization of space. Jack Daleo’s reporting on the subject drew folks to our site (thank you) and kept them reading all year long. We’re fascinated by space—and the dawn of a new era of exploration is upon us that more regular people will be able to take part in. 

That’s just one reason why I’m excited to see what 2024 brings us, in terms of stories.

And for me? I vow to #flymorein24! See you in the skies.

The post My Top <i>FLYING</i> Stories for 2023 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The purchase contract includes new medium multirole aircraft for the Spanish Air and Space Force and the Spanish Navy configured as both maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) and maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA). The 1.695 euro ($1.8 billion) deal also includes a full flight simulator, mission system simulator, and initial logistics support package, Airbus said.

• READ MORE: Airbus NH90 Sea Tiger Naval Helicopter Makes First Flight

The MPA aircraft will replace the country’s Lockheed P-3 Orion fleet, which it retired last year. The airplanes will be tasked with anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare. and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, and will be capable of carrying torpedoes and other weapons systems.

“The aircraft will be fully designed and manufactured in Spain, fostering the national industrial defense footprint and sovereignty” said Mike Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. “In particular, the maritime patrol version is the most complex C295 mission configuration to date.”

• READ MORE: Airbus U.S. Space and Defense Adds New Line of Business in Drones

The MSA-configured aircraft are set to replace the country’s CN-235 VIGMA twin-engine military transporter for anti-smuggling and anti-drug trafficking operations, as well as search-and-rescue missions.

The post Spain Places Order for 16 Airbus C295 Patrol Aircraft appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The aircraft was selected by South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) as the winner of the Large Transport Aircraft (LTA) II public tender for a new military transport airplane for ROKAF, Embraer said Monday.

• READ MORE: Agreement Expands Embraer Expands Foothold in Saudi Arabia

The agreement, which comes as South Korea continues to modernize its military fleet, makes the country the seventh to purchase the C-390 for military transport and the first to operate it in Asia. The medium-sized military transport aircraft is capable of carrying a payload of more than 26 tons and flying at 470 knots.

• READ MORE: South Korea’s Navy Takes Delivery of 3 Bell 505 Helicopters

In addition to providing an undisclosed number of aircraft configured for ROKAF specifications, Embraer will also provide services and support, including training, ground support equipment, and spare parts. The company said a significant amount of aircraft parts would be made by Korean partners, and there would be development of a local maintenance repair and overhaul provider.

• READ MORE: Czech Republic Sets Eyes on Embraer C-390 for Military Transport

“We welcome the [ROKAF] to the growing number of air forces operating the C-390 Millennium—the most modern military tactical transport aircraft,” said Bosco da Costa Jr., president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. “Day after day, the aircraft has proven its capability to complete a wide range of missions with great efficiency, serviceability, and speed.”

In 2019, the Brazilian Air Force began operating the C-390, which Embraer markets as an alternative to the C-130 Hercules. The Portuguese Air Force took delivery of its first KC-390 tanker this year. 

The post South Korea to Buy Embraer C-390 for Military Transport appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The maiden flight occurred at Airbus Helicopters’ production facility in Donauwörth, Germany. The aircraft will now enter a qualification phase that includes flight testing with newly installed systems before deliveries begin by the end of 2025.

The aircraft is the newest variant of the Airbus NH90 naval helicopter, which is already in use in six countries for search and rescue and military operations. The Sea Tiger variant designed for the German military is equipped with anti-submarine warfare technology including a dipping sonar, sonobuoys, and weapons, such as torpedoes and missiles for engaging targets above and below the surface. 

• READ MORE: Norway to Buy 6 MH-60R Helicopters

In 2020, Germany’s military, known as Bundeswehr, ordered 31 NH90 Sea Tigers for the German Navy to replace its aging fleet of Mk88A Sea Lynx. The military already operates 18 NH90 Sea Lion naval transport helicopter variants, Airbus said.

“Operating both the NH90 Sea Lion and the Sea Tiger will allow the Navy to further streamline its operations and maintenance,” said Stefan Thomé, managing director of Airbus Helicopters in Germany. “The NH90 Sea Lion, which is already in service with the Navy, has recently proven its capabilities during a first major rescue operation in the North Sea.”

The post Airbus NH90 Sea Tiger Naval Helicopter Makes First Flight appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Representatives of Embraer and Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI)—the country’s state-owned defense company—signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishing cooperation in the aerospace sector Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“This is the first step to advance cooperation in defense and security involving production chains between the two countries,” Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO of Embraer Defense and Security, said in a statement. “With this [MOU], Embraer advances further into a strategic market.”

• READ MORE: Czech Republic Sets Eyes on Embraer C-390 for Military Transport

The agreement sets the stage to expand operations for both companies in Saudi Arabia, “with a focus on promoting the capabilities of the C-390,” and supporting the country’s Ministry of Defense, Embraer said.

“SAMI and Embraer will work to establish comprehensive maintenance capability for the Embraer aircraft in the Kingdom. Additionally, both companies will explore a Regional MRO Hub and a final assembly line for the Embraer C-390, as well as a mission system integration in the Kingdom,” Embraer said. 

• READ MORE: Embraer C-390 Completes Flight Tests for Firefighting Missions

The MOU also establishes an aerospace sector training partnership between the two companies in Saudi Arabia, the company added.

The MOU is the latest in a string of international agreements aimed at localizing Saudi Arabia’s defense industry. In recent months, SAMI has entered into an maintenance agreement with France’s Safran Helicopter Engines, as well as with Turkey’s Baykar Tech for drone manufacturing.

• READ MORE: Saudi Arabia Selects King Airs for Weather Mission

“This growth in our business scope and capabilities highlights SAMI’s dedication to advancing and supporting the development of the aerospace ecosystem in the Kingdom,” SAMI CEO Walid Abukhaled said in a statement. “It is another important step in SAMI’s efforts in supporting the Saudi Vision 2030 to strengthen the Kingdom’s self-sufficiency in the defense sector and contribution to the localization of 50 percent of the defense spending In the Kingdom by 2030.”

The post Agreement Expands Embraer Foothold in Saudi Arabia appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“The aircraft was landing and overshot[ the runway],” said 1st Lieutenant Hailey Harms, a Marine Corps Base Hawaii spokesperson, U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) reported. The base is located north of Honolulu on the main island of Oahu.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. local time, as rainy conditions had reduced visibility to about 1 mile, according to The Associated Press.

• READ MORE: Boeing Delivers First P-8A Poseidon Maritime Aircraft to New Zealand

The Boeing 737-based Poseidon is used by the Navy for submarine hunting, as well as  anti-surface warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

A Hawaii official says all nine people aboard a U.S. Navy plane that overshot a runway have escaped injury. A U.S. Marine Corps spokesperson said Monday that the P-8A aircraft overshot the runway at a Marine base and went into Kaneohe Bay. Another spoke… https://t.co/9yvQok3Hje

— KSTP (@KSTP) November 21, 2023

The aircraft is assigned to the “Skinny Dragons” of Patrol Squadron (VP) 4, based in Whidbey Island, Washington, according to USNI. Nine people were on board the aircraft at the time of the incident, and all were safely evacuated with no injuries reported.

The U.S. 3rd Fleet has launched an investigation into the incident, USNI said.

The post Navy P-8A Overshoots Runway, Ends Up in Kaneohe Bay appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Recently, drones have dominated coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, epitomized by last week’s media storm around Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and the Kremlin. We take those capabilities for granted today—they’re just a feature of war. But plenty of active service members were alive during a time when today’s UAVs were inconceivable.

So, how did we get here? Believe it or not, drones as we know them right now actually originated more than a century ago during World War I and World War II. They certainly weren’t pretty. But for better or worse, war breeds innovation, and those wars laid the groundwork for today’s UAV technology.

Let’s take a look at some of those early drones and how they morphed into the high-flying, supersonic, undetectable UAVs permeating the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Prewar Foundations

Before diving into the history books, we need to define what a drone is. For our purposes, we’ll be using a simple definition: a drone or UAV is any aircraft that does not have a human crew or pilot on board.

That includes balloons, which were responsible for the earliest unmanned flights. The ancient Chinese used sky balloons, or Kongming lanterns—now a symbol in Chinese culture—for military signaling. A few centuries later, the first hot-air balloon designed to carry people, developed by aviation pioneers the Montgolfier brothers, flew without a crew in 1783.

But it wasn’t until the mid-19th century that the first UAV was deployed in combat. That distinction belongs to the Austrians, who in 1849 bombed Venice, Italy, using explosive-laden balloons. Unsurprisingly, they weren’t very effective—many of them even blew back toward Austria due to wind.

Before long, engineers were looking at a new application for UAVs: aerial photography. 

The first surveillance drones didn’t emerge until the Vietnam War. But in 1858, French photographer Nadar was credited with taking the first photos from a balloon. A few decades later, William Abner Eddy took photos from a flying kite, some of which survived. And around the same time, Alfred Nobel was thought to have taken photos from a “rocket camera,” though the history is disputed.

Yet all of these aircraft had a big problem: They were difficult or impossible to control. Nikola Tesla began laying the foundation for radio-controlled vehicles with his “robot-boat” in 1898. A technological marvel for its time, Tesla reportedly fooled a crowd at New York City’s Madison Square Garden into thinking they could control the vehicle by shouting.

Tesla never built a remote-control system for flight. But leading up to WWI, Britain’s Royal Aircraft Factory recognized the potential for radio-guided combat aircraft—and got to work.

WWI and the 1st UAV

The task of developing a radio-controlled airplane was left up to A.M. Low, an English engineer, physicist, and inventor commissioned by Britain’s Royal Flying Corps in 1914, just more than a decade after the Wright Brothers’ first flight.

Considered by some to be “the father of radio guidance systems,” Low in 1916 developed a design called the Aerial Target (AT) that laid the foundation for drones as we know them today. The following year, a monoplane made by Geoffrey de Havilland—who would go on to found the aircraft manufacturer sharing his last name—became the first AT model to fly under radio control. It was considered the first UAV flight.

While working on AT, Low survived two assassination attempts by the Germans, who saw the danger in his invention. The British military, however, eventually scrapped the program. Low later developed remote-controlled boats to counter submarines, though they were never deployed in war.

The U.S. also took notice of Low. In 1917, at the behest of scientist-inventors Peter Hewitt and Elmer Sperry, the Navy began developing the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, or “Flying Bomb,” considered to be the earliest iteration of the modern cruise missile. It was made by attaching automatic control gear to the Curtiss N-9 seaplane and eventually, after failed tests, a custom Curtiss airframe.

Launched from a catapult—and later a car—and controlled through gyro-stabilization technology created by Sperry, the aircraft never saw battle. But the U.S. military now had UAVs on its mind.

Around the time the Flying Bomb was undergoing flight testing, the U.S. Army asked inventor and engineer Charles Kettering to design a “flying machine” that could hit targets from 40 miles away.

His design, the Kettering Aerial Torpedo—better known as the “Kettering Bug”—was groundbreaking despite never seeing combat. It was capable of carrying 180 pounds of explosives over 75 miles at a speed of 50 mph, making it an enigma of its time.

Using a guidance and control system developed by Sperry, the Bug was programmed to turn off its engine after a specified number of revolutions corresponding to the distance it needed to travel, improving its accuracy. That resulted in several successful flight tests in 1918, and the U.S. government would ultimately spend $275,000 (or about $4 million today) developing it.

The Bug and its predecessors ultimately never saw battle. But Kettering’s design and others would later inspire the UAVs deployed during WWII.

The Interwar Period

The Allies didn’t need drones to win World War I. But the early glimpses of UAV technology were too tantalizing to ignore, and the interwar period brought plenty of new innovations that have stuck around.

One is the quadcopter design, a common feature of modern drones. The first practical quadcopter design arrived in 1924, when French engineer Étienne Oehmichen flew his Oehmichen 2. Around the same time, George de Bothezat successfully flew a quadrotor helicopter for the U.S. Army.

But the bulk of UAV innovation at this time came from the British and American militaries. 

Drawing upon Kettering’s Bug and Low’s radio-control technology, the British Royal Aircraft Establishment began building the Larynx autopilot cruise missile in 1925, conducting test flights between 1927 and 1929. Britain also developed the Fairey Queen, a radio-controlled target drone constructed from a Fairey IIIF floatplane, in 1931. Only three were ever flown.

But one British innovation from this period had staying power. In 1933, the country started building the DH.82B Queen Bee, a pilotless variant of de Havilland’s Tiger Moth biplane that revolutionized military target practice. The Queen Bee began flying remotely in 1935 and was in service with the Royal Air Force and Navy until 1947. Remarkably, it could fly as high as 17,000 feet and as fast as 100 mph, and it could be recovered after flight. More than 400 were built over a decade.

But perhaps the Queen Bee’s longest-lasting impact comes from its name. Historians believe that when the British demonstrated it for the U.S. military, officials began using the word drone—a term for worker bees—to refer to UAVs as a tip of the hat. But more importantly, Queen Bee is thought to have inspired the first American drone program.

U.S. experiments eventually produced the Curtiss N2C-2 antiaircraft target drone in 1937. Controlled remotely from a TG-2 “mothership,” the N2C-2 entered Navy service in 1938, and the Air Force adopted the concept the following year. The technology was ideal for target practice, but the requirement of a mothership limited its range and applications.

The Queen Bee and N2C-2 were the first UAVs to see extensive military use. And they arrived just in time for World War II, when drones really started to take off.

WWII and the First Mass-Produced UAVs

A couple hundred Queen Bees and a few thousand N2C-2 variants flew as target drones during World War II. But the conflict, the largest the world had ever seen, triggered the proliferation of UAVs.

The first mass-produced drone emerged from an unlikely source: actor Reginald Denny, a successful Hollywood leading man who experimented with radio-controlled aviation in the 1930s. Throughout the decade, Denny’s Radioplane Co. demonstrated several target drones for the U.S. Army.

In 1940, Denny’s persistence won Radioplane an Army contract to mass-produce the Radioplane OQ-2 and its successor, the OQ-3. The company would go on to build an astounding 15,000 target drones for the Army during WWII, marking the beginning of heavy military drone use. And in 1941, a patent filed by engineer Edward M. Sorensen allowed the aircraft to complete the first beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights.

If Britain was the driving force behind UAV innovation during WWI, it was the U.S. in WWII. 

In 1942, the U.S. military developed an early assault drone, the Naval Aircraft Factory TDN-1, which did not see operation but is credited as the first drone to take off from an aircraft carrier. Shortly after, it devised the Interstate TDR-1 assault drone, which saw about a month of deployment in the Pacific Theater before being retired in 1944.

The U.S. also experimented with applying radio control to out-of-service aircraft. In 1944, Operation Aphrodite saw the Army Air Forces repurpose the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator for remote flight. These designs were also the first UAVs equipped with cameras for first-person-view flights.

Despite flying 14 missions, Aphrodite was considered a failure. The drones were essentially torpedoes equipped with explosives, requiring the pilot to jump from the aircraft before impact. One mission led to the death of Joseph P. Kennedy, the older brother of John F. Kennedy.

However, the U.S. did find success with one of the earliest combat drones, the GB-1 glide bomb. Also known as the “grapefruit bomb,” the aircraft’s wings allowed it to glide farther than a torpedo, which allowed bombers to release it from outside enemy lines. More than 1,000 GB-1s flew during WWII in 1944 and 1945.

But ironically, a U.S. invention inspired the Germans to build the most devastating UAV of the time. Remember that old Kettering Bug? Well, the Germans certainly did, adapting the model into what would become the V-1 flying bomb, commonly known as the “doodlebug” or “buzz bomb.”

The V-1 is considered to be the first operational cruise missile, and it was unlike anything the world had ever seen. It was a true monstrosity of its time, capable of traveling more than 150 miles at speeds approaching 400 mph—not far off from modern passenger airliners.

At the height of the V-1’s deployment in 1944, Germany riddled London with bombs, launching more than 100 drones per day, before switching its sights to Belgium. The flying bomb was remarkably effective for its time, so much so that it inspired the British to produce some of the earliest counter-UAV technology.

Near the end of the war, the Germans also introduced the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket. Amazingly, the V-2 traveled close to the speed of sound, making it stealthier and even more dangerous than the V-1. More than 3,000 were launched between 1943 and 1945.

The vast majority of these aircraft were retired in the years after the war. But the damage was already done—the Germans had just provided the first glimpse into the power of combat drones, and there was no turning back.

Through decades of trial and error and the modern-day equivalent of billions of dollars, WWI and WWII produced most of the foundational concepts of drones as we know them today, from remote-control to BVLOS operations.

In the following decades, research and development of UAV technology didn’t subside—it picked up exponentially. Around the world, militaries began contracting with private manufacturers, conducting extensive testing, and pouring billions of dollars into drone technology, introducing new innovations such as surveillance drones during the Vietnam War or precision drone strikes throughout the war on terror.

Now, they’re being used for just about every armed conflict on Earth. And as drones continue to wreak havoc in Russia and Ukraine, chances are they won’t be going away any time soon—for better or worse.

The post How Were Drones Used During WWI and WWII? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The pre-game flyover is a Super Bowl ritual more than half a century old. Although it only lasts a few seconds, for many pilots and aviation enthusiasts, it’s one of the most thrilling moments of the game. Previous flyovers at the NFL championship game have included the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, U.S. Army helicopters, and even three different types of bombers. 

In honor of this year’s 75th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force, the NFL has enlisted the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation (AFHFF) to perform this brief—but thrilling—annual event. 

The flight includes five historic and important U.S. military fighters and attack aircraft:

• P-51D Mustang, based at the AFHFF in Chino, California
• A-10 Thunderbolt II—aka “Warthog”—based at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona
• F-22 Raptor, based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia
• F-35 Lightning II, based at Hill AFB, Utah
• F-16 Fighting Falcon, aka “Viper,” based at Shaw AFB, South Carolina
  

Check out the cockpit footage of the aircraft, including an F-35A from the @F35demoteam, rehearsing the #AF75 @afhflight flyover at @SoFiStadium for this weekend’s #SBLVI Super Bowl ! pic.twitter.com/q7tTJF2mNi

— F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office (@theF35JPO) February 10, 2022

This Is How It’s Done

Piloting the Mustang dubbed Wee Willy II will be former world speed record holder and Reno Air Race champion Steve Hinton, who has logged more than 7,000 hours piloting vintage World War II fighters. Hinton spent a few minutes with FLYING to describe the complicated teamwork between the U.S. Air Force, the foundation, the NFL, and the FAA that goes into these flyovers. 

In the end, it’s all about what the military calls “time on target”—aka TOT. Time on target is the precise time when aircraft are scheduled to be located above a specific location. Planning, practice, coordination, and communication are the keys to a successful TOT. 

Practice

A few days before game day, the flight team conducts a practice flyover to properly choreograph the delicate operation. The goal is to reach TOT over SoFi Stadium during the final note of the national anthem. Hinton said the pilots listened to the anthem a few times during practice, “just so we can kind of get a rhythm.” Following the practice flights, small modifications are made to the flight plan and pilots receive a very detailed brief from leadership on how to properly execute those adjustments.

The Route

The flight will take place in restricted airspace, thanks to a TFR issued by the FAA, making sure no unauthorized aircraft are in the immediate area. Taking off from Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos (KSLI), located southeast of the stadium, the Air Force jets will depart separately from Hinton in the Mustang. A few minutes later, all five airplanes will rendezvous in the air at a hold position over the Pacific, off Malibu Beach. 

When they receive a cue from a controller inside the stadium via a dedicated radio frequency the formation will proceed to the east at about 250 knots across the coastline, past Santa Monica Airport (KSMO). At a specific point, they’ll make a right turn on a specific vector toward SoFi. “And then it’s a 45-second shot across the stadium,” Hinton said. 

The route makes things a little tricky, “because it’s not a straight shot in. It’s hard to estimate exactly the time when you have to make two turns along a specific route.

“We’ll be timing at many points along the way to see how we’re doing so we’ll know if we’re behind a second or two,” Hinton said. “The unknown issue is if they have a glitch in the presentation—if there’s a slip in their time.” If that happens, the pilots will have to improvise and slow their approach. 

Speed Becomes Tricky

But because the P-51D is not a jet, speed becomes a tricky issue. 

“I’ve only got maybe 30 knots to play with because I can’t slow down where these guys [in the jets] can’t fly. So I’ve got to keep up around 250 knots so we can stay in formation. I can push it up to 250, 280, or 290, but I’d prefer not to. That’s running the engine above the comfort level. But a Mustang will get up and go pretty good.”

By the time they appear over the stadium, all five airplanes should be in formation within 10 feet of each other. “It’ll be a nice, tight formation, you bet,” Hinton said. 

Altitude

FAA regs generally restrict aircraft from flying no lower than 1,000 feet above objects on the ground and 2,000 feet laterally from objects. However, for this event, the FAA has issued a low-altitude waiver permitting the pilots to fly as low as 705 feet above the ground, Hinton said. “We’re shooting for 800 feet, but the waiver is for 705 feet,” he said. “For heritage flights, when we have waivers for air shows, we’re actually allowed to fly 500 feet above the crowd.”

Every year, each Air Force demonstration team member and each heritage pilot are required to demonstrate to the FAA that they can safely fly per the waiver at those low altitudes, Hinton said. 

After they fly across the stadium, the hard part is over. Their exit route takes them over the Palos Verdes area and then southbound along the coastline back to KSLI, where they will land. 

Live Video from the Cockpit

Hinton will make the flight with a tripod-mounted camera strapped to the area behind his seat, which, if all goes as planned, will provide a video feed from the Mustang cockpit streamed live on the U.S. Air Force Facebook page beginning around 6 p.m. ET.  

It doesn’t look like weather will be a problem. Sunday’s Super Bowl forecast calls for sunny conditions with a high temperature near 84 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday night, mostly clear skies are expected with a low around 56 degrees.

A Tradition of Air Force Flyovers

The history of Super Bowl flyovers dates back to 1968, when U.S. Air Force fighter jets wowed fans by roaring over the Miami Orange Bowl before Super Bowl II. 

In fact, the Air Force performs nearly 1,000 flyovers every year. Naysayers and party poopers may ask, why? Well, in addition to showcasing the capabilities of unique military technology, the Air Force believes flyovers go a long way toward inspiring patriotism and encouraging aviation enthusiasm. 

Not all NFL flyovers are without controversy. Last December, three U.S. Army helicopters flew low over Nashville, Tennessee’s Nissan Stadium, prompting investigations by the Army and the FAA.

• READ MORE:  FAA, Army Investigating Low Flyover During NFL Game

The Air Force points out that its flyovers take place at no additional cost to taxpayers. These flights actually qualify as time-over-target training for pilots, crew, and ground control. 

Super Bowl Temporary Flight Restrictions

This year’s championship is taking place in one of the busiest sectors of controlled airspace in the nation—the area surrounding Los Angeles—which heightens the importance for GA pilots to be aware of local TFRs. 

The FAA has issued a TFR for Sunday that prohibits all aircraft flight operations from the surface up to, but not including, FL180 within a 10 nm radius of the stadium, which is just east of Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX). 

This zone is designated as Class B airspace. In addition to KLAX, airports within the zone include Compton/Woodley Airport (KCPM), Hawthorne Municipal Airport (KHHR), Santa Monica Airport (KSMO), and Zamperini Field in Torrance (KTOA). 

Pilots should check NOTAMs frequently to confirm they have the most current information. 

Exceptions include regularly scheduled commercial flights and approved law enforcement, ambulance, or military flights. 

Final Flight

After 25 years of taking part in these kinds of flyovers, Hinton says this will be his final mission with the Air Force. 

Although he’s never served in the military, he said it’s “been an honor and a pleasure to be a part of these.” The Air Force pilots “are well trained and they have great attitudes and they know their airplanes and they know their mission. I can’t even believe I’ve gotten to do this stuff. It’s been crazy.”

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