The Rose Parade flyover honored USAF Major Benjamin “Chex” Meier, a USAF F-16 pilot who flew combat missions over Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and received the Air Force Medal. Major Meier was also assigned to the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron as an F-35A Lighting II pilot at Edwards Air Force Base. The flyover not only memorializes Major Benjamin Meier, who died in a non-aviation related accident while running on base at Edwards on September 28, 2015, it also acknowledges his heroic legacy from his wishes to donate his heart, lungs, liver and kidneys after his death to save the lives of five people awaiting organ transplants. Major Meier is survived by his wife and two sons. The two F-35As that participated in today’s flyover were from Major Meier’s former unit, the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron.
Today’s flyover honored USAF Major Benjamin “Chex” Meier for his service and selfless organ donations following his accidental death in 2015. (Photo: USAF)
Without reading too much into the beautiful memorial flyover held in splendid weather in Pasadena, it is worth noting that a recent planned B-2 flyover at the 2017 Aviation Nation Air & Space Expo at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, just 52 days prior to the traditional Pasadena flyover, was cancelled due to “re-tasking” according to Air Force Public Affairs at Nellis.
There was no specific description of the “re-tasking” that lead to the earlier Nellis flyover cancellation. It could have been maintenance requirements or it may also have been a change in alert status due to factors such as tensions with North Korea.
While there are no official confirmations about the specific reasons for the planned Nov. 11, 2017 flyover being cancelled, it may be reasonable to at least wonder if today’s flyover suggests a reduction in B-2 tasking requirements and possibly a correlating moderation (?) of tensions with North Korea. Again, there has been no official acknowledgement of this idea, but a flyover of one of only 12-14 combat ready B-2s represents almost 8% of the total force being committed for a number of hours to the flyover mission, when that availability wasn’t present just 52 days prior for Aviation Nation at Nellis.
There are only 19 total B-2 Spirit stealth bombers in the operational USAF inventory.
This year, the B-2 was escorted by two F-35s from Edwards AFB during the Rose Parade flyover.
On January 1, 2018, a B-2 Spirit belonging to the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, performed the traditional Rose Parade flyover. Noteworthy, two F-35 Lightning IIs from the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron on Edwards Air Force Base joined this year the B-2 during the flyover at the beginning of the annual Tournament of Roses Parade and once again, Mark Holtzman, a California native with over 25 years of experience as both a photographer and pilot, founder of West Coast Aerial Photography, a company specialising in aerial photography based in Los Angeles, was airborne to take some jaw-dropping air-to-air images showing the Stealth Bomber and the F-35s from above.
The B-2 and two F-35s perform the Rose Parade flyover (Photo: Mark Holtzman)
Then, the B-2 opened the 104th Rose Bowl Game at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena.
The 104th Rose Bowl Game is a semifinal for the College Football Playoff (CFP), matching two of the top four teams to compete for a spot at the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship game. The 2018 Rose Bowl Game pit The University of Georgia Bulldogs against The University of Oklahoma Sooners.
[By the way, you can buy prints of the photos here].
F-35 aircraft from the 61st Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona have done their first flyover at the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl.
On Jan. 25, the F-35s belonging to the 56th Fighter Wing from Luke Air Force Base performed the first ever Lightining II aircraft flyover opening the 2015 NFL Pro Bowl game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona at 6.00 PM LT.
According to one of our readers, “Cougar”, “Jeb”, “Merc”, and “CATA” are the nicknames of the Joint Strike Fighter pilots of the 61 FS who performed the flyover.
Here below you can see one of the pilots preparing to strap in the cockpit.
Here’s the patch the 56th FW has produced to celebrate the event:
Here below is the video of the flyover, officially released by the U.S. Air Force.
Among the most loved traditions of the National Football League Super Bowl Game, there’s the pre-game flyover armed forces aircraft.
The National Anthem comes to it’s final lines, and the planes, either a single bomber, a fighter jet flight, helicopter formation, or one of the display teams streak over the stadium. Flyovers are always a special sight.
As you prepare for the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII Seattle Seahawks vs Denver Broncos game (that will feature an helicopter flyover with AH-64D Apache, UH-60M Black Hawk and CH-47F Chinook choppers from 101st Combat Aviation Brigade), here’s an interesting video aired by the NFL Network with interesting details about the planning and execution of such events, including clips shot at lot of stadiums.
Image credit: 101st Combat Aviation Brigade,U.S. Army
Even though they have been part of the Pearl Harbor ceremonies since decades, this year’s traditional flyover was not performed because of the restrictions “on all kinds of flyovers across the country”, imposed by the budget cuts.
However, public appearances will not include flyovers. The U.S. Air Force performed 1,000 flyovers each year but, following the spending review which cut some upgrade programs as well, it will not fly any flyover next year but some high-visibility ones by the Thunderbirds.
Noteworthy, last year, an F-22 Raptor, of the Hawaii ANG scraped both horizontal stabilizers on the runway at Joint Base Pearl Harbor landing at its homebase after the missing man flyover.
A 1.8 million USD damage that may have contributed to the decision to deny the permission to perform this year’s Dec. 7 flyover.
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