Super Bowl flyover costs taxpayers $450,000 (F-18 Video)
Considering that the Pentagon spends $500 million in the U.S. annually, just on marketing the wars, this is a mere drop in a leaky, bankrupt bucket.
Several clips of the flyover are below, captured by fans.
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The ritual at a sporting event is both heart-rending and familiar: The performance of the national anthem, followed by a thunderous flyover by military aircraft.
At this year's Super Bowl, five Navy F-18s are traveling all the way from Virginia Beach, Virginia for the ceremony at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The domed arena will be closed. The spectators inside will not see it. The five-second shot will be shown on TV.
The U.S. Navy says the cost to bring the formation of four planes, plus a backup, to North Texas is $109,000 in fuel. According to Department of Defense tables, the entire cost will be more than $450,000, based on the operational cost of the F-18 aircraft and the number of hours the pilots will fly.
The same kind of F-18 fighter operates out of the Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, less than 20 miles from the stadium.
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Video - No one in the stadium sees it because the dome was closed
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Video - View from the TV compound
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Aircraft from four Navy strike fighter squadrons are selected to fly over Cowboys Stadium to open Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas.
Feb 8, 2011 at 1:44 PM
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