A Slap In the Face
by Joe Pulcinella
Last Sunday was the season opener for the Philadelphia Eagles. They were playing home in their taxpayer-funded stadium ($320,000,000) but that doesn�t seem to bother anyone anymore. I haven�t forgotten about it but I have been shouted down so many times that I just stopped talking about it.
There was a lot of pre-game hoopla including a large American flag being paraded out onto the field while four F-16s roared overhead in tight formation. What a great show of patriotism! Isn�t it wonderful to be an American?
But wait! Back up a minute. Any pilot will tell you that since 9/11, the FAA has come out with draconian restrictions concerning where pilots can and cannot fly and when. And stadium fly-overs are a definite no-no. After all, a terrorist may be able to look out the window of his Piper Cub and catch a glimpse of Andy Reid�s playbook and then we�d have a catastrophe on our hands. So how did this egregious breach of national security happen?
General aviation pilots are required to procure NOTAMs (NOtice To AirMen � I guess AirWomen are exempt) from the FAA before taking a trip to see if there are any special conditions (presidential appearances for example) of which he would have to steer clear. The FAA publishes these everyday and they constantly change. It is incumbent upon the pilot to make sure his NOTAMs are up to date and that these temporary restrictions are taken into account in addition to the countless other airspace restrictions that exist already such as the areas around major airports and military bases. This could make for a very convoluted route but failure to do so could mean revocation of the pilot�s license or at very worst, getting the business-end of a scrambled F-16.
This brings us back to the F-16s. I love airshows and you�d be hard pressed to see anything more impressive than a top-shelf military aircraft being put through its paces. But what the general public may not know is when you see any military aircraft overhead, even in peacetime, they are armed and potentially very, very dangerous. A great risk is undertaken every time a weapon of this type is deployed. Accidents do happen and to risk the lives of what could be thousands just for a show is incomprehensible. After all, the military knows the risks involved in flying these aircraft in training and normally train either over water or over an unpopulated desert. I realize that there is a mass exodus happening in Philadelphia but it is not (yet) considered unpopulated.
Ok, we have potentially dangerous aircraft flying over a packed stadium. But was there a NOTAM issued on this? Absolutely not. NOTAMs are not issued for events like football games and NASCAR races. Pilots just have to know when and where there are happening and steer clear. However, the shooting down by F-16s still applies whether or not there was a NOTAM issued.
Another problem I have is cost. An hourly cost to operate an F-16 is tough to calculate but I would imagine it�s somewhere between a cab ride and a space shuttle flight but probably closer to a space shuttle flight. This does not include the $26.9 million price tag or the pilots� pay, benefits, etc. Are the team owners footing the bill for this? I don�t think so. Especially when my checkbook is so readily available. From what I hear, other teams� opening game ceremonies had similar displays of military might so get out your calculator and throw that into the family budget.
By now you�re probably asking yourself how NFL football games fell under the blanket of Homeland Security. It may not surprise you to find out that there is a lot of money to be made from pro football here in the US. Teams sell their names and logos on TV and on merchandise. They also sell advertising to high rollers such as big financial institutions who pay $100,000,000+ for naming rights of stadiums. Companies with bottomless checkbooks line up at the door of pro sports teams to hopefully ride the wave generated by their stable of taxpayer-subsidized millionaires.
Since most football stadiums are open-air venues, planes and blimps could advertise to the team�s audience for free and that bugged the hell out of team owners who see them as freeloaders. And the team owners would feel the heat from big advertisers who paid big money to get what the blimps and banners were getting for free. What to do! Call Washington, of course! It�s no secret that big bills and acts are written by special interests at least as much as by the politicians themselves. Often, they are written entirely by the special interest. How convenient that we should have been attacked by a foreign invader just when my favorite football team is losing perhaps six figures on advertising revenue!
So we�ve eliminated all aircraft from the airspace around pro football games and we�ve got jet fighters to enforce it (other national security risks such as Disneyland and Division I football programs garner equal protection under the act). What�s that? You�re a major advertiser and you want to arrive at the game in your helicopter? No problem! The team owners penciled themselves and special guests a back door into the act to avoid any embarrassment (from the FAA):
�Those who meet any of the following criteria may reapply for a waiver to these restrictions: (A) For operational purposes of an event, stadium, or other venue, including (in the case of a sporting event) the transport of equipment or parts, team members, officials of the governing body, the immediate family members and guests of such teams, and officials to and from the event, stadium, or other venue.�
Ain�t that nice? A major advertiser can fly himself and his friends in for the big game while Angel Flights have to chart a Byzantine course to their destination if critically ill patients are unfortunate enough to need care on a Sunday.
Hey, I�m all for capitalism. But when we�re supposedly in the middle of a war, isn�t it a slap in the face when the owner of a pro football team can dictate how jet fighters and their pilots (and my money) can be allocated?