Who clears the formation to fly over the stadium?

[Arlen]

The recent threads on flyovers over Arrowhead and Kyle stadiums got me to thinking....

I am impressed with these flyovers, am thrilled with the positive image they create for GA, and am happy that there are experts around here that can plan and organize these flights safely.

What agency clears the group into/through the stadium TFR? Was it easy or difficult to get the plan approved?

[noelf]

For the University games / stadium flyovers it goes like this.
1. Two weeks prior to a game, the kickoff times are established and posted by the local teams (and ACC??).
2. The local team media folks generate a letter addressed to the TSA requesting our flyover group participation in a flyover and includes the college letterhead.
3. Flight lead sends in the letter, along with a list of participating aircraft, N numbers, pilot names, addresses, SS numbers, passport numbers. This is done at least ten days prior to the event.
4. For us, lead coordinates with approach control for the local Class C airport / airspace we need to fly through. Ahead of time, he talks to the shift supervisor, and we get an approach control discrete frequency to use for the flyover.

I am the ground coordinator for our local group of formation pilots. For our games, the university wants us to fly over the stadium at the conclusion of the National Anthium, and again as the home team takes the field from the opposite direction. This requires me to be on top of the press box, as high on the roof of the stadium as I can get. The university provides me with a time schedule of all the pre game activities, band performances, kickoff times, etc. coordinated to the game clock. I keep my eye on the stadium clock, keep lead informed of the time, time to start the run, time to flyover, and last minute course corrections (lead loses sight of the stadium about 1mile out...we fly a mix of YAKs, CJs and RV-4,7, and 8s). I use three different count down stop watches timed to the different flyover times requested by the university. The third watch is used within the last 1min 10 sec of the first flyover as this is how long the band playes the NA. Although the provided time sheet has game clock hacks on it, the published flyover time is never correct as different field activities skew the time later. I help Flight Lead make the desired flyover time at the end of the NA with last minute time corrections.

To get to the top of the stadium, I am provided with a unique set of Credentials that I pick up several days prior to the game. This gets me into the stadium prior to the gates opening, gets me through the three levels of security to get to the roof, and my last check is with the security folks on top of the roof. I carry in a cooler with my COM gear, a homemade 1/4 wave whip, ground plane antenna, and a telescoping pole to attach the antenna. I pick up my flight about 30 miles out, keep them apprised of stadium wind conditions, and any thing else that my affect the flight. (On one ocassion there was a large tethered ballon at 500ft above the stadium...new news!).

And that is about all there is to it.

[txaviator]

Very cool write-up, Noel! Thanks for sharing the details!

[Arlen]

Thanks for the info, Noel. I assumed they somehow screened each pilot and plane; you've confirmed that.