In this article, we will share with you a Video of the B-52 Stratofortress Flying Over the Nascar Race During Anthem
This video was taken back in 2011 so it’s a bit dated. Also, that’s Trace Adkins singing as you might be well aware.
B-52 Superfortress, America’s primary bomber, flying over a Nascar race in Texas during the ending notes of our national anthem? If that doesn’t make your blood turn red, white, and blue then nothing will.
While watching the Video you would have also wondered How flyovers hit their exact marks at games?
Hundreds of times each year, fighters, bombers, and helicopters perform pregame flyovers at sports events. No matter the venue, the sport, or the aircraft, the flyovers all have one thing in common: precise timing that puts the pilots directly over the stadium just as the anthem ends.
How do they do it?
How do aircraft traveling at high speeds — sometimes from long distances — manage to hit their marks with military precision?
Well, the answer might lie partially in that one word: military.
“We do similar things a lot in all of military aviation, where you have to be at a site at a particular time,” says Marine Capt. Emily Miller, a helicopter pilot who has flown missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and recently led a two-chopper flyover at Petco Park in San Diego. “It’s really not a lot different.”
For a pilot to get to his or her TOT — time on target, in military-speak — is just another day in the airborne office.
Because sports events involve detailed pregame scripting, a team or league can provide pilots with a specific time they want the flyover to occur (say, for instance, 12:58 p.m. for a 1:05 p.m. baseball game).
Combine that specific time with (1) backed-out calculations for takeoff, distance, and airspeed; (2) a pre-specified holding area where aircraft can circle or hover to kill time if necessary; and (3) a forward air controller inside the stadium for last-minute guidance, and presto, you’ve got aircraft zooming overhead while fans are still standing with their hands over their hearts.
