At the beginning of Superbowl XLV, four F-18 fighter jets did their standard flyover, but with the roof closed up on Dallas Stadium, the 100,000+ fans just watched it on the 159ft x 71ft HD screen.  Sally Jenkins at the Washington Post,  thinks it was a waste of the US taxpayer’s dollars an estimated that it cost $450,000 for the 5 second “beauty shot”.

Four F-18 Jets Flyover Superbowl XLV

First off, Ms. Jenkins, ARE YOU NUTS?!? The 5 second “beauty shot” you’re talking about was seen by over 100 million viewers on television along with the fans at the stadium. Secondly, everyone watches the flyover because it starts off the game, it’s not like a moment between quarters or halftime where viewers take a break from the game so you get the undivided attention of hundreds of million of fans. One more thing, a single spot at the superbowl cost roughly $4 million dollars and this doesn’t include the cost to make the commercial, while a flyover be it over the Superbowl or over some random farm in Wisconsin could still be considered a “training exercise” where do you come up with the $450,000 number? You gotta train and fly those planes somewhere, why not the biggest event of the year and more importantly it allows our Arm Forces to do a little promotion of their own without any agressive undertones. I love the Arm Forces and I love the freedom that it provides me, wait a minute, Ms. Jenkins, are you communist? Do you not like having fun?!?

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