58th SOW puts Kirtland on display at New Mexico Bowl

  • Published
  • By Jim Fisher
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  While most of the 2014 New Mexico Bowl attendees were focused on Kirtland Airmen unfurling a huge American flag on the field during the singing of the national anthem, a small group of Airmen were instead focused on military aircraft approaching from the north.

This group of Airmen from the 58th Special Operations Wing was the ground-party component of an official flyover, ensuring an MC-130J Combat Shadow and CV-22 Osprey successfully punctuated the patriotic atmosphere created by the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" to kick off the football game.

The aircraft, which entered airspace directly over the stadium as the singer belted out "bombs bursting in air," drew a hearty response from the more than 28,000 fans at the game.

While flyovers only occupy moments in the build up to hours-long sporting events, the planning and execution are extensive. Capt. Michael Ward, the 58th's project officer for the event, had to coordinate between ESPN, senior leadership, aircrews, maintenance, and Albuquerque air traffic control in setting up the flyover.

"We met with ESPN to figure out what their vision for the fly-by was, what kind of aircraft they wanted, then had to get approval from higher headquarters, then work on the scheduling piece within our squadrons, ensure spare aircraft were available and work the maintenance issues, put together the ground radio party and work with air traffic control," Ward said.

After the 58th secured approval to conduct a flyover which included fixed and tilt-rotor aircraft, flight planning included coordination with air traffic controllers to ensure airspace deconfliction for safe execution of the mission, Ward explained.

"UNM stadium is only 1.4 miles from the approach of a runway at a busy airport, so in order for us to conduct this flyover from north to south, we had to coordinate with them ahead of time to see what we needed to do to make this happen," he said. "Aircrews must coordinate with ATC in the air and it's up to ATC to manage the airspace."

Putting aircraft over the event at just the right time is the key to a successful flyover, according to Ward, and this means ensuring the timing of key elements is as precise as possible in the execution phase. Ward and event organizers timed the singer of the national anthem in rehearsal, and accounted for every phase of execution, including how many seconds it could take for air traffic control to respond to the aircrews' request to exit their holding pattern and proceed with a heading toward the stadium.

MC-130J copilot Maj. Ryan Bachman, 58th Operations Support Squadron, said communication was the key to being over the stadium at the right time.

"Communication is always the lynchpin -- communication between the two aircraft, between the aircraft and ground party at the stadium and with air traffic control," Bachman said. "Once the aircraft are airborne, we need to know exactly what's going on at the stadium, and if it's running earlier or later, we can adjust our time, and then notify ATC what we are doing."

The game, in which the Utah State University Aggies defeated the University of Texas-El Paso Miners 21-6, had a patriotic theme. Kirtland Airmen and area veterans took part in a series of in-game recognition activities. The aircrews of each aircraft in the ceremonial fly-by were recognized during the second half. New Mexico Air National Guard member and UNM alumnus Col. James Dixon, vice commander for the 150th Special Operations Wing, was among the aircrew drawing a big response from the crowd.

Ward said everyone from the 58th and 150th felt privileged to be a part of the event.

"It's an honor to do something like this for your community," Ward said. "I think it means a lot to the community as well, for their local air force base and members of the community to take part, and it's an honor for us to be included."