$450,000 dollars wasted at the superbowl

Not sure where this post should go, so I thought I would put it in here - mods, feel free to move to the relevant area if needed.

Now that everyone has watched the SuperBowl, this interesting factoid comes out : "For absurdity, how about those four Navy F-18s flying over the stadium - with its retractable roof closed? Everybody inside could only see the planes on the stadium's video screens. It was strictly a two-second beauty shot. Know what it cost taxpayers? I'll tell you: $450,000. (The Navy justifies the expense by saying it's good for recruiting.)"

www.washingtonpost.com...

I bet the average tax payer in the US is none too pleased that their 2 seconds of fame was seen on screens, but hey! It's good for PR, so suck it up :p

Here's a related article with more details on the cost...

wvec.com

...The U.S. Navy says the cost to bring the formation of four planes, plus a backup, to North Texas is $109,000 in fuel. According to Department of Defense tables, the entire cost will be more than $450,000, based on the operational cost of the F-18 aircraft and the number of hours the pilots will fly.
The same kind of F-18 fighter operates out of the Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, less than 20 miles from the stadium...

Sounds like SOP for our gov't... use a squadron from VaBeach when the same planes could have been used from the base less than 20 miles away from the event..

It's crazy how much sporting events mean to people in this country. Not just the government, but the people, too. It's just insanity, IMO.

Flybys happen at so many sporting events...why are you pointing out this one occurence?

Yes its a shame we waste so much money on such pety events. But hey we've wasted a hell of alot more on other things.

There is no excuse in this , but the fact still remains they could careless how much it costs.

Once there out of office like usual the tax payers are left with the Bill.


In there eyes why not have the smoke and mirrors show while your in power and able to do so ...and when ur done ur fun and photo op. you can just stick the bill , wash your hands , smile , and say haha not my problem now


a wise man once said politics is harder then physics - i think it was crazy jewish mastermind

Originally posted by MindSpin
Flybys happen at so many sporting events...why are you pointing out this one occurence?

I think he's pointing to the fact that the dome was closed, as opposed to being open.

I was disappointed it wasn't the stealth bombers. It's the freaking superbowl break out the big dogs!!

How much would it cost to have those unmanned drones fly over?

Originally posted by jjkenobi
I was disappointed it wasn't the stealth bombers. It's the freaking superbowl break out the big dogs!!

How much would it cost to have those unmanned drones fly over?

edit on 9-2-2011 by jjkenobi because: (no reason given)

They already are, even now!

Muahahahahahaahhahaaa

reply to post by MindSpin


I was pointing it out for several reasons, firstly the obscene amount of money for a short time, and secondly the irony that it is actually seen on a screen, why not just show a video instead?

Originally posted by Mapkar

Originally posted by MindSpin
Flybys happen at so many sporting events...why are you pointing out this one occurence?

I think he's pointing to the fact that the dome was closed, as opposed to being open.

Indeed, I was thinking about the stupidity and the fact that the roof was closed, maybe I did not make that clear. If someone had parachuted into the stadium as has happened in other events, I could see a reason to it, as a spectacle, but to have jets fly overhead and shown only on a screen, what is the point in that? Just a waste of money.

Recruiting, eh? They'd have reached more people and gotten more air time running a commercial (maybe they did?) Bet that didn't come out of the recruiting budget either , but whatever budget it did come out of, you can bet we paid for it. I agree. Total waste of money if that was an arranged fly-by. If they happened to be out training that day anyway (or rescheduled it from another day), then no biggie.