Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Helping with the Air Force's pre Super Bowl LII interception demo

I briefed the media in Duluth before Super Bowl LII.
Every year the Air Force shows the media what would happen if an unauthorized aircraft violates restricted airspace around the Super Bowl. 

I was the Civil Air Patrol's public information officer for the Air Force's media day, held Jan. 30 at Duluth Air National Guard Base, Minnesota. CAP’s Minnesota Wing provided an airplane for a static display inside the hangar. It was positioned between a Black Hawk helicopter and an F-16. I briefed the attending reporters, and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection pilot, an F-16 pilot, and a Federal Aviation Administration official also briefed.

At the media event held Feb. 1, CAP had the smallest airplane taking part in a demonstration of F-16s flying alongside the CAP plane posing as a rogue aircraft, making radio contact, and guiding it out of restricted airspace around Super Bowl LII. The media watched one of the F-16s refuel during the mission from inside a KC-130 tanker. An NBC-TV was a passenger in the F-16D at the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing 

Since the terroristic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the FAA routinely implements no-fly zones, called Temporary Flight Restrictions, around major events to ensure no general aviation airplanes enter for a specified radius. Air Force fighter aircraft enforce the TFRs during the time of the event.


CAP is involved in similar exercises around the U.S. throughout the year to test airspace security. The air defense exercises are carried out as part of Operation Noble Eagle, coordinated by the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command. The exercises are conducted in coordination with the FAA and other interagency organizations as appropriate.  




  

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