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Photos, Videos: New Yorkers Overwhelmingly Uninspired By Military Flyover
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 28, 2020
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 28, 2020
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As promised, the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, a.k.a. the Thunderbirds, and the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, a.k.a. the Blue Angels, did a flyover of New York City and other parts of the tri-state region on Tuesday to honor frontline COVID-19 responders and essential workers. And it was just the kind of patriotic display New Yorkers were looking for:
The flyover, which lasted about half an hour, was billed as "a touching display of American resolve," and the first of several such displays planned over the coming weeks. Forget the lack of testing, the severe shortage of PPEs, and the huge economic problems facing people during this crisis: did you know that Kansas City got stealth bombers flying over their city, while we had to settle for lousy, stupid high-performance aircraft? What does Kansas City have that we don't?
The flyover began near the George Washington Bridge, moved down south along the Hudson River and Manhattan, and headed over to Newark. Then the formation came back over Manhattan and Brooklyn, then over to Queens, Long Island, and over to Connecticut. After that they flew across Westchester County, and headed south over Queens and Brooklyn again, near the East River. You can see some videos of it taken from around the city below.
Some people gathered to get a better view of the jets at city parks, including Riverside Park and Carl Schurz Park, as you can see in the videos below. Parks Enforcement Police were spotted in Riverside Park checking to make sure people were abiding by social distancing guidelines.
The big question of course is how much did this display cost—the Navy did not disclose the amount in a press release earlier today, and have not yet responded to our request for comment.
In 2017, Inverse noted that per the military's accounting, a six-aircraft flyover during the 2011 Super Bowl cost $109,000 for the fuel, while the media said at the time it was more like $450,000: "Part of this discrepancy is that flyover missions are usually classified as training missions, the costs for which are included in a unit’s operational budget for the year. Some units, like the Blue Angels, do not fly combat missions, and exist just for propaganda and show purposes," they wrote. Global Research used their data from 2014 to come to similar conclusions, reporting that these kinds of jets burn at least 1,200 gallons of fuel per hour.
According to the Washington Post, each flight hour for the Blue Angels and Thunderbird squadrons costs at least $60,000, which is less than those other estimates; but with flyovers planned for at least 22 cities between both squadrons, Task & Purpose writes that's a rough cost of at least $1.32 million. Or enough to purchase dozens of ventilators at $20,000 a pop. And that doesn't take into account the fact that the baseline cost for each jet is almost twenty million dollars.
Update, 6:30 p.m.: NPR reports that according to a joint statement from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, "Pilots must execute a minimum number of flight hours to maintain proficiency. These flyovers will incur no additional cost to taxpayers."
For some New Yorkers, the roar of the jets was nothing more than a frightening flashback to 9/11.
For others, it was a simple reminder that the federal government has been almost completely absent in the face of this pandemic.
GOOD JOB NATION, EVERYBODY GETS A PLANE.
Tagged
military flyover
blue angels
coronavirus
flyover
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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