Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
VFA-106 did the Daytona 500 quite a few years when they were at NAS Cecil Field. The coordination was always good for the fly-over and the support they provided the aircrew and maintenance det at the race was top notch! Those guys know how to take care of you!
Some of the toughest I have done are the fly-bys for burials at Arlington. Very complicated to coordinate both on the ground (takes three people - one at Washington Center, one graveside, and one at the cemetery on the radio) then the holding point is VFR to the east of the cemetery and they have to come across Regan National - shutting down ops for a few. As tough as it is though - it is very satisfying and very moving.
USMCFLYR
Was representing Navy in Oct for one of our MIA later classified KIA finally repatriated and laid to rest in October at Arlington. The Hornet lead hit TOT exactly on time. Family and his old squadron (VA-163) were mightily impressed. The run in angle was spot on. Wish I was flying, but felt proud of my fellow aviators who hopefully knew how important their efforts were to so many Americans. We explained to the family the whole coordination process and pointed out the ground players, they were moved that the military and country went to such great effort to bestow the flyby honor to a LTJG shot down and killed in an A-4 near Hanoi 42 years earlier.
They nodded when we explained that is why they saw a parade of so many Reagan airliners going by after the fly by <g>.