F-16 from the 162nd Fighter Wing, based in Tucson.Listen:
Fighter planes will be in the air this Super Bowl Sunday, and not just for a fly-by before kickoff.
The planes will be enforcing a 30-mile no-fly zone around the game site in Glendale.
“Any aircraft operating inside the 30-mile area is going to be in full contact with air traffic control,” said Frank Hatfield, with the Federal Aviation Administration. “We will know exactly who they are and what their intentions are."
Hatfield said the rule is aimed at general aviation, or private aircraft. Commercial flights going in and out of Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix will be allowed to fly through the zone.
Patroling and enforcing that zone will be military aircraft, with pilots of the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing specifically trained to do that job.
Lt. Col. Chris O’Neill said the mission is one they practice, and the intercepts are very common.
“For example, a guy takes off out of Goodyear and flies over to Scottsdale where he goes two times a week on his routine flight and doesn’t think today is the Super Bowl,” O’Neill said.
If that occurs, fighter jets will intercept the plane. The military pilots will try to talk on the radio to the pilot and escort him out of the area.
General aviation planes aren’t the only ones restricted from flying near the Super Bowl site on Sunday.
“If you were lucky enough to get a quad copter or something like that for Christmas, first off, good for you. But secondly, this is not the day to fly it,” said the FAA’s Hatfield.
He said flying it with in the 30-mile no-fly zone will earn the pilot a visit from local law enforcement officers and perhaps civil or criminal penalties.
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