Equity?

The U.S. Navy—for the purpose of allegedly facilitating a publicity-stunt, all-female flyover—reportedly booted 12 male aviators previously chosen and confirmed to partake in a 15-aircraft formation flight over 2023’s Super Bowl LVII.

In a 26 January press release pertaining to the Super Bowl flyover, the Navy set forth that the event would commemorate the fifty-year history of female Naval Aviators. The original lineup of 15 Navy pilots chosen to participate in the flyover comprised 12 men and three women—all of whom were honored with digital playing cards, similar to baseball cards, which were promoted on numerous prominent social media sites. The original team was assembled in November 2022—the better part of two-months prior to the 12 February 2023 big game—and immediately commenced training for the event.

A male Naval Aviator originally slated to participate in the Super Bowl LVII flyover stated: "Basically every Friday until Jan. 27, there was a teams meeting with the NFL and the Navy." The meetings in question included discussions of a broad number of topics germane to the planned flyover, including aircrew lodging and the actual execution of the maneuver.

Throughout the training and planning processes, the notion of an all-female flight crew was reportedly neither discussed nor even raised.

On 28 January 2023, two days after the dissemination of the Navy’s press release announcing the original lineup of Super Bowl LVII flyover pilots, the entirety of the detail’s dozen male aviators received telephone calls informing them they’d been axed from the performance on account of Navy brass having arbitrarily changed the mission for purpose of prioritizing an all-female pilot complement.

"The 26th was when the digital playing cards were released by the Navy via Facebook and Instagram," the ousted male aviator reported. "Another teams meeting the following day on the 27th, and then the next day, Saturday morning, was when we all got phone calls telling us that we were no longer part of the flyover because… the mission had changed and they were prioritizing all-female aircrew for the flyover."

The male Naval Aviator further stated the change of plans had come as a surprise to all parties privy to the information—not just the original flyover pilot cadre.

"It was kind of a surprise just due to the fact that it was so late and there had been so much press on it already," he said. "I think that was why it was so surprising."

The Super Bowl was held on 12 February 2023—16 days after 12 of the 15 original flyover pilots had been allegedly dropped from the program. 

"This was one of the coolest things in any of our careers," the displaced male aviator rued. "And when you get reached out to by friends and family who had seen the release and were so excited … that was a tough day for everyone that was previously involved."

"The fact that it [the Navy’s] decision was based on gender and not on merit was not only difficult for the males who were no longer a part of it, but it was also difficult for the females who were a part of it based on merit originally," the male pilot concluded.

The Navy’s change of plans was quietly made public just days prior to Super Bowl Sunday 2023 via news reports and television segments that went to great lengths to celebrate the all-female crew. Subject news and television reports artfully avoided mention of the Navy's original plan to field a team consisting of both male and female aviators.

The Navy subsequently confirmed its change of program, disclosing to a national news outlet that it "made some changes" to its initial Super Bowl flyover plan, adding that the service’s goal had been to "maximize the participation of our women naval aviators."

FMI: www.navy.mil