To answer '500N'. Last saw this item but have not looked since then....
Two fans will provide biggest roar at game
Saturday, September 15,
2007 By Dan Majors, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Lt. John Lynn, left, Lt. Meagan Varley (ex-Tomcats Rtd. - C/S 'SLICK') and Cmdr. Tim Gamache, who will coordinate the fly-by from the ground, arrive at the Pennsylvania Air National Guard 171st Air Refueling Wing.
In the moments just before kickoff at the Steelers' home opener tomorrow, thousands of fans in Heinz Field will turn their attention to a couple of rookies.
Navy Lt. Meagan Varley and Lt. John Lynn -- die-hard Steelers fans -- will be flying one of the two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets roaring overhead at the conclusion of the national anthem.
Veterans of thousands of hours of flight time, including numerous missions over Iraq, they will be making their first fly-by, a tear through the sky over a public event that never fails to stir a roar from the fans.
It's a gig that the Pittsburgh natives spent months trying to secure.
"I started calling about once a week last winter until I finally got through to somebody," said Lt. Varley, 27, a native of Dorseyville. "We looked at the schedule and figured out a good day, and it happened to be the home opener."
Lt. Varley joined the Navy upon her graduation from Fox Chapel Area High School in 1998. She immediately picked out Lt. Lynn, a member of her squadron, as someone from home.
"He's got a pretty sweet Pittsburgh accent. So I knew he was from Pittsburgh," she said....
...Lt. Varley were in the Persian Gulf when the Steelers played in the Super Bowl in February 2006. They each finished a mission into Iraq and were back aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in time to see the kickoff via satellite television.
"There were a bunch of Steelers fans, about 30," Lt. Lynn said. "There were some Seahawks fans, but the executive officer we watched it with was a big Steelers fan, and he would not permit any of them in his ready room.
"We all had Terrible Towels. I had mine, my lucky one. I flew with it in my bag that day."
"I actually have pictures of me in the cockpit over Iraq with a Terrible Towel the day of the Super Bowl," said Lt. Varley. "I sent them home and said, 'We're going to win.'"
Apparently, she said, the military does not frown on such things.
"It's good for morale," she said.
Both pilots have seen their share of danger in the Mideast. Both have lost friends and comrades. Yet neither one could imagine doing anything else....
...Both pilots returned to the United States last year and are stationed in Virginia Beach, Va. with the VFA-213 Blacklions Squadron. They returned to Pittsburgh last night in the Super Hornet that they'll fly over the stadium tomorrow. With them were Navy Lt. Matt Nieswand of New Jersey and Lt. j.g. Jeff Firme of Colorado, the men who will be piloting the other F/A-18 in the fly-by....
..."Coming in is going to be great, flying up the river, come right over Point State Park, right up on the city," said Lt. Varley, who will be piloting the jet. "Coming up on the stadium and seeing all the fans. It's going to be quite the treat.""
Two fans will provide biggest roar at game - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://c10788012.r12.cf2.rackcdn.com...pilots_420.jpg
N.B. TERRIBLE TOWEL as modelled by SLICK