Nebraska ROTC cadets soar in guiding Memorial Stadium flyovers

It’s game day in Lincoln, and as the Sea of Red arrives, two University of Nebraska–Lincoln students make their way to the roof of Memorial Stadium, where they will direct the incoming aircraft for the pregame flyover.

Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing

The military flyovers are a vaunted tradition, and they are largely made possible through the behind-the-scenes work of the university’s Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

Each home game, the students, who have applied and trained for the positions, are stationed atop the stadium, radios and time sheets in hand, communicating with pilots as the countdown to kickoff begins. Monitoring the minutes ticking down becomes calculating seconds, and radio chatter is frequent.

“We’re 15 seconds late …”

“OK, we’re slowing down.”

The national anthem reaches its crescendo.

“Let’s bring it in, boys.”

From their perch on the west side, the student technician and coordinator can hear the roar of the aircraft, immediately followed by the thundering rumble of the crowd.

“Being able to stand up there and see the entire crowd, the applause and everything, and the screaming — especially from the student section — I think that's really awesome,” said Cadet Elena Burgwald, a junior criminology and criminal justice major from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “After my first game (as coordinator) and the flyover happened, it became real for me that it is a really unique experience for me as a 20-year-old to be playing a crucial part in the flyover for the game.”

Burgwald is the 2024 flyover coordinator, a position she matriculated to after serving as the flyover technician in 2023. This year, the technician — or assistant — is Mason Beck, a sophomore pre-health student from Lincoln. He will serve as coordinator in 2025 and choose a technician from a pool of applicants in the spring. The students are led by Air Force ROTC Commander Lt. Col. Philip Garito. 

Before each game day flyover can happen, though, it takes months of planning. Working with the event staff in Nebraska Athletics who put in the formal requests with the military entities and the Federal Aviation Administration, Garito works to find volunteers who want to do the flyovers and then schedules the crews for each home game. The scheduling can be difficult because of the various missions and training pilots are doing, but there is always interest in participating.

“A lot of the pilots, they have grown up in Nebraska or they’re alumni and they’ve seen the flyovers, and when they talk about it, it’s ‘I was a kid watching, and I’ve always wanted to do it,” Garito said.

Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing

After my first game and the flyover happened, it became real for me that it is a really unique experience for me as a 20-year-old to be playing a crucial part in the flyover for the game.

Elena Burgwald

junior ROTC cadet and flyover coordinator

The weeks leading up to each home game include a flurry of communication among Burgwald, Beck and the crews. Together, they nail down times for a practice flyover, transportation or parking for the pilots; secure event passes; and finally, watch a time sheet that’s broken down into increments of 10 seconds, beginning two hours before kickoff. They are in charge of letting the pilots know if the timing is on track — or not.

“My first game, I had a lot of anxiety,” Burgwald said. “I’d say I’m definitely a perfectionist, and I want every single flyover to happen exactly at the perfect time.”

At the game versus Illinois Sept. 20, she held up the radio as the national anthem began, so the pilots could hear it and maintain or pick up speed, knowing the timing was 15 seconds off from the planned time on target. Four F-16s from the South Dakota Air National Guard flew over the stadium just as the song finished, capping a successful flyover and thrilling Husker faithful below. 

“It comes down to the second for when things happen,” Beck said. “Tim Henrichs (assistant athletic director for event management) will send us changes to the schedule. They might add an extra TV break, or the band is going to start at this time. We’re sorting out those details all week. And we’re coordinating the practice flyovers, usually the day before, and doing those radio checks to make sure the pilots are able to hear us.”

Both Burgwald and Beck are considering a career path to be pilots after they graduate from Nebraska and commission into the Air Force. Garito said the flyover coordinator and technician roles can help inform their future careers, which is why it is an amazing and unique opportunity for the students.

“They spend a lot of time with the pilots, talking about career fields and what they’ve learned to help them decide if that’s what they want to do with their careers,” Garito said. “There are approximately 35 base careers, with hundreds of variations they could possibly do, and they get to talk to those pilots and air crew members and find out what the lifestyle is like, because it varies depending on the aircraft they’re flying.”

There are also intangible skills — confidence, professional communication, planning — that students learn through the experience.

“The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the communication skills I’ve gained, in general,” Burgwald said. “I’m learning the verbal communication, yes, but I also have to reach out to the pilots and crew and think through issues that might come up, so I’m gaining critical thinking skills.” 

Beck has enjoyed the learning process and is looking forward to taking on a bigger role next fall. 

“There are a lot of things I really love about doing this, but I think most of all, it’s just a very unique experience, from watching the game on the roof, being on the sidelines with the pilots and meeting the pilots,” he said. “It’s pretty inspiring getting to meet a mix of people and hearing their stories.”

Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing