Boeing 748 Writes 12 In The Sky For Super Bowl

jourdan747 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:38 am

Boeing Writes 12 in the sky for Super Bowl. 5 hours long flight! See the link below for more info.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE12

qf744fan · Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:49 am

As awesome as this is to see, with obviously fantastic planning etc, could someone please excuse my non-US ignorance of the armoured football game and explain the significance of the number 12?

Cheers, Mick

26point2 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:00 am

An American football team has 11 players per side. Seattle's Seahawks raucous stadium crowd is their "12th Man". They like to think it gives them an advantage over visiting teams. Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

LH526 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:02 am

amazed by how precise and exact that flight pattern was ... GPS waypoints and perfect banks ...

afterburner33 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:03 am

The Seattle fans are known as the '12th Man', due to their raucous support. The noise levels at Seahawks home games has set world records for stadium noise.

The '12th Man' moniker has come about due to the idea that the crowd support is worth an extra man on the field (in addition to the 11 per side actually on the the field) for the Seahawks at home.

Caryjack · Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:23 am

please excuse my non-US ignorance of the armoured football game

class="quote">

Quoting qf744fan (Reply 1):
Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

The 12th Man term actually came from a Texas college but I don't have which one at hand. That college did object to Seattle's usage but OKed it on sportsmanship grounds as long as Seatle didn't use it in Texas.

Quoting afterburner33 (Reply 4):
The Seattle fans are known as the '12th Man', due to their raucous support. The noise levels at Seahawks home games has set world records for stadium noise.

This is true.
Thanks,

Cary

[Edited 2014-02-04 02:36:37]

TroaS · Tue Feb 04, 2014 10:32 am

In Europe the expression 'The 12th Man' is widely used to describe the stadium fans of soccer teams, at least in Holland. It is used by media, fans and players themselves. Many clubs have officially retired the number 12 to the fans.

[Edited 2014-02-04 02:36:15]

qf744fan · Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:10 am

Thanks for the info guys. Fantastic

EPA001 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:06 pm

Quoting LH526 (Reply 3):
amazed by how precise and exact that flight pattern was ... GPS waypoints and perfect banks ...

Amazing indeed. Very impressive to see.

71Zulu · Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:39 pm

Quoting Caryjack (Reply 5):
The 12th Man term actually came from a Texas college but I don't have which one at hand.

It's Texas A&M who owns the trademark and after a lawsuit, the Seahawks pay them $5,000 every year to use the term commercially. After this win and the increase in exposure of the term, TAMU will be looking to get a lot more money when the current contract with Seattle expires in 2016.

Revelation · Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:01 pm

Next, a Boeing test aircraft will write 43-8 into the sky, centered over DEN.

FF22DXB · Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:57 pm

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
An American football team has 11 players per side. Seattle's Seahawks raucous stadium crowd is their "12th Man". They like to think it gives them an advantage over visiting teams. Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

In Argentina, fans of the soccer team Boca juniors also called themselved the "12th player" or "la 12", I believe dates back to the 1930's if im not mistaken.

bikerthai · Tue Feb 04, 2014 2:30 pm

Quoting 71Zulu (Reply 9):
TAMU will be looking to get a lot more money when the current contract with Seattle expires in 2016.

Paul Allen should just donate a building or library to the university and get the use of the term for the rest of history

bt

Stitch · Tue Feb 04, 2014 3:49 pm

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
Seattle's Seahawks raucous stadium crowd is their "12th Man". They like to think it gives them an advantage over visiting teams.

I believe more False Start penalties for opposing teams are issued at games held in Seattle's Century Link field than any other NFL stadium so the noise must have some impact.

winstonlegthigh · Tue Feb 04, 2014 6:34 pm

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
An American football team has 11 players per side. Seattle's Seahawks raucous stadium crowd is their "12th Man". They like to think it gives them an advantage over visiting teams.

In addition to 12th Man, the #12 took on extra meaning in this particular game because that's how long Denver lasted (in seconds) before all hope was lost- their safety 12 seconds into the game was the quickest first score in Super Bowl history.

Stitch · Tue Feb 04, 2014 6:38 pm

Quoting winstonlegthigh (Reply 14):
In addition to 12th Man, the #12 took on extra meaning in this particular game because that's how long Denver lasted (in seconds) before all hope was lost- their safety 12 seconds into the game was the quickest first score in Super Bowl history.

It also took 12 seconds for Percy Harvin to return the second half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.

BEG2IAH · Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:49 pm

Quoting Caryjack (Reply 5):
The 12th Man term actually came from a Texas college but I don't have which one at hand.

Quoting 71Zulu (Reply 9):
It's Texas A&M

That's correct. Here's more info:
http://www.tamu.edu/about/traditions.html#12thMan

Gig'em, Aggies!

DfwRevolution · Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:16 pm

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

Excellent troll post

tockeyhockey · Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:50 pm

Quoting winstonlegthigh (Reply 14):
In addition to 12th Man, the #12 took on extra meaning in this particular game because that's how long Denver lasted (in seconds) before all hope was lost- their safety 12 seconds into the game was the quickest first score in Super Bowl history.

and i'm sure someone somewhere won a ton of money on a prop bet that said the first score would be a safety.

MD80Nut · Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:01 pm

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

As others have said, it was Texas A & M University. The 12th Man tradition started there in 1922.

Cheers, Ralph

mhockey31091 · Tue Feb 04, 2014 11:17 pm

Quoting tockeyhockey (Reply 18):

I believe someone placed a $500 bet on the first score being a safety and he won $25,000. He did the same thing a couple years back and came out with $50,000, he donated all the winnings to charity which is way cool!

IslandRob · Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:09 am

Quoting Revelation (Reply 10):
Next, a Boeing test aircraft will write 43-8 into the sky, centered over DEN.

That or #2 (wonder if they could pull off the #). -ir

slimshady · Wed Feb 05, 2014 12:50 am

Hopefully carving out the number 12 in the sky coincided with other normal and scheduled flight tests. I hate to think they used 5 1/2 hours worth of fuel just to do some fancy skywriting.

threepoint · Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:43 am

Quoting 71Zulu (Reply 9):

It's Texas A&M who owns the trademark and after a lawsuit, the Seahawks pay them $5,000 every year to use the term commercially. After this win and the increase in exposure of the term, TAMU will be looking to get a lot more money when the current contract with Seattle expires in 2016.

Only in the US would there be such a compensatory arrangement for the use of common words that don't infringe upon a company trademark, slogan or brand. If the term "12th Man" gains more widespread exposure following this Sunday, it should be Texas A&M who thank and reimburse the Seahawks. If they were truly concerned about the term's commercial potential, then why haven't they exploited it themselves, given that they've been claiming it since 1922?

Sorry, but in these parts, the blue & green "12" and the morale boost it imparts, is associated with the Seahawks, and certainly not some Texas college.

bristolflyer · Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:57 am

Quoting winstonlegthigh (Reply 14):
that's how long Denver lasted (in seconds) before all hope was lost

If you think that all hope is lost after a team goes 2 points down you know less about sport than I do.

Quoting Stitch (Reply 15):
It also took 12 seconds for Percy Harvin to return the second half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.

That's when all hope was lost.

Quoting Revelation (Reply 10):
Next, a Boeing test aircraft will write 43-8 into the sky, centered over DEN.

That would be particularly bad form! There's only one thing worse than being a bad loser - and that's being a bad winner. Remember the US golf team a few years ago at Brookline?

newhaven · Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:37 am

IF this is is true, what a complete and TOTAL waste of fuel this was ..... Total Bullsh*t on all counts.

5 and a half hours aloft to do this stupid stunt that only the geeks on this site would even see .... seriously ???

who did they figure they were impressing?

[Edited 2014-02-04 20:41:30]

FlightShadow · Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:20 am

Quoting Revelation (Reply 10):

Next, a Boeing test aircraft will write 43-8 into the sky, centered over DEN.

I will be sharing this comment with my wife, a native of beautiful Colorado.

Quoting newhaven (Reply 25):
5 and a half hours aloft to do this stupid stunt that only the geeks on this site would even see .... seriously ???

who did they figure they were impressing?

I know a Boeing engineer and his wife who would proudly accept the title of geek and dearly appreciate this gesture by Boeing. Those flight-test guys are clever, too. They easily could have used this for a flight-test purpose.

NOLAWildcat · Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:41 am

Quoting threepoint (Reply 23):

A&M has been using that slogan for decades and it is well known throughout Big 12 (and now SEC) country. Given The Seahawks' relative irrelevance prior to 2005 and Seattle's geographical isolation from the majority of the sports media world, I'd bet big money that A&M's use of the term was much more widely known prior to Seattle's run at Super Bowl 40 (aside from in the cities of the 'Hawks divisional rivals).

Quoting newhaven (Reply 25):

The plane and the flight path actually got quite a bit of press in the national sports media. Sports Illustrated had a link up about it and I believe CNN.com had a small mention of it as well. This doesn't count the extra local coverage the plane and the flight got in the PNW. From Boeing's standpoint, I'd hardly count it as a waste of money--it's a great marketing gimmick--particularly as they are a big official sponsor of the team. Check out the press conference wallpaper for the Seahawks, you'll see Boeing logos all over it.

BEG2IAH · Wed Feb 05, 2014 6:08 am

Quoting threepoint (Reply 23):
If the term "12th Man" gains more widespread exposure following this Sunday, it should be Texas A&M who thank and reimburse the Seahawks.

I think we can agree that history doesn't start when we choose. I would recommend that you go watch one game at Texas A&M University and once you see what the 12th man tradition means in College Station, TX I bet you would eat your words.

I attended A&M and taught there and you don't mess with A&M traditions and football games where most traditions are experienced to the greatest extent.

flyingclrs727 · Wed Feb 05, 2014 6:38 am

Quoting FF22DXB (Reply 11):
In Argentina, fans of the soccer team Boca juniors also called themselved the "12th player" or "la 12", I believe dates back to the 1930's if im not mistaken.

Texas A&M's 12th man dates to 1922.

http://aggietraditions.tamu.edu/team/12thman.html

[Edited 2014-02-04 22:39:39]

Dalmd88 · Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:57 am

Quoting newhaven (Reply 25):
IF this is is true, what a complete and TOTAL waste of fuel this was ..... Total Bullsh*t on all counts.

5 and a half hours aloft to do this stupid stunt that only the geeks on this site would even see .... seriously ?

They have to fly the plane for extended tests, They did it before in a 18 hour test for the 787 where they spelled 787 and the Boeing logo. It was not a waste.

oly720man · Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:22 pm

And it was flown by N770BA, the Seahawks logojet, photographed on the day, 30 Jan, returning to KPAE

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Daniel Gorun
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N...A/history/20140130/1830Z/KBFI/KPAE

Interesting to see the flight history and it spend most of the flight at 12000ft and less than 200kts

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N.../20140130/1830Z/KBFI/KPAE/tracklog

N14AZ · Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:35 pm

Quoting qf744fan (Reply 1):
As awesome as this is to see, with obviously fantastic planning etc, could someone please excuse my non-US ignorance of the armoured football game and explain the significance of the number 12?

In addition to...

Quoting 26point2 (Reply 2):
An American football team has 11 players per side. Seattle's Seahawks raucous stadium crowd is their "12th Man". They like to think it gives them an advantage over visiting teams. Not certain but I think it's a term they came up with themselves as I have not heard it used elsewhere.

and

Quoting winstonlegthigh (Reply 14):
In addition to 12th Man, the #12 took on extra meaning in this particular game because that's how long Denver lasted (in seconds) before all hope was lost- their safety 12 seconds into the game was the quickest first score in Super Bowl history.

and

Quoting Stitch (Reply 15):
It also took 12 seconds for Percy Harvin to return the second half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.

... it's maybe worth mentioning that the halftime show usually lasts 12 minutes. I learned this the hard way when I was so stupid to believe the words of Chilli Pepper's drummer, who said they would play the live version of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and confused" during the halftime. This was actually a joke since their live version could last more than half an hour, something which would have been impossible during the halftime show (despite the question if this is good song for the Superbowl...).

7BOEING7 · Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:53 pm

BOE12 is now orbiting southeast of Seattle waiting to do a fly by at Centurylink Field (aka "The Clink") for a little celebration.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BOE12
Absolutely no testing on taking place on this flight.

ytz · Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:17 pm

Just like a giant etch-a-sketch.

71Zulu · Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:26 pm

Quoting 7BOEING7 (Reply 33):
BOE12 is now orbiting southeast of Seattle waiting to do a fly by at Centurylink Field (aka "The Clink") for a little celebration.

Nice. Waiting for a youtube video of that fly by.

Stitch · Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:55 pm

Quoting 7BOEING7 (Reply 33):
BOE12 is now orbiting southeast of Seattle waiting to do a fly by at Centurylink Field (aka "The Clink") for a little celebration.

Estimates are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 folks attended the Seahawks Parade in downtown Seattle today, so it would be nice if she made a flight over downtown during that event.

SuseJ772 · Wed Feb 05, 2014 11:15 pm

Quoting LH526 (Reply 3):

amazed by how precise and exact that flight pattern was ... GPS waypoints and perfect banks ...

Seriously. That is crazy precise.

Quoting newhaven (Reply 25):

IF this is is true, what a complete and TOTAL waste of fuel this was ..... Total Bullsh*t on all counts.

5 and a half hours aloft to do this stupid stunt that only the geeks on this site would even see .... seriously ???

I am sure it was a flight test and they needed to be aloft for that time. No publicly traded company is going to spend that money just for the fun of it. But just because it has to be done, doesn't mean it can't be fun... hence the 12 flight path.

Quoting FlightShadow (Reply 26):
I know a Boeing engineer and his wife who would proudly accept the title of geek and dearly appreciate this gesture by Boeing. Those flight-test guys are clever, too. They easily could have used this for a flight-test purpose.

I am sure it was.

Quoting BEG2IAH (Reply 28):
I would recommend that you go watch one game at Texas A&M University and once you see what the 12th man tradition means in College Station, TX I bet you would eat your words.

I have gone to a game there. Alabama this past year (side note, never seen so many private planes parked on the closed runwayS in my life). The 12th man wasn't that impressive there, compared to the 12th man in Seattle this year. But I still hold it is Texas A&M's trademark and deserves respect in the football world.

Quoting Dalmd88 (Reply 30):
They have to fly the plane for extended tests, They did it before in a 18 hour test for the 787 where they spelled 787 and the Boeing logo. It was not a waste.

Bingo.

7BOEING7 · Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:06 am

Quoting suseJ772 (Reply 37):
I am sure it was a flight test and they needed to be aloft for that time. No publicly traded company is going to spend that money just for the fun of it. But just because it has to be done, doesn't mean it can't be fun... hence the 12 flight path.

The paint job probably cost more than the "12" and the fly by today combined. Both probably came out of the PR/advertising budget. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a test profile for a 748 that required a several hour flight at low speed/low altitude on a non instrumented airplane.

threepoint · Thu Feb 06, 2014 12:35 am

Quoting BEG2IAH (Reply 28):
I would recommend that you go watch one game at Texas A&M University and once you see what the 12th man tradition means in College Station, TX I bet you would eat your words.

Not for one second do I doubt the rabid enthusiasm of fans in Texas (and at many other colleges) on game day, nor the devotion to their individual and collective traditions. But the point to which I responded concerned greater (ie: national or international) exposure to the term "12th Man" itself. Residents of College Station and A&M alumni may have the tradition engrained within their fabric, but outside of that group, '12th Man' was a term that the rest of the world associated with Seattle rather then Texas.

Where I live, I bet more people selected at random could identify the technical differences between a 747 and an A380 than could correctly pin Texas A&M's location on a map, never mind discuss their football traditions. Until I Googled it, I confess I had no idea where the college is.

LH707330 · Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:42 am

Quoting Stitch (Reply 36):
Estimates are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 folks attended the Seahawks Parade in downtown Seattle today, so it would be nice if she made a flight over downtown during that event.

They flew over the Clink, but I'm not sure about the rest of downtown, I'd left already. Did you go?

Stitch · Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:46 am

Quoting LH707330 (Reply 40):
They flew over the Clink, but I'm not sure about the rest of downtown, I'd left already. Did you go?

Not with some 7% of the state's population downtown.

7BOEING7 · Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:34 am

Quoting LH707330 (Reply 40):
They flew over the Clink, but I'm not sure about the rest of downtown, I'd left already. Did you go?

Flew right over the middle of downtown from the Clink to almost Lake Union due north at 1600' then west over the Sound and back to PAE.

Pohakuloa · Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:49 am

1600' - wow...... wow wow wow.... I'm envious at that altitude. From this SEAfan in the middle of the Pacific, bunch of us been waiting the better part of our lives for this moment. I treat for all who witnessed it I'm sure.

rentonview · Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:10 am

Here's a video of the flyover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7q4UlhcDwg

It was probably a lot more dramatic in person!

Caryjack · Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:23 am

Quoting RentonView (Reply 44):
It was probably a lot more dramatic in person!

I caught a glimps of her NB turing west from 10 miles north and it was a bit better, but form my barbque, not dramatic.
Thanks,

Cary

bikerthai · Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:33 pm

Quoting slimshady (Reply 22):
I hate to think they used 5 1/2 hours worth of fuel just to do some fancy skywriting.

Quoting 7BOEING7 (Reply 38):
The paint job probably cost more than the "12" and the fly by today combined. Both probably came out of the PR/advertising budget.

Boeing is one of the official sponsor of the Seahawks. Boeing have definitely got their money's worth with their PR budget this year. So what's a little extra fuel cost. They'll just take it from the EIP (bonus) budget for next year. Don't think any of the employee would mind

Quoting Stitch (Reply 36):

Estimates are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 folks attended the Seahawks Parade in downtown Seattle today

It was a mad house. The light rail train was packed all the way from Seatac from 5:00AM to parade time. I was on one of the last train out to make it to Seattle to catch the front of the parade as it make the final turns before entering the stadium. There may have been one or two train load after us that probably would have missed the parade.

Going out of Seattle, the light rail was still packed until at 6:30 pm when we left the station.

bt

BEG2IAH · Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:21 pm

Quoting suseJ772 (Reply 37):
The 12th man wasn't that impressive there, compared to the 12th man in Seattle this year. But I still hold it is Texas A&M's trademark and deserves respect in the football world.

Have you noticed how every Aggie was standing during the whole game?

Quoting threepoint (Reply 39):
Until I Googled it, I confess I had no idea where the college is.

That might not be relevant, especially regarding intangible property and laws around it. It is Texas A&M's "invention".

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net