Posted 03/02/17, 6:19 PM

DALLAS (AM News Net)  –  What has been an obscure joke to one team has turned into a national sensation. And despite this "airplane" being found across state lines, it has never been regulated by the FAA. No, this airplane is the Oklahoma Sooners' celebration, serving as a rite of passage into the team.

If one is anywhere near the third base-line flight path, it is easy to see the "airplane" when watching an Oklahoma Softball game. The runners will jet down the line into their cheering teammates, arms spread out to their full wingspan like an airplane.

To some, what it means and where it came from is a mystery.

"If you're flying into home plate it means you hit the ball pretty hard," head coach Patty Gasso said. "So it's kind of a rite of passage as well."

Even some of the players did not know what the celebration even was when it first started up. Lauren Chamberlain, a Sooner All-American from 2012-2015, explained even she was not told what it meant, just that she was to do it.

"I did something without even knowing what it was," she said.

Still, the celebration may seem odd and may seem that it has no real serious meaning, other than being silly revelry. Head Coach Patty Gasso explains that it came from the teams travels throughout the country.

"I was mad," Gasso said. "They would be very loud at the airport and not very loud at the games. And to me, it did not make sense."

Gasso wanted the team to have the emotion and energy they had at the airports throughout their games.

"We need to act as if we're at the airport when we're on the field and bring that personality and your fun out there," she said.

There, the famous "airplane" was born. The Sooners started pretending to fly into home plate as a joke, boosting energy at each home run.

"They kind of laughed at me and I kind of thought 'if it works who cares' but I didn't imagine it would stick so long," Gasso said.

Another fun part about the whole celebration is how the "airplane" has traveled across the country. The popularity of the act is now sky-high, with youth teams now found to be doing it.

"When I go out recruiting, I see [kids] doing that and it's pretty cool," Gasso said.

The question of whether the "airplane" will die out will probably always be up in the air, but it can be safe to assume, with the Sooners being National Champions just last year, that the airplane still has awhile to go in its flight plan.

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