Navy Blue Angels Winter Practice Flight in SOCAL

 

Naval Air Facility El Centro

January through March, 6 days a week 8am & 1pm flights

The United States Navy Flight Demonstration Team, The Blue Angels,  arrives in Southern California in early January and spends the next 12 weeks practicing and honing their precision flight maneuvers over NAF El Centro and its surrounding areas. Each pilot is required to complete 120 flights in this 3 month period before they are signed off and are able to perform in front of an air show crowd. 

The flight Team is made up of 7x pilots, 10 FA-18 Super Hornets,  3x C-130 Pilots, 2x C-130 Fat Albert Aircraft. The Flight Team is support by nearly 160 men and women covering specialities in Engine Power Plant, Life Support, Avionics, Medical, Logistics, and Event Planning. Each weekend this team of navy professional decends on new township to put on 90 minute display of naval aviation precision.  

The Blue Angels perform 60 plus airshows in over 30 cities across the United States from March through November. Visit the Blue Angels website for full schedule. 

San Diego Air & Space Museum Balboa Park

 

 

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is open daily 10am to 4:30pm 

 website: https://sandiegoairandspace.org  

For current pricing and exhibitions checkout their website. If you already have been to the Balboa Park Museum check out their secondary location at Gillespie Field in El Cajon for more aircraft and artifacts. 

The original museum opened up to the public in 1963 but a fire in 1978 caused the loss of the entire collection. The museum would reopen two years later in 1980 in its current home in the former Ford building in the southwest corner of Balboa Park. 

Plan on about 1hr to 2 hrs to enjoy the museum.