Local News in Brief : El Toro : Blue Angels to Headline Marine Base Spectacular

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is playing host Saturday and Sunday to the free 38th annual Navy Relief Air Show, headlined once again by the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team.

The Navy-Marine stunt fliers will fly as the finale at 2:30 p.m. Gates open at 9 a.m.

The show will also feature wing walking by Lori Ross and Johnny Kazian, skydiving by the Interservice Precision Parachute Team and the Miller Lite Skydiving Team and a demonstration of the Marine Corps Air Ground Task Force, featuring planes, helicopters and “ground troops” staging a mock assault.

Spectators are advised to take the Santa Ana Freeway and get off at the Sand Canyon Avenue, Jeffrey Road or Culver Drive exits, said the station’s public affairs chief, Sgt. Kathy Cabot. California Highway Patrol officers and Irvine police will direct traffic from those exits to the show, she said.

Others may find it easier to drive down Irvine Boulevard and enter the station through Gate 15-A near Sand Canyon Avenue, Cabot said. Irvine Boulevard will be closed from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Spectators may also enter the station through Gate 9 on Marine Way or the main gate on Trabuco Road. Once inside gates, military police will direct visitors to parking areas and to the events.

Planes from the base caused some alarm in the south county Thursday practicing for the show. About 30 residents called the air station to complain or ask questions about planes they said were “flying so low that everything in the house was rattling,” said Maj. Martin R. Bender, deputy community plans and liaison officer at the base.

The planes, which included F/A-18s, A-4 Skyhawks and other jets, flew safely at altitudes within the federal standards, he said, adding: “Safety is paramount in this, and it is a very closely coordinated and controlled presentation. It’s what we do in combat.”

Some residents in nearby Laguna Hills had said it appeared that the planes were playing “chicken,” crossing each other’s paths at what appeared to be dangerously high speeds.