POINT MUGU : Squadron Offers Air Show Preview

A Snowbird flew into Ventura County on Thursday.

Not one of those people who come to California for the winter--this one was a Canadian Air Force Tutor jet that’s part of an air show flight-demonstration group called The Snowbirds.

Piloted by Maj. Real Turgeon of the Canadian 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, the CT114 Tutor jet flew into Point Mugu’s Naval Air Weapons Station to promote the 1992 Point Mugu Air Show.

Turgeon, who flies one of 11 jets in the squadron, treated a small group of media spectators to a tiny sampling of the aerial maneuvers that the Snowbirds will perform in the group’s first appearance at Point Mugu on Oct. 10-11.

Using about half of the 5,700-feet airstrip, Turgeon roared toward the nearby hills and made a sharp right turn before disappearing into the gray clouds of the overcast day.

On the next pass, the red, white and blue, single-engined jet zoomed toward the hills again at about 280 m.p.h. and only 50 feet off the ground before it gained altitude and banked to the right.

It wasn’t one of the squadron’s more exciting stunts--such as the Big Diamond, where the jets fly four feet apart--but it was enough to whet appetites.

“People think it’s dangerous,” Turgeon said. “But it’s a calculated risk. It’s stressful to have the public watching, but you get used to it after the show begins.”

The Snowbirds will perform about 45 maneuvers at 10-second intervals, replete with a simulcast communication between the pilots. The Air Force’s Blue Angels, who performed at the air show last year, will not appear this year.