New-Look Air Show Guarantees Same Thrills : Exhibition: Navy’s Blue Angels must sit this one out, but a spokeswoman says Air Force’s Thunderbirds flying team is even more exciting. A million spectators are expected over the weekend at El Toro.

TUSTIN — Organizers of this weekend’s El Toro Air Show say they expect a million spectators, despite possible overcast skies and changes in federal regulations that preclude participation of the crowd-pleasing Navy Blue Angels for the first time in a dozen years.

“I’ve gotten a few calls from people who are disappointed that the Blue Angels aren’t here and think they’re going to get less of a thrill,” said Lt. Beth Carreiro, spokeswoman for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, where the free air show will take place all day Saturday and Sunday. “In actuality it will be a very similar show. It will be just as thrilling.”

Headlining this year’s event instead of the Blue Angles will be a six-plane Air Force precision flying team called the Thunderbirds.

“We’re really excited about it,” said Sgt. Linda Isper, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas-based team which will be making its first appearance at El Toro. “It’s going to be a great show.”

In fact, Isper said, she disagrees with Carreiro on at least one point: The Thunderbird exhibition of flying skill will not be similar to the Blue Angels’, but “totally different” and more thrilling.

While the Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets, she said, the Thunderbirds fly the F-16C Fighting Falcon, a jet fighter used extensively during the Persian Gulf War. And while the Blue Angels generally fly lower, Isper said, the Thunderbirds fly in tighter formation. “We do a totally different show,” she said, adding that one stunt will bring the planes within 18 inches of each other while traveling at 400 m.p.h. “Ours is much more exciting.”

The change in scheduling came as a result of a new Department of Defense regulation prohibiting military flying teams from performing at the same air show more than three years in a row. “We’re trying to make it more equitable by spreading the wealth,” said Lt. Col. Steve Eivins, an aviation liaison officer in Washington. “It’s a good opportunity for people to see the total military, the jointness of the military operation as a whole.”

Other new offerings at this year’s El Toro show will include a flyover by 17 historic aircraft representing the air base’s history from World War II to the Vietnam War. The event is designed to commemorate the base’s 50th anniversary this year.

Otherwise, the show will consist of such longstanding favorites as a Marine air and ground task force exhibition in which Marines will simulate a noisy combat situation showing how they work together, and a demonstration by the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team.

In addition, the crowd will be treated to appearances by a wing walker, several biplane acts, the world’s smallest jet (only 12 feet long), a glider flight, stunts by aerobatic fliers, a staged dogfight and more than 100 stationary aircraft exhibits.

The lineup will be the same both Saturday and Sunday.

According to weather reports, conditions this year may be cooler and more overcast than last year when about 1.2 million spectators basked in 89-degree heat. This weekend, said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., should be breezy and partly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 60s to mid-70s.

A recent recommendation by the Defense Department to close the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, however, has left a cloud of a different sort hanging over the air show’s future. A county delegation this week officially began an aggressive effort to change the government’s mind regarding the proposed closure. But whatever the debate’s outcome, Carreiro said, its impact will not be immediate. “We will have shows for at least a couple more years,” she said, “even if we are to be closed.”

Since its inception in 1951, in fact, the exhibition has never missed a year. That first event, designed to acquaint visitors at the base’s annual open house with the air/ground coordination then being utilized in the Korean War, lasted two hours and was seen by about 17,500 people. Since then, Carreiro said, the air show has grown into one of the largest of its kind in the world. And the uncertain future, she said, should in no way diminish the crowd’s enjoyment of this weekend’s events.

“Our presence here is pretty well known and this is our way of giving back to the community,” she said. “People are just plain curious--most have a dreamy sense of what it’s like to actually pilot an aircraft. Here people can participate in that dream in a way they can’t in everyday life; it’s an exciting and educational experience.”

Her advice to those attending? “Come early and be patient,” Carreiro said. “The gates open at 7 a.m. and the line starts forming before then.”