Snowbirds to Fly In for Mugu Air Spectacle

The Canadian air force’s Snowbirds will top the lineup for this year’s Point Mugu Air Show, which is being dedicated to the former U.S. Navy pilot who was killed last month while performing aerobatics in Santa Paula.

With flyovers by the U.S. Air Force’s F-117 Stealth fighter and simulated biplane dogfights, officials are predicting a weekend crammed with jaw-dropping aerial acts.

“It is one of the biggest shows I have produced here in 14 years,” said air show coordinator Don Lewis, also a retired lieutenant commander at Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station. “We are really excited about this one since Point Mugu was taken off of the [Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission] list.”

Air show officials expect more than 200,000 spectators to attend the weekend event, estimated to cost the Navy more than $100,000 to stage.

The 33rd annual air show will take off Saturday morning at 9:30 when Lomita-based pilot Frank Compton performs a repertoire of loops, spins, stalls and other feats in a small, home-built propeller plane.

Officials said they expect the neck-craning to continue through the afternoon, when the Air Force shows off its F-16 Fighting Falcon--a single-seat supersonic fighter so powerful it can climb straight up like a rocket while accelerating.

“It is always a show-stopper,” said Navy spokesman Alan Alpers. “I am Navy, but I have to give the Air Force that one.”

A second show will be held Sunday.

Event organizers said they hope to lure the country’s most famous aerial demonstration teams--the Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds--to next year’s show during the base’s 50th anniversary.

“If we had taken them this year, we wouldn’t have a chance to get them next year,” Lewis said.

But Lewis and Alpers said the Snowbirds, Canada’s answer to the Blue Angels, is one of the world’s top three demonstration teams, with its own distinct style and grace.

“The Blue Angels come in and rattle and roll and shake up the audience,” Alpers said. “The Snowbirds are very choreographed, very precision-oriented, almost like a ballet.”

For the first time in Point Mugu Air Show history, officials have decided to dedicate their air spectacle. The show is in memory of Richard (Rick) Fessenden, a 47-year-old stunt pilot from Camarillo who died when his plane crashed at the Santa Paula Air Show on Aug. 12.

Fessenden was also a former Point Mugu Air Show director and served three tours of duty at the Navy base, including time as the executive officer of an elite squadron that tests missiles on the F/A-18 Hornet, the Navy’s leading fighter-attack jet.

“He was an outstanding aviator, air show performer and one of the true nice guys in the world,” said Lewis. “It was devastating to everybody.”

The dedication at noon on both Saturday and Sunday will include remarks by Navy officials and a memorial flyover in “missing man” formation by the Navy Squadron VX-9.

Lewis said Federal Aviation Administration officials will supervise the air show and that the base’s air traffic controllers will closely monitor all flights and aerobatics.

“At the air show, safety is paramount to all other issues,” Lewis said.

The National Weather Service said the weather is not likely to cramp any pilot’s style this weekend, as morning fog and low clouds along the coast should burn off by 10 a.m. According to Bob Cari, a meteorological technician, Saturday and Sunday should both end up mostly sunny with highs in the mid-70s.

Jim Howell, a Burbank-based pilot who will fly in a Pitts Special S-2B biplane with the aerobatic stunt group Mirror Image, said he is looking forward to his first performance at Point Mugu.

“It’s a big show, a huge venue, and the runway is gigantic,” said Howell, a 28-year-old commercial airline pilot. “Performing is more fun than practice because it counts. I like that intensity.”

Some of the action over the weekend will take place on the ground. For instance, the Smoke-N-Thunder, a jet-propelled dragster that can top 300 m.p.h., will race airplanes flying overhead. But throughout the weekend, the spotlight will clearly stay trained on the aircraft, like the Stearman piloted by Eddie Andrieini, who will execute one of the show’s more bizarre maneuvers.

“It is the very difficult inverted ribbon cut,” Lewis said. “People hold poles on either side of the runway and he flies through the ribbon, upside-down.”

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Air Show Schedule

Gates at the Naval Air Weapons Station, Point Mugu, will open at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission and parking are free. Spectators may bring lawn chairs or purchase seating in the folding chair section for $3. Box seats cost $15 and $20 on the day of the show. Flight deck seats with lunch and beverages cost $25. For information on the show or seats, call 989-8548. This schedule is for both Saturday and Sunday.

8 a.m.

Radio-controlled aircraft demonstration and static aircraft

9:30 a.m.

Frank Compton’s aerial aerobatics in an RV-4 propeller plane

9:45 a.m.

Channel Islands Air National Guard C-130 Hercules Fire Retardant Drop

10 a.m.

John Collver AT-6 aerobatic monoplane demonstration

10:15 a.m.

Bill Cornick aerobatic performance

10:30 a.m.

Smoke-N-Thunder jet-propelled dragster

10:35 a.m.

Airplane versus dragster race featuring Black Sheep Show Team and the Los Angeles Police Department’s Super “Vette”

10:50 a.m.

Flyby of the Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force

11:15 a.m.

John Piggott’s Sukhoi-29 Russian fighter versus Eddie Andrieni’s Stearman in a simulated dogfight

Noon

Welcoming ceremonies and dedication of air show to Richard (Rick) Fessenden by Navy and local dignitaries, “Missing Man” formation flyover by the Navy Squadron VX-9, U.S. Air Force F-117 Stealth fighter flyby, flag presentation by the Pelican Sky Diving Team

12:25 p.m.

Navy Squadron VX-9 performing tail chases, bombing and strafing demonstrations with F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet fighters

12:30 p.m.

Flyby of the U.S. Air Force’s F-117 Stealth fighter (Saturday only)

12:35 p.m.

Channel Islands Air National Guard C-130 Hercules firefighting demonstration

12:45 p.m.

Red Baron Stearman Squadron formation aerobatics

1:05 p.m.

U.S. Air Force’s F-16 Fighting Falcon demonstration

1:20 p.m.

Eddie Andrieni’s aerobatics and aerial ribbon cutting

1:35 p.m.

Naval Weapons Test Squadron flyby

1:40 p.m.

Aerobatic demonstration by Mirror Image in Pitts Special S-2B biplanes

1:54 p.m.

Don Johnson’s Toyota aerobatic monoplane performance

2:10 p.m.

Navy Squadron VFA-125 F/A-18 Hornet demonstration

2:25 p.m.

John Piggott’s Sukhoi-29 Russian fighter demonstration

2:40 p.m.

Smoke-N-Thunder jet-propelled dragster

2:45 p.m.

Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force Bearcat demonstration

3 p.m.

Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds demonstration