Air Show Fails to Snag Major Jet Team

Organizers of Point Mugu’s annual air show were unable to schedule a high-profile jet team for next year’s show because the three major teams, the Thunderbirds, the Blue Angels and the Canada-based Snowbirds, are already booked.

Next year’s main attraction will be the Red Baron Stearman Squadron, a group of biplanes that performs aerobatics. The event will also include a trade show and an after-dark show in which jets fire their afterburners for spectacular light displays, said Point Mugu Naval Air Station spokeswoman Cora Fields.

All three of the major jet teams have flown in past Point Mugu air shows.

“Every show across the United States would love to have these teams, and there’s just not enough of them to go around,” Fields said. “It just didn’t work out for us this year. . . . That won’t mean we won’t have a good show.”

Air shows like the one at Point Mugu count on the major jet teams, which perform daunting aerobatics at high speeds, to draw big crowds. Fields expects smaller crowds in April because of the lack of a well-known team.

Officials still hope to schedule other military groups, including smaller teams of F-14s, F-16s, FA-18s and Harriers. Major jet teams fly between seven and nine aircraft. Smaller teams fly two or four planes, but “do have the speed and the dynamic performance,” she said.

Organizers expect to complete the air show’s lineup by March. The event is scheduled for April 7-9.

Air show representatives were also unable to schedule a major jet team for a fall 1997 show, Fields said. For funding reasons, organizers postponed that show until April 1998, and the Thunderbirds ended up flying in the rescheduled event, she said.

For information about the air show, call 989-8786.