Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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On Sunday morning, Oct. 10, the students and families of the Tehachapi Build-A-Plane Project got to see a perfect test flight of the Zenith CH 750 Cruzer. The CH 750 Cruzer N19BP is a lightweight sport aircraft and does not need a regular pilot's license or medical certificate to fly; a simple permit is used. The flight went off as planned with no issues reported per Project Director/Test Pilot Paul Nafziger. Some of the students asked Nafziger if he was stressed at all doing the flight test...
The town came out for the Stargazing event at Tehachapi Airport on Sept. 11. They had telescopes from high dollar to homemade gear. Fun for the young and older stargazers, a local pilot, John, had his aircraft out for viewing, as well....
I really miss going to air shows. Two of my favorite warbird aircraft are the P-38 Lightning and the F-86 Sabre. The flybys performed by both these aircraft are real crowd pleasers. The pictures included are at Fox Field, L.A. County Airshow in Lancaster, California. I wish to thank two media directors/event coordinators that gave me fantastic VIP treatment: Patricia Fregoso-Cox and Susie Newman Harrison. If they had not helped me out I would have not been able to get up close with the...
The National Jet Boat Association Racers (NJBAR) were back at Lake Ming on May 15 and 16. The lake is just 35 miles northwest of Tehachapi, located at 13375 Lake Ming Rd. Bakersfield. There are plenty of shade trees, you just need to bring your lawn chairs. Oh, and maybe some ear plugs. Yes, it can get loud. For information on NJBAR visit www.njbaracing.com....
"Just signatures in a log book but they mean a lot to me." I looked through my stack of pilot log books to find a special book, while thinking of the passing of the great pilot General Chuck Yeager at 97 years old on December 7. I never met the General. It was next to impossible to meet him unless you were a "big wig." I wish I had, but at least an Edwards AFB History office employee presented my log book to the General for signature, which he signed. I did get to see General Yeager fly the F15...
High winds on December 7 produced spectacular cloud formations in the sky over Tehachapi. The winds were from 15 to 30 knots. The lower clouds look like the start of a lenticular wave and the higher clouds are Ice Crystals. When the air is cold and dry, the high clouds are composed almost exclusively of ice crystals. These clouds also tend to be very thin. Cirrus clouds are the most common of this group and can be blown into long, wispy streamers often called mares' tails. Cirrus clouds have...
Adaptations to Sunday Mass were put into effect by St. Malachy Church on November 22. The weather was still warm enough for outdoor Mass, held in the church parking lot, but with colder weather Mass will be livestreamed and broadcast by radio (FM 87.9) from inside the church where only 10 people are allowed. Parishioners are requested to remain in their cars where they can also view the livestreamed Mass on their laptops, tablets or phones through the parish YouTube Channel....
I have been around aviation since 1983, when I took lessons to fly sailplanes in Tehachapi at the former Fantasy Haven Gliderport, which is today known as Mountain Valley Airport. One of the incentives to get me up to 4,000 feet was to learn to fly and work in Kern County. I have been lucky to have had some great flight instructors and to have been around so many good pilots and I have learned from each of them. One pilot in particular, who towed us up in the gliders, made a big impression on...
I have been around race tracks and motorsports most of my life, learning photography on a drag strip. That's the safe place to race your hot rod street car, not the streets, as I have seen all over Kern County for years. Sergeant Robert Pair of the Bakersfield Police Department has been on all of the local news stations and radio broadcasts commenting that, "It's not just law enforcement's problem, it's a community problem." On Aug. 9, the Bakersfield Police Department responded to reports of...
Paul Nafziger of the Tehachapi Society of Pilots' Build-a-Plane student project was kind enough to ask me to witness the taxi test and engine run-up for the project airplane on June 29. As a pilot I was jazzed to be there, and it was great to see Paul run up the engine to 2760 RPMs and taxi the Zenith aircraft. It was cool to see all the pre-flight checks and watch one of the students checking the fuel for water and any particulates in the fuel. Many experienced members of the Society of Pilots...
On the evening of May 22 locals gathered for a community created "cruise in" with every kind of car and truck you could think of cruising up and down Tehachapi Blvd. Sounds like a fun way to socialize from the comfort and safety of your ride. Word on the street is this is going to be a regular thing on Friday nights throughout the summer. You can join in with your ride or bring your lawn chair and watch a car show go rolling by. This is a community created event, AKA no one is in charge, so be...
I have always had a great interest in the Blackbird family of aircraft and have often visited Blackbird Air Park in Palmdale. On display there you can see a YF-12, an SR-71 side-by-side and a D-21 drone which was tested on the back of a Blackbird, launched in-flight in the early 1960s. The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” is a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by Lockheed Corporation. It was originally used as a trainer, but in the 196...
The Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Museum will open in December 2020. It is moving from its 8,500-square-foot space on base to a new 75,000-square-foot location just outside the West Gate located in the Rosamond area. There will be more space for the current aircraft collection, plus a STEM Education Center, which will focus on youth education. The new location will also allow for easier public access. The new museum is going to be very interactive. The STEM Education Center promises to...
It was another great listener appreciation show at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace on Feb. 12. Kylie Morgan was the headliner. She is an EMI Recording Artist (Electric and Musical Industries now Universal Music Group). She began writing songs in her hometown of Newcastle, Okla., when she was only 12 years old. The young singer-songwriter released her music independently in her early teens and received national attention from music producers and the television industry. At the age of 16, she was...
With Kern County being a hub of racing, we have five great motorsports tracks in Kern and a great many racers and fans here in Tehachapi. We have Buttonwillow International, Willow Springs Raceway, Kern County Raceway Park, Bakersfield Speedway and Famoso Raceway dragstrip. With the March Meet Drag races scheduled at Famoso Raceway on March 5 - 8, I thought it would be appropriate to touch on one the great many experiences I have had at that track. I have been a motorsports/aviation...
Beppe Gambetta Plays to a packed house at Fiddlers Crossing on Friday night on Feb. 7. The full house enjoyed his fantastic musical stylings. Beppe lives in Genoa, Italy and he travels throughout North America every year. He has performed in the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, MerleFest in North Carolina, the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas and festivals in Winnipeg and Edmonton. He has appeared on the radio programs All Things Considered and eTown. For more information and future...
Our yearly trip down to Anaheim, Calif., to the convention for the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) was fantastic, inspiring, enlightening and a blast. I was invited to travel with musician friends Bruce Berger, the TPops lead upright bass player, lead clarinet player Wayne Thompson and our conductor/clarinet player Jim Peck. Our ride down to Anaheim in Bruce's Tesla was very enjoyable, as well as environmentally friendly. The Model S Tesla is a fantastic car. I like the smooth...
It takes lots of guts to stand up on stage and sing your heart out, especially at a big venue like Buck Owens Crystal Palace. That's what I saw and heard on Jan. 8 at a performance by two of country music's rising stars. Stephanie Quayle and Lainey Wilson, who are both seasoned country artists, lit up the stage at a packed house at the Palace. Both artists have been proclaimed by CMT (Country Music Television) as their "Next Women of Country" for 2019. This was a special Free Listener show that...
On Jan. 14 the press was invited to see the distinctive F/A-18 Hornet from the US Navy Blue Angels Aerial Demo Team fly into General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster, Calif. Lieutenant Commander Adam Kerrick, event coordinator, and Lieutenant Julius Bratton, air show narrator, flew in the F-18 and told us in the press meeting that this would be their first Air Show on the road. The Navy F-18 Air Crew told us that they love the weather in Lancaster. The pilots and crews are currently working...
New Year's Day is usually a fantastic day to show up at the Mountain Valley Airport, Tehachapi's local glider port, to see pilots fly an open canopy event or open cockpit flying. However, with all of the snow blocking the runways, it was not possible to do any flying. The airport measured over 32 inches of snow the day after Christmas 2019. Jane Barrett who, with her husband Larry, is the owner/operator of the Mountain Valley Airport, said that this is the most snow they have seen since the...
Union Pacific is celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad's completion by touring its historic Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 throughout the U.S. According to the UP website, "The Big Boy's return to the rails is the product of more than two years of meticulous restoration work by the Union Pacific Steam Team. No. 4014 is the world's only operating Big Boy locomotive." I was able to enjoy a viewing of the No. 4014 in Yermo, Calif. As I did, I was transported back to...
Just 40 minutes away from Tehachapi in Bakersfield, we have a world class music venue – Buck Owens' Crystal Palace – where you will not only find fantastic country music, but rock and roll, too. The night I was there world-class blues band "Tracy Peoples Project" performed a tribute to Janis Joplin. It was billed as, "Pearl - A Janis Joplin Tribute" with Tracy Peoples covering and dressed as Janis Joplin. The band included Bill Baize, Tim Stonelake, Gary Rink, Rafael S. Yambao, Gilbert Subia, Jo...
Local Tehachapi racer Rich Souza won the Hard Top class on June 2. Souza drives a 1950 Dodge/Plymouth coupe. He purchased the car from Robert Tucker of Shafter, Calif., who built and raced the car for many years. Congrats to Rich! This Dodge coupe is the only small block dodge powered hardtop in the division. It's fantastic for all car buffs to see these 1940s and 50s vintage cars run on the fastest 1/3 mile clay oval in the west. Rich will be racing Saturday, Aug. 18 in the Hard Top class. The...
Local racer Jenee Dugan is running a full season in the Hard Top Class and spent mother's day weekend at Bakersfield Speedway running her car with her husband and family. Racing has always been a family event running at this hometown grass roots track where all classes of dirt cars are testing their skill and all are dreaming of someday racing in the top levels of Nascar. I believe this is the same with Jenee Dugan. With fans dwindling in Nascar racing, I think they at nascar have got away from...
I had a fantastic time at the L.A. County Air Show 2018 but that's nothing new to me. I have been going to air shows from the first day I got my driver's license. I use to get my World War II veteran dad and my mom to go because they loved all the fantastic War Bird aircraft that brought back some good and bad memories. I saw the effects and raw emotion on their faces because they lived through it. So I appreciated seeing this B-17G to the fullest. Sentimental Journey (44-83514) is the nickname...
