Plane Crazy Saturdays

Mark La Ciura.

This F/A -18 E Super Hornet is from VX-9 "The Vampires," based at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California.

Mojave Air & Space Port hosts the monthly Plane Crazy Saturday, sponsored by The Loop newspaper, Scaled Composites, Karl's Hardware, Aerotechnews, Rosamond News and many others. I love just hanging out and airplane watching on the flight-line. There are a wide-variety of aircraft are on display and flying, and you never know what aircraft will fly in.

The event always has great guest speaker presentation at 11 a.m. and lots of art, shirts, hats, books and collectibles for sale. The Voyager restaurant opens at 7 a.m.

At the recent Plane Crazy Saturday, the F/A-18 E model from China Lake VX-9 was a highlight for me. Lieutenant Commander Neil Armstrong's name was on this low advisability paint job.

VX-9, nicknamed "The Vampires," is a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California. China Lake VX-9 primarily operates the F/A-18 E Super Hornets and E/A-18G Growlers. The Growler is a electronic warfare platform and the Super Hornet is a fighter. VX-9 conducts operational test and evaluation of all air to ground, air to air weapons senors, electronic warfare systems and mission software upgrades to aircraft weapons systems for the U.S. Navy.

The Super Hornets frequent our skies using the Edwards Air Force Base airspace. Edwards AFB has several areas used for supersonic flight testing. These areas include bombing ranges and air refueling tracks. I see the jets refueling over Sand Canyon daily.

Edwards AFB is one of the only locations where aircraft can legally fly supersonic over land. When I worked on base, its was kinda normal to hear sonic booms daily. It keeps you sharp. If you've never experienced a sonic boom, it reminds of a mini earthquake.

Plane Crazy Saturday is always a interesting aviation event, just about 18 miles from Tehachapi. Plane Crazy Saturday is on the third Saturday of each month at 1434 Flight-line, Building 58, Mojave, California from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information about Plane Crazy Saturday, email [email protected].

For more information about Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California go to cnrsw.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NAWS-China-Lake/.