Airshow, TFRs and Weather

There was so much happening in the Southern California area these last few days. First... we had the first ever Huntington Beach Airshow. And the aviators certainly did not disappoint.

Saturday was a beautiful day with blue skies and warm weather. And the air show brought out huge crowds to the beach. Sunday was overcast and rainy. But that didn't stop the aviators. The Breitling Air Team wowed the crowds that braved the rain.

And the pilots of a T6 Texan and a jet-powered bi-plane also braved the weather to put on a tremendous show.

Probably most surprising was the appearance of a FedEx 757 flying under 500 feet above the ocean! That was certainly unexpected and the pilot of that big bird did a great job to wow the crowds!

The Air Force Thunderbirds provided an absolutely fantastic show, but sadly no photos of the event as rain really started falling from the sky.

Speaking of rain... we had some pretty significant rain on Monday with lightning and winds in the morning. While we can fly in rain, the rain is usually accompanied by winds before and trailing the storm front. Best to watch the weather and determine if a flight is prudent. I mention this as we're expecting rain on Thursday and Friday this week. Best to keep an eye on the weather and be prepared to scrub the flight if weather moves in.

And finally - a word about the Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) that were in place today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday). Since Fullerton Airport is within the 32 nautical mile ring, no flight training was approved. This makes a good point to our students that checking Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) should be part of the pre-flight preparation process, even if coming in for a lesson.

That said - keep an eye on the weather, ceilings and winds this coming weekend! To our students, do your pre-flight planning to know the flight conditions. And to those interested in flight training, give us a call and we'll let you know if we can fly this weekend or not.